Halifax Humane Society: Disaster Response and Recovery Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We had several partners who came through to help us with disaster relief during Hurricane Irma. This allowed us to pool resources and provide safe care throughout the storm. We are submitting this additional update to our previous report because the Petfinder Foundation grant specifically made it possible to create the Storm Trooper Program, which we feel was not only critical to surviving the hurricane, but also resulted in a touching adoption story.

This grant allowed us to place adoption-floor animals in private homes to ride out the storm. By sending the animals in this program home with essential, needed supplies provided by the grant, it set the Storm Troopers and animals (dogs, cats, and a ferret!) up for success. This made room in the main building of the shelter so all the animals in the outlying buildings could be moved there. This way, all the animals and employees staying at the shelter were able to ride out the storm together safely under one roof.

How many pets did this grant help?

There were 460 animals on campus that this grant helped by making sure all were under one roof. Additionally, it helped provide room for the 159 animals we took in the week after the storm.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Iggy came to Halifax Humane Society on March 29, 2017, as a stray. She was a 10-year-old Labrador retriever mix. She was diagnosed with a benign lipoma, and due to that, had been overlooked for adoption six times. In preparing for Hurricane Irma, Iggy was picked by one of the Storm Troopers to take into her home and ride out the storm. Well that did it for this long-term senior resident! The Trooper feel in love with Iggy and adopted her two days after the storm passed through (Sept. 13, 2017).