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.