With a brand new year on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to look back on 2018 and all that we have achieved with your support over the past 12 months. It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been our biggest year EVER since Pets of the Homeless (POTH) was founded back in 2015. With new charity partners, plus some major events, projects and grant opportunities, this year brought many firsts for us. There’s too much to cover in just one blog post, but we’ve managed to select a few of our biggest and best highlights of 2018…
St Kilda Festival Charity Partner
We started the year with a bang when POTH was selected to be the official charity partner of the St Kilda Festival. This partnership allowed us to take center stage at one of Victoria’s most popular events, spreading awareness about what we do and reaching a vast new audience of potential supporters.
Previous partners have included major charities like RSPCA, White Ribbon and Sacred Heart Mission, so to be chosen was a HUGE honor for a little charity just three years young.
Emergency Boarding and Foster Care Programs
This year we focused much of our energy on expanding our essential Emergency Boarding program. In the last quarter of 2017, we began to offer a service accommodating pets at local boarding kennels and catteries. This arrangement allowed pet owners in need to access crisis accommodation, receive much-needed hospital treatment, flee family violence and more.
In pursuit of our mission to keep best friends together, the emergency boarding program grew naturally as an extension of our initial service offerings: providing pet food since 2015 and veterinary care since 2016. But emergency kennelling is extremely costly at around $30 a day and this means we are unable to help a lot of people or for as long as is sometimes required. At present we can only cover costs for 2-4 weeks and this is often not enough time for people to find stable accommodation.
So we began to develop a better long-term solution for people and pets in need by establishing the POTH foster care program. The program will see volunteers open their hearts and homes to care for pets for 2-12 weeks (or longer according to the foster carer’s ability and preference). Often a second chance is all that’s needed to make a real difference to someone’s life. With their pets needs met, our friends can focus on what they need to get their lives back on track.
After many months of careful planning, the foster care program finally launched in October with just a handful of volunteer carers and, so far, we’ve accommodated 2 cats and 3 dogs. The program is still in its infancy and there are bound to be many lessons we learn along the way so we’re starting slow and making adjustments before we expand the service.
While this doesn’t mean the end of our emergency kennelling service and we will still rely on kennels and catteries as required, we’re thrilled that foster care offers a more long-term solution for friends who need a little extra time to get back on their feet.
Governance and Board Members
This year has also seen our processes improved and streamlined as well as the introduction of new policies and procedures. Although we are a small charity, we hold ourselves to the same standards as our much larger counterparts to ensure that we are transparent and accountable to our stakeholders.
This means we need good governance by a competent board and 2018 saw us expand our board of directors to a total of six. This year we welcomed Leanne, who specialises in grants and policy, Tricia with expertise in strategy and legal, Martha with a fundraising and communications background, and Emma who is an experienced and qualified vet. Each board member brings their own unique skills and a passion to help POTH grow. Together we have developed our new mission, vision and values.
Our Mission
We work to help keep vulnerable people and their pets together by alleviating the burden of providing essential pet care during times of hardship.
Our Vision
To be the go to organisation for vulnerable pet owners across Australia and to be the leading voice advocating on their behalf
Our Values
Helping without judgement
Uphold dignity
Strength in working together
Maximising impact
Be accountable, transparent and outcomes focused
Continual learning and improvement
Pick My Project: Pet Food Bank
But 2018 wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. We faced a big set-back in May when we were directed to move all the pet food out of our storage unit or risk eviction. We had no choice but to remove everything and distribute all pet food donations at our Packing Day in July. Our Community Partners received enough stock to last them until the end of the year but we were forced to put our Pet Food program on hold indefinitely.
Thankfully, our luck soon turned and we received an incredible opportunity to apply for a life-changing grant through Pick My Project. We submitted our proposal to establish Victoria’s first Pet Food Bank and asked for $200,000 to rent a warehouse, fit it out, procure a van (to replace our current mode of transport – our founder, Yvonne’s tiny Nissan Micra!) and set up headquarters from which we can expand our services.
After a month of campaigning for your votes, we were blown away to learn that POTH was successful. We look forward to 2019, when we can our move into our new warehouse /headquarters / Pet Food Bank!
4 Legs Balls For A Cause
The past year has been a great year for funding and, as a charity that only began fundraising at the end of 2016, we are so proud of what we’ve already accomplished. With no ongoing government funding, we work very hard to fund our services through monthly roadside collections, sausage sizzles, bake sales and other rewarding – but time consuming –grassroots appeals. 
2019 promises to be a busy year as we plan and establish the Pet Food Bank. This means less time for fundraising so a special new partnership with 4Legs arrived at the perfect moment! We’ve been working with 4Legs for a while but this year we took our partnership to the next level when we launched Balls For A Cause, a permanent pet food range in Woolworths stores nationwide! 20 cents from each pack sold is donated to POTH and goes towards expanding our Emergency Boarding Program. So far over $20,000 have been raised since its launch in September.
But this partnership is about much more than dollars. Having our logo on one of Australia’s most nutritious and widely available pet food products ensures more people know about who we are and what we do. Best of all, the ongoing source of income provided by Balls For A Cause means we can spend less time sizzling sausages and more time focused on what we do best: keeping people and pets together.
More gifts that do good
With the introduction of new merchandise products this year, our merch sales have gone from strength to strength. We only expect this to grow next year when we expand our offerings to include pet products. Our ultimate goal is to transform the store into a social enterprise, providing employment opportunities for people in our community.
Keeping best friends together
Of course, our most important achievements are those that help keep best friends together. Here are just a few of our success stories from 2018:
- We cared for Michael‘s dog, Peanut, until he could secure stable accommodation
- We covered the rest of Cheryl’s veterinary bill for her beloved kitty Cougar so she could focus on what really matters – rebuilding her life
- We funded essential surgery for Warren‘s dog, Jezza, so he could enjoy a life free from pain
- We stepped up to care for Kristina‘s dog Aya and Dolce so she wouldn’t have to continue sleeping in her car. They now have secure housing!
Outcomes like these are the reason we work so hard. Stay tuned in 2019 for more happy stories like these!
Mates for life
We often talk about the difference our services make in the lives of the people we meet, but to hear our friends tell their own stories is a much more powerful experience. As our final reflection on the past year, we’d like to share a message we recently received from North East Support & Action for Youth (NESAY) that shows just how much a helping hand can change lives.
“I would like to thank Pets of the Homeless for their support today. NESAY’s mission is to support young people and their families in our community to achieve their goals and aspirations. We work towards this through providing a range of services across North East Victoria that enables young people to achieve safe housing, develop their independent living skills, foster and nurture family relationships and sustain education and employment.
Prior to today and to my knowledge as a Case Practitioner, there has been no available options locally to support pets of young people that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We always recognised that pets provide immeasurable therapeutic values and are often the sole form of companionship for some young people.
Working holistically in partnership with Pets of Homeless today, a young person has accessed support to ensure that his dog; meets local government laws, now meets his living arrangement agreement, can be reunited in the event of him becoming lost; and is vaccinated for preventable diseases and possibility of excessive vet bills in the future. The experience today will pave the way for a safe and secure relationship to continue between this young person and his best mate.
Today provided a new experience for the young person and his dog which included contact with members of the public at the Vet Clinic, social inclusion whilst waiting in the waiting room (a lovely conversation was had with another person and his dog awaiting vet services) and a sense of empowerment for the young person to make great choices around the health, safety and wellbeing of his dog that previously he could not due to financial restrictions.
The young person identified that he felt that his dog was now ‘officially my mate for life’ and should they be separated he felt more confident of his safe return. The prompt service and communication with Pets of the Homeless is applaudable. From the first point of contact to finalising the vet and council services today it was reassuring to know that a young person’s pet’s needs were met to support and improve the pet and young person’s situation.”
– from Charger (the dog), the young person and NESAY
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