SpayGeorgia Needs Your Help Now: An Important Message from SG President

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I am involved with SpayGeorgia because it helped me in my time of need nearly fifteen years ago. In 1998, I rescued my sweet cat, Ralphie. He was homeless, and the vet said he was around 7 months old. I wanted to have him neutered, but money was tight, and safe, low-cost spay/neuter options in those days were limited. A friend of mine told me about SpayGeorgia (it was called Humane Services of Metro Atlanta in those days). I was thrilled with the selection of available veterinarians, and I purchased a certificate for Ralphie.

I was so grateful for the help that I joined SpayGeorgia, and volunteered to edit the newsletter. Now, Ralphie is still around, and so am I. As President of SpayGeorgia, I continue to work for a cause that has always been important to me.

SG has been so good at meeting its mission that it has helped over 91,000 dogs and cats since 1991. We want to continue this work as I am sure you want us to.

But now SpayGeorgia needs your help NOW. Like many other non-profits, our work is at risk. For the first time in many years, we will be unable to offer our annual free cat neuters.

Why is SG in this situation? The answers are many:
• In this economy, it is more difficult for people to contribute to non-profit organizations.
• There are more low-cost spay/neuter groups now, which is a good thing! There seems to be an infinite number of cats and dogs to be sterilized, so there is no such thing as too many low-cost options!
• As a result, fewer people are purchasing SG’s certificates.

What does SG do and hope to do when it is back on stronger financial footing?

* Resume donation of certificates to pet owners who cannot afford even low cost options
* Continue providing certificates to pet food pantries for pet owners who they are helping with free food for their animals. If they can’t afford food, they can’t afford to s/n
* Continue providing rescue groups with certificates to ready dogs and cats for adoption
* Resume our annual free cat spay/rabies shot promotion in April
*Resume our annual free cat neuter/rabies shot promotion in July
*We hope to run a half-price certificate “sale” for male and female dogs, thereby lowering the certificate price even more, when donations allow.

I support SpayGeorgia because 90% of our funds go directly to spay/neutering. We have always managed to keep our operating costs very low. When I contribute to a charity, I want my money to be used wisely and effectively.

We are in need for direct donations, but we especially need volunteers who can help us with fund raisers – volunteers who can come up creative ideas and give us the help we need to implement those ideas!

Help us to keep SpayGeorgia alive, because there many animals out there that need our help. I want them to have the same good life that SpayGeorgia helped me give to Ralphie.
–By Ingrid Siegert

Ralphie — SpayGeorgia certificate recipient

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SpayGeorgia’s low-cost spay/neuter certificate covers the cost of routine spay/neuter surgery, including preparation for surgery, anesthesia, the spay/neuter procedure, routine hospitalization as required, and removal of stitches if necessary.