Alert of 11/28/06 - We Need Money
 

We need money. 

We became a “c3” almost a year ago, allowing you to make contributions that are tax deductible to Virginians for Animal Welfare.

Our Articles of Incorporation for Virginians for Animal Welfare require us to be operated exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.  The charitable purposes for which the Corporation is formed include, but shall not be limited to, (i) educating the public and bringing awareness of the pet overpopulation problem in Virginia and (ii) reducing Virginia’s pet overpopulation through the promotion and establishment of spay/neuter programs, as well as (iii) any other charitable purpose not in violation of these Articles of Incorporation or the requirements of Section 501(c)(3) of the Code.

To date we have received less than $7,000.  To those who contributed, thank you.  We need you to contribute again.  To those who have not contributed, now is a good time.

$7,000 is no small amount, but it does not go far doing what must be done to be effective.  We want to educate and focus our fellow Virginians on animal welfare issues and must work from an unassailable predicate of fact to do this.

Here are some of our projects:

We work to eliminate gas chambers in Virginia, compiling information about animals gassed, dimensions of chambers, certification of chambers, and so on.  Difficult, sad work.  We need to continue to chip away at this.

We have spent countless hours getting information from jurisdictions still using gas, and making a case that there is no gas chamber operated properly in Virginia.  In the next few days we will circulate our “gas backgrounder” so you can get an idea of the extent of this work.

We are updating our study of public money spent in Virginia on animal welfare.  It is time consuming to call and recall and email, and finally resort to filing FOIAs to get this information, but this is what we’ve had to do for 146 jurisdictions in Virginia.

We have started to update information on sales of dog and cat licenses across the state.

We have spent many hours reviewing which public agencies and which private groups filed animal records – and which have not.  There still is not a complete picture of the companion animal population in Virginia.

We have spent many hours reviewing the State Vet’s inspection reports of public and private facilities to determine whether a jurisdiction is in compliance with the law.  As you might guess, to date NOT A SINGLE CIVIL PENALTY HAS BEEN LEVIED against a facility which is out of compliance – and there are many, many which are not compliant.

And recently, after getting an opinion from Virginia’s Attorney General that breed discrimination is illegal, we are reaching each county, city, and town in Virginia to make them aware that breed discrimination is illegal.

These projects were completely underwritten with personal funds when contributed funds were exhausted – and they have been exhausted.

It is time to ask for your financial help to share responsibility for these and other projects.

Donations to Virginians for Animal Welfare are tax deductible and will go to these projects, and will give us the funds to expand spay/neuter clinics.

We also ask that you join VVAW, which is not tax-deductible.  We will see where we are in the next two months or so, and then determine whether we will arrange “c4” status.  If we move for “c4”, we will become more visibly and vocally involved in lobbying work, election of candidates friendly to our goals, and to beat opposition interests at their own game. Currently, membership in VVAW is but $5, and we encourage you to contribute beyond that amount as much as you can.

You needn’t be politically sophisticated to know what’s right, and those of you with limited time might help by contributing to VAW and VVAW so that others can do the things you don’t have time to do or feel comfortable doing.

Please contribute, and contribute as much as you can.

Work for change.  The meek may not inherit the earth, or at least not soon enough.

Thank you.

Lillian Clancy and Donald Marro 

and the Board of VAW/VVAW

Peyton Coyner, Debra Griggs, Cindy Ingram, Kim Kincheloe, Mollie McCurdy, and Pat Weakland

click here for the form to contribute to the “c3” (tax deductible) VAW

click here for the form to join and contribute to VVAW