IndyHumane Receives over $30,000 in Grants for Low-Cost Veterinary Care
February 3, 2023 | 
With these recent grants, IndyHumane will launch a Pet Wellness Outreach Program at its downtown clinic to help provide more low-cost preventative care to Indianapolis’ dogs and cats.
Thanks to grants from The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, a KeyBank Trust, a Community Care Grant from Banfield Foundation, and The Brave Heart Foundation, the IndyHumane Downtown clinic will launch a Pet Wellness Outreach program for low-income pet owners by expanding existing community partnerships. The Pet Wellness Outreach program will serve animals through IndyHumane’s grassroot spay/neuter partners: to provide free core vaccines, microchips, and parasitic testing and preventatives to pets. These partner organizations will work directly with low-income communities to identify clients with pets needing free veterinary care, register them for appointments, prepare them for appointments, and conduct follow-ups as needed.
“Our goal is to keep central Indiana’s most vulnerable animals healthy and united with their human families or caregivers. Ultimately, this program keeps owned animals and outdoor cats out of our city’s stressed and overburdened public animal shelter,” said Donna Casamento, CEO of IndyHumane. “No one should have to give up their pet because they cannot afford basic veterinary care. we are so grateful for the support of these foundations who agree that keeping families together is as important as we do.”
Awarded grants include:
- $20,000 from The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, a KeyBank Trust
- $10,000 Community Cares Grant from Banfield Foundation
- $5,000 from The Brave Heart Foundation
The IndyHumane Downtown Clinic has served the community since 2012. This low-cost/high-volume clinic has a dedicated team of veterinarians and vet technicians and is equipped with surgical facilities and a vaccine clinic. The Downtown Clinic provides affordable spay/neuter services and vaccines services to smaller rescues from across central Indiana, local animal welfare partners, and animals owned by the public in an area where there are few veterinary resources. Since opening, the Downtown Clinic has provided spay/neuter and basic veterinary care to an average of 7,000 animals annually.
The partner organizations will promote the Pet Wellness Outreach program to their clients living in 10 target zip codes covering the near-east and near-west sides of the downtown core where income disparities and relative lack of services make it more difficult to access veterinary services. Partner organizations include:
- Hoosier Fix is a volunteer-driven group that helps provide critical services to animals owned by people living in poverty. They specialize in serving trailer parks and extremely low-income neighborhoods with large populations of dogs and cats.
- FIDO is an organization that works with low-income community members to improve the lives of outdoor dogs by providing shelters, fencing, other basic dog supplies, and owner education to help transition dogs inside the house to be part of the family. FIDO’s clients are often referred to them by social service agencies and municipal animal care officers.
- Indy Neighborhood Cats is focused on trap-neuter-return (TNR) to ensure that outdoor cats live healthy, safe lives in their chosen environments and do not reproduce. Indy Neighborhood Cats identifies caretakers with animals that need essential veterinary care and volunteers coordinate animal transportation to and from the Downtown Clinic.
- Indy CARES is the pet retention project of our city’s municipal, open-admission animal shelter. Indy CARES works with pet owners to prevent them from surrendering pets to the shelter due to a lack of funding for pet care, or knowledge of how to care for pets.
About IndyHumane:
IndyHumane’s mission is to improve animal welfare in central Indiana. We are committed to ending the cycle of pet overpopulation, providing affordable pet ownership, and ensuring the well-being, health, and safety of all animals in our care. We strive to promote the human-animal bond and the powerful impact this mutually beneficial relationship has on individuals, families, and the Indianapolis community. IndyHumane provides vital services to animals and people alike through sheltering and adopting animals, low-cost spay/neuter, vaccine clinic, community outreach, and shelter programs for all ages. https://indyhumane.org/
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