Worries Mount at Nonprofit as Community Needs Surge; Pet Resource Center of Kansas City (PRCKC) Has Thousands of Clients in Urgent Need of Services but Doesn't Have the Staff to Help Them
KANSAS CITY, MO / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2020 / After shutting down for two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, PRCKC opened back up in May to a backlog of pets who need vaccines, surgery, medical care, pet food, and other support.
Some of the situations, says founder and CEO Michelle Rivera, are urgent. "In more than 18 years we've been here in Kansas City, I have never seen anything like it," she said. "We are well beyond 100 percent capacity. And what breaks my heart is that a pretty significant group of those pets will probably end up at shelters, on the streets or worse, dead, because their families are desperate and can't wait."
This isn't a problem specific to Kansas City. According to the ASPCA, data suggest an additional 4.2 million pets are at risk of entering poverty as a result of the pandemic, which is a 21 percent increase over pre-pandemic rates.
The impact, says Rivera, will be felt for years to come. "In animal welfare, we've made great strides in reducing homeless pets and increasing the quality of life for dogs and cats. But when I talk to my peers, it's universal. Everyone is fearful of what this will do to reverse the progress we've made. The bottom line is that there will be more homeless pets, shelters will be inundated and, sadly, euthanasia will go up."
Currently PRCKC has a waiting list of nearly 20,000 pets in need of services and is trying to keep up with hundreds of calls each day from people seeking wellness services, spay/neuter, pet food and supplies, and critical care that they can't get elsewhere.
"We expanded our services and made a lot of changes to try and keep up," she said. "That includes mobile services and off-site vaccination clinics, emergency medical care, and several innovative treatments to help critical animals for a very affordable price. But we are desperately in need of veterinarians, both full-time and for relief. If we don't get any soon, we're looking at having to end our emergency medical fund treatments as well as several other programs so we can simply attempt to keep up. That will have a huge, negative impact on our community and means there will be dogs and cats who never get help."
PRCKC is not only in need of veterinarians, but other staff as well. And, Rivera said, supplies like bleach, paper towels, laundry soap, copy paper and, as always, donations. "We are desperate for donations," said Rivera. "The good news is we have donors who have agreed to match donations dollar for dollar up to $100,000, so all contributions have twice the impact."
About PRCKC
Pet Resource Center of Kansas City is a nonprofit started in 2002 as Spay and Neuter Kansas City. In the 18 years since its founding, the organization has helped over 400,000 pets and currently serves more than 25,000 per year with spay/neuter, vaccines, pet food, supplies, education, emergency medical care, and puppy training.
How to get involved
- Veterinarians interested in a full-time position or providing fill-in assistance should email the PRCKC chief veterinarian at jnichols@prckc.org
- All donations matched through December 31 at prckc.org/donate
SOURCE: Pet Resource Center of Kansas City
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