An open letter to our supporters

Dear friends, adopters, supporters, and volunteers of CARE –

For over 15 years, CARE has worked with Petsmart to place over 7,000 felines in loving homes. We are very disappointed to announce that, effective January 14, 2017, Petsmart has terminated our relationship and we will no longer be able to continue adopting out cats through this location.

Over the past few months, Petsmart, with a change of district management, has communicated with us that they needed to increase their number of adoptions. But instead of looking to support our adoptions, Petsmart placed requests on CARE that did not align with our mission to provide humane, loving care while ensuring the best possible match with an adopter.  They requested increasing the number of cats to one per cage staying at Petsmart. There is not enough room at the adoption center to humanely provide a cat with food, water, litter box and bed in one cage; in essence, CARE would not be providing a better environment than the municipal shelter that we have rescued them from.  Petsmart also requested that employees handle adoptions instead of a CARE volunteer. CARE reviews all our applications and tries to place each cat in home that is a good match.  Our strength is that we are an all foster organization and fosters strive to place cats in a compatible home.   Our policy is to allow fosters to have the final say on whether the applicant is a good match for the cat, ensuring that the cat will be placed for its lifetime.

At its December board meeting, CARE had prepared to approach Petsmart and discuss how we could work together to increase adoptions. However, before we had a chance to do so, Petsmart decided to terminate our contract.  Three local area rescues, including CARE, were terminated from different stores.  Unfortunately, Petsmart has a history of terminating reputable rescues in many of their stores.

While we understand that the store is in business to make a profit, we have always embraced the concept of working together for a common goal: to provide a safe place to adopt these homeless pets.  With the change of management it has become more about profits than saving the lives of pets. If you would like to voice your concern to Petsmart in support of CARE, please contact the Short Pump store at 804-364-2570 or contact Petsmart CEO Michael Massey: michael.massey@petsmart.com

We are heavily disappointed that our relationship with Petsmart has to end this way.  However, we are determined to see this as an opportunity.  We are very grateful to have a successful relationship with the Petco Staples Mill Rd store.  We will now focus our resources on developing our relationship and improving our adoptions from Petco. Please join us in supporting this store.

We are also fortunate to have a very supportive base of volunteers who have been faithfully visiting the Petsmart store on a regular basis to clean cages and give the cats exercise and attention. We have already informed our volunteers of the situation and we will be working to continue their involvement with CARE.

Thank you all so much for your continued support of CARE as we look for ways to strengthen our organization.

Board of Directors, CARE

 

CARE Volunteer Opportunities (contact us for more information):

Cage cleaner/caretaker – evenings or mornings at Petco Staples Mill Rd.

Adoption stand – set up or take down and assistance at adoption events on Saturdays and some Sundays. (setup can be Friday night or Saturday morning)

Phone line coordinator / Community outreach
Check phone line at least one time a day
Respond to all phone callers (offers help or referral information to caller)
Contact fosters to provide call information if required, etc.

Volunteer Coordinator
Recruits volunteers

Foster

Fundraising Opportunities

All volunteers will be given training and assistance in volunteering as needed.