The Rogue Valley Humane Society would like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the Four Way Community Foundation for choosing us as one of their 2020 recipients of grant money that will support vital projects at our facility. The Four Way Community Foundation has served Josephine and Jackson counties for 45 years and has provided over $7 million in grants and scholarships locally using proceeds from the invested $8.7 million dollars in local donations entrusted to its care. As a nonprofit organization, the Rogue Valley Humane Society is only supported through events, individual donations, and grants such as these. At times, it is tough to set aside funding for future infrastructure improvements when we often have an immediate need to spend our money on the animals in our care as well as normal facility costs such as utilities, staff, and supplies.  With all of our events being canceled due to the COVID-19 virus, we are very grateful to receive these grants in order to help improve our facility so that we can be of better service to our local community.

Our most substantial grant from the Four Way Community Foundation has funded the installation of three updated heating and air systems around our facility: one in an on-site rental unit, one in our dog isolation building, and one in the isolation room in our on-site surgical suite.  These improvements have significantly reduced the potential fire hazard in these areas since we no longer need to rely on plug-in heaters. These upgraded units are currently helping the dogs in our isolation building stay at a comfortable temperature, unaffected by cold nights or these recent hot summer days.

The unit in the isolation room in our surgical suite allows for a controlled environment in which intensive care cases can reside comfortably away from the main facility. This space was used last year to isolate Piglet, a puppy in our care that had parvovirus. Our veterinarian and veterinary technician spent many days and nights caring for him in the cold winter weather with space heaters as the only source of warmth. Because of this grant, intensive care patients like Piglet now have a dependable heating and air system to keep them at the perfect temperature while they recover from illness.

We also received a grant from the Maxine Jones Spay and Neuter Fund that goes directly towards our low cost spay and neuter voucher program. This is a much needed service for our local community to help with the cost of spays and neuters for their pets. Our voucher program often runs out of funding due to high demand and we are grateful to have more funds to direct towards this service. Additional grant money we received is being set aside for helping increase our capacity to TNR (trap/neuter/release) the community cats in our county. The Rogue Valley Humane Society is committed to seeking solutions to help with the overpopulation of cats in our area, and TNR is one of the most effective solutions to stabilize these colonies and to reduce their numbers over time. Being able to spay and neuter more community cats will help stop the cycle of cat overpopulation in Josephine County.

Without the Four Way Community Foundation and the grants they have awarded us, we would not be able to accomplish our goals to help improve the lives of the animals in our area. We are so thankful that we have been able to make much needed improvements at our facility, continue our low cost spay and neuter voucher program, and help control pet overpopulation. Thank you to the Four Way Community Foundation for their dedication to local organizations such as ours and for helping assist in our mission to save lives…four paws at a time!