News Release: Local Rescue receives $41,850 grant from PetSmart Charities® to help homeless pets fin

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release

Dayton, Minn. – Angel of Hope Animal Rescue has received a $41,850 grant from PetSmart Charities to help prepare more shelter pets in Minnesota for adoption and ensure they are ready to find loving homes. With the help of this grant, the organization will expand its vetting capacity for pets in their care to support its efforts to help homeless pets find homes.

Pets that join Angel of Hope Animal Rescue cannot be released for adoption until appropriate vetting is complete. This often slows down pets being able to move to their adoptive homes. This generous grant will support the purpose of additional equipment that will allow our in-house surgery suite to handle a higher volume of spay/neuters, and specialty surgeries, such as dentals.

“Our goal is to not only reduce the homeless pet population through spay/neutering; but to allow our foster pets to be ready to find their adoptive homes as quickly as they can,” says Laura Uecker, Executive Director for Angel of Hope Animal Rescue. With the assistance of this grant from PetSmart Charities, Angel of Hope is able to increase their vetting capacity by obtaining more equipment such as additional prep and surgery tables.”

“We are proud to support our longstanding partnership with Angel of Hope and its work to help homeless pets from near and far find loving homes,” said Sophie Faust, associate relationship manager at PetSmart Charities. “It is our hope this funding will help provide more comprehensive care for pets while reducing their stay in shelter.”

Since 1994, through its partnership with nearly 4,000 humane societies, SPCAs and pet rescues across North America, PetSmart Charities has helped more than 9 million pets find loving homes via its in-store adoption program in over 1,650 PetSmart® stores. The leading funder of animal welfare has also donated nearly $400 million to positively impact communities, to help preserve families, to improve access to veterinary care and to connect people and pets through initiatives like this with Angel of Hope Animal Rescue.

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About Angel of Hope Animal Rescue:

Angel of Hope Animal Rescue is a Minnesota based 501 c3 pet rescue that works with over 1,300 cats, kittens, puppies and dogs annually. These pets join us from local impounds, shelters and owner surrenders. We have partnerships with animal welfare groups all over from the Dakotas to Texas, even as far as Mexico, and as close as next door. We strive to help as many pets as we can; ensuring we can offer each pet what’s needed to move them to their adoptive homes.

Find Angel of Hope online at: www.aohrescue.org

Find Angel of Hope on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/AngelOfHopeAnimalRescue Follow Angel of Hope on Instagram: www.instagram.com/AOHanimalrescue

ABOUT PETSMART CHARITIES®: PetSmart Charities, Inc. is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 500,000 shelter pets each year. PetSmart Charities also provides grant funding to nonprofits aligned with its mission. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting more than $390 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 16 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.

Follow PetSmart Charities on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PetSmartChariTs Find PetSmart Charities on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/PetSmartCharities Follow PetSmart Charities on Instagram: www.instagram.com/PetSmartCharities See PetSmart Charities on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmartCharitiesInc

Media Contact: Laura Uecker, Executive Director 24-Hour PetSmart Charities aohbusinessoffice@yahoo.com Media Line: 623-587-2177 763-445-0717