2019 - 2020 Successes

Stand Up For Animals (SUFA) is an independent 501c3 non-profit organization that provides assistance to animals and families in Westerly, RI and surrounding towns.  We rely solely on donations from generous individuals, businesses, and foundations to support our work to provide compassionate care, medical treatment, and humane education.   Funds raised are used to provide financial support to families in our community that incur unexpected emergency medical pet expenses, that need animal training/assessments to correct behavioral issues, to educate school aged children on animal welfare and safety and to support the needs of our state of the art animal shelter facility that we built for the Town of Westerly. 

Spotlight on a few of our 2019 successes and most recent efforts to support those affected by COVID-19

  • Created our Neighbors Helping Furry Friends initiative to help people that have found that COVID -19 has left them needing help for their pets.  We have been providing pet food for families that are in financial need or homebound.  If someone needs food, they can email us at [email protected] and let us know. We have also been buying food and stocking the pet pantries at Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center along with RI Center Assisting Those In Need.  We are concerned that without this resource, we will see an increase in lost and abandoned animals as people find themselves having difficulty financially feeding and providing for them. 
  • Educate the community – presented 43 classes totaling $5,625.00 and reaching over 1,350 future pet owners at the elementary, middle and high school level on responsible pet ownership for 2019.  We also offered a SUFA sponsored summer camp program through the Ocean Community YMCA.
  • Support our local community (Stonington, Westerly and surrounding towns) with emergency medical pet care through the Chariho Westerly Animal Rescue Committee. Since 2018, we’ve contributed approximately $30,000 in pet medical emergencies for local community families that needed help. In addition, we also participate in a catch, spay/neuter release program for feral cats plus we provide dry and wet cat food for many feral cat colonies in the area. In 2019 alone, we spent over $4,500 and had 48 cats spayed/neutered and spent over $1,000 in cat food for feral cats.
  • Continue to provide support to The Westerly Animal Shelter by providing specialized animal behavior assessment on an as needed basis to shelter dogs.  Also, yearly, we contribute $20,000 to the Veterinary’s salary and clinic medicine for all shelter pets.
  • Improve our dog park;
  • Installed a new sprinkler system and added pavilions in all of the dog park enclosures to provide shade.
  • Improve the shelter facility;
  • Installed supplemental heaters in the dog runs and isolation area to provide greater comfort in the cold months. 
  • Added a gated area around the Animal Control Officer’s parking area to prevent an animal from escaping and running into the road.
  • Installed cat portals that turn two cages into one larger one, giving the cats more living space while they’re waiting for their new families.
  • Added a TV in the cat sanctuary, so they have entertainment watching birds, squirrels, frogs…
  • Partner with Dr. John Turco and the Westerly Animal Shelter in offering a low-cost clinic that’s open to the community every Thursday by appointment. The clinic offers services such as annual exams, vaccinations, heart-worm testing, dental cleaning, and spay and neutering.
  • Provide Martingale Collars for the Super Dog Adoption Days and to the shelter dogs adopted through the Westerly Animal Shelter; over 550 Martingale Collars donated in 2018 and 2019, totaling just over $4,000.
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