It was a pleasure to welcome Lina O'Leary, the President of Stand Up for Animals, this past Monday evening. Founded by Larry Hirsch, SUFA is a non--profit organization whose mission "is to support the needs of our state-of-the-art animal shelter, adoption center and regional outreach facility to promote the health and welfare of lost or abandoned pets and to educate and assist those who care for them." They rely on donations from individuals, businesses and foundations. "Funds raised are used to provide financial support to families in our community that incur unexpected emergency medical pet expenses, that need animal training/assessments to correct behavioral issues, to educate school-aged children on animal welfare and safety to support the needs of our state-of-the-art animal shelter facility that we built for the Town of Westerly." Recently they added a dog park across from the facility. Dr. John Turco partnered with SUFA to provide low-cost veterinary care by appointment every Thursday. Currently, ten volunteers help to walk, feed pets and clean kennels. They have provided a program in our schools about pet safety. Normally the kennel can hold about 20 dogs and 40 cats; however, in an emergency they have capacity for 200.
Alan Brinton mentioned that Grey Sail is partnering with SUFA for a virtual 5k in October - more to come.
