Welcome to spring, Friend, the special time of year when you can blame your guests’ allergies on pollen instead of pet dander!

While the natural world has been resting these past few months of winter, RedRover has been moving forward and growing our programs, our impact, and our team. I'm pleased to introduce our new Director of Communications, Catharine Mini! Having done wonderful work for pets and families with The Arizona Pet Project, she's now leading our talented communications team to share powerful stories of hope and resilience and showcase how RedRover – and our amazing FurEver Friends – brings people and animals from crisis to care.

She's still learning and settling into her role, but she already knows one thing for sure: We couldn't do it without our Friends.

With many pets and their people likely to face financial hardship this year, we are grateful to have Catharine's creative insight and your recurring support to help us continue to be there for animals and communities in crisis. And we’re thankful for your trust in our mission to protect these animals when they need us the most.

We know that times are uncertain right now. We also know you have endless options for choosing which amazing organizations to support. Your choice to support RedRover is our greatest gift, one we do not take for granted. We'd love to hear your thoughts about your experience during these uncertain times. Will you take five minutes to complete this survey, please?

Thanks again for being part of RedRover. We're honored to have you by our side. In the meantime, here are 6.5 ways you can be a Friend to the animals this spring.

APRIL   

Wednesday, April 30 is National Animal Advocacy Day! Whether you're taking a bullhorn to the steps of your state capitol every weekend or calling your representatives in the evenings, you demonstrate that the love we receive from animals is worth fighting to protect. Raise awareness of animal welfare issues and celebrate the achievements of animal advocates as a spokesman, like Socks Clinton above, on this special day. 

And for our local FurEver Friends, come to the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 29 to celebrate the Third Annual Animal Advocacy Day! You can meet with elected officials to discuss bills addressing issues like expanding access to veterinary care, shelter transparency, and closing the puppy mill pipeline into California. Learn more from the good folks at the San Francisco SPCA and RSVP today.

   MAY

We're just weeks away from Big Day of Giving! Join us on Thursday, May 1, to help us reach our $20,000 goal to bring animals from crisis to care and keep pets and families together in our hometown of Sacramento, California, and all across the nation.

Starting Thursday, April 17, you can schedule your special one-time gift of $15 or more to bring us closer to our goal and help the animals counting on you. We’re also inviting you to be the first to listen to the community Spotify playlist we’ve put together for our fellow animal lovers as our Big Day of Giving gift to YOU!

What can $20,000 do to help pets and families? When we reach our goal, we can fund two RedRover Responders deployments, approve nearly 75 RedRover Relief Urgent Care grants, provide over 600 nights of safe boarding for families experiencing domestic violence, or help one domestic violence shelter become pet friendly! Your generosity will ensure that all of our lifesaving programs can help pets and families in crisis.

Transparency is so important when you generously offer your recurring support, and we understand you might have questions but haven't known where to look for answers. Well, you're in luck, Friend!

Join our President and CEO, Katie Campbell, for a virtual meet and greet on Wednesday, May 21. If you have questions, she has answers! Register today at RedRover.org.RSVP. 

   JUNE   

This may be the best news of all, Friend...Friday, June 20 will be the 27th annual Take Your Dog to Work Day!

Now, I work from home, so that's just any other Friday for me and my dogs, but I hope everyone can take advantage of this very formal, nationally-recognized holiday.

If your community is anything like Sacramento, it will be hot long before June but that doesn't mean we all wouldn't benefit from some important reminders about hot weather safety and pets. Your friends, family, and neighbors might need a little reminder, too. 

FurEver Friends Fun Poll

Whether you grew up with a menagerie of animals, one very special best friend, or even an imaginary pet, you all became FurEver Friends – it turns out that learning to love and care for an animal helps you become the kind of compassionate person who chooses to help others.

I'm especially thankful for the handful of you who took the time to share a little more about a special pet from your childhood...I wish I could have met them!

“I grew up with two Siamese brothers who were simply family. My mom and I learned how to live with cats, and they learned how to run a household.”

“My most famous pets were my pair of white ducks. My parents gave me them as a birthday gift when I was 16. I walked them around the block on harnesses – but they would only walk backwards! In the yard, they would chase along the bushes when anyone walked by, and of course, quack like crazy! Beware if you had to come in our gate – they loved to nip at ankles :)”

“When I was about 2 years old, we had a bulldog named Handsome Herman, who was anything but handsome. But he was such a love.”

And now for our next FurEver Friends Fun Poll!

Growing up, our dogs slept outside. As an adult, my dogs sleep in their beds on top of my bed. There was a time in between when they slept in their beds on the floor near my bed, but they've since broken down the second-to-last wall of resistance. It's only a matter of time...

Well Friend, thank you for being a Friend!

See you in the summer,

Savannah Verdon

Development Manager

(and Delaney, Snack Acquisitions Manager)

FurEver Friends Resources