Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation, known as WAIF, received a $5,000 grant award from the Washington Federation of Animal Care and Control Agencies to help fund the Prevent-a-Litter program to assist qualified income households with spay/neuter surgery costs.
“WAIF is pleased to partner with the Federation to provide these vital spay/neuter surgeries and improve the quality of life for animals and their guardians on Whidbey Island,” a WAIF press release states.
The funds for this grant award are made possible by the sale of Washington state “spay-neuter-adopt” license plates.In an effort to be proactive regarding the pet overpopulation problem, revenue from the sale of these license plates has been earmarked through an agreement with the State of Washington for spay/neuter surgeries for dogs and cats in the state
Since 2007, the Federation has awarded over $615,000 in license plate grant funds to qualifying animal welfare organizations throughout the state. These funds have enabled the completion of nearly 20,500 spay/neuter surgeries for pets of low-income households and feral or free-roaming cats.
“Many income-qualified pet owners want to do the responsible thing by getting their pets fixed and avoid contributing to the overpopulation of animals on Whidbey,” said Cinnamon Hudgins, WAIF executive director. “We’re grateful for this grant because it will increase the number of pets and families we can help with PAL vouchers. When they schedule their pet’s spay/neuter surgeries with their local PAL participating veterinarian, they are part of the solution. This complements WAIF’s policy of ensuring every companion dog and cat is spayed/neutered prior to adoption to reduce the overpopulation of pets and the number of unwanted homeless pets entering shelters.”
Founded in 1990, Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the state. WAIF is recognized as a 2024 Guidestar Platinum Level organization in transparency and as a Charity Navigator 4-star nonprofit organization.
