Highland County Humane Society Receives Grant

 

The Highland County Humane Society recently received another grant from the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge.   The grant will continue to help the Humane Society with funding it’s Community Pet Retention Program.  Corena Huffman, President of the Highland County Humane Society, has more.

“Earlier in the year, we had a Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge grant as well, and this one specifically was from the Youth Philanthropy Council,” says Huffman.  “Local youth reviewed the applicants and determined the grant placement for our area.  And this grant also entails what is considered our Community Pet Retention Program and so that can cover anything from community members that need food for their pets or extra help for vet care, grooming appointments, transportation, borrowing supplies, or things like that, that would help them be able to keep their pets in their home.”

“It’s very similar to the other Community Foundation grant, specifically for Highland, and we tried to earmark it for, again, our underserved population,” says Huffman.  “If that’s someone who’s having some financial struggles or an elderly person who no longer drives, we can send the food with their Meals on Wheels, or we can come directly to their house to drop off the pet food or supplies or help them with transportation to get their animals to the vet or to the grooming appointments.”

“I think COVID really hit our area hard, as far as some financial hardships for our community members and just being closed in and not able to be out and about,” says Huffman. “We rely on our pets so much for that companionship and joy and not having extra resources to care for them is a major reason that pets are given up.  So if we can help bridge that gap and help folks keep their pets in their home, the pets are happier, the people are happier to have their companion animals and the shelters or our rescue are not inundated with so many animals surrendered for new homes, because folks simply just lacked the extra resources to help keep them.”

“We definitely had an up sweep in requests to help and certainly sometimes its hard to reach out for that help, but the grant is here, we need to use it,” says Huffman.  “It’s earmarked for our community members, specifically for this program and so there’s still funding available.  It’s first come, first serve.  We don’t do any kind of screening or paperwork.  If someone has a need, we simply try to help it.  We’re here to help you guys keep your pets, have them be healthier and safe and stay in your homes where they need to be.”

For more information:

www.highlandcountyhumanesociety.org

info@highlandcountyhumanesociety.org

540-908-9152

Highland County Humane Society on Facebook

Story By

Bonnie Ralston

Bonnie Ralston is the Assistant Station Coordinator at WVLS and a Highland County news reporter. She began volunteering at Allegheny Mountain Radio in the fall of 2005. In 2006 she became an AMR employee and worked in Bath County for eight years as the WCHG Station Coordinator and then as the news reporter there. She began working in radio while in college and has stayed connected to radio, in one way or another, for more than thirty years. She grew up in Staunton, Virginia, while spending a lot of time on her family’s farm in Deerfield, Virginia. She enjoys spending time outside, watching old TV shows and movies and tending to her chickens.

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