Clinton Township rescue slammed with needy animals: ‘I don’t know if we’re going to pull out of this’
At a time when Clinton Township-based nonprofit A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue has seen its resources stretched to the limits, its founder said its longstanding partnership with PetSmart Charities has provided crucial funding and support.
A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue was founded in 2007 and has been working with PetSmart Charities for more than a decade, founder Michelle Heyza said. The rescue takes in and rehabilitates stray, abandoned and unwanted dogs and cats — as well as the occasional guinea pig — then helps them find new homes, she said.
In 25 years of animal rescue work, Heyza said, she’s never seen more animals in need than now. To top it off, donations also are down, she said.
“It’s been really, really, really bad, and I don’t know if we’re going to pull out of this,” Heyza said. “I think it’s just going to continue to get worse.”
The simplest thing people can do to help?
Keep your pets, Heyza said. When financially needy pet owners consider surrendering their animals, A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue does what it can to help those pets stay in their homes rather than take up crucial space in a shelter or foster home. Grants from PetSmart Charities, including funds provided for each animal adoption, enable the nonprofit to help owners in need, which in turn helps ease pressure on the entire rescue system, Heyza said. PetSmart Charities also provides spay and neuter grants, which helps reduce in fighting overpopulation, she said.
“We don’t need any more animals in the rescue. We have enough,” Heyza said. “We don’t need someone surrendering their animal because they can’t afford a surgery. Instead, we’ll try to say: ‘Hey, what if we help you out with the surgery? And would you be willing to keep your pet?’ And 95% of the time, the answer is ‘Oh my God, yes.’”
Heyza pleaded for concerned residents to make donations to their local animal rescues. County shelters may be short on resources, but they do receive some government funding, she said. Local rescues subsist solely on donations, adoption fees and grants like those provided by PetSmart Charities, Heyza said. A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue is primarily foster-based, but operates a small shelter that costs about $17,000 a month to run, Heyza said.
“Donate to your local shelters, donate to your small shelters, because we survive on it,” Heyza said. “With us being here, it takes the burden and stress off of the county shelter. I don’t even know how many times we’ve gotten animals brought to us that were supposed to go to the county shelter, but we’ve taken them in instead. … We’re all here to work together as a community.”
While the rescue holds adoption events at a variety of different locations, all of their adoptions are finalized through PetSmart and new owners pick up their pets at the store, Heyza said. A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue runs the “cat condos” at the PetSmart store in Chesterfield, which she said has been a “tremendous” help with exposing cats to adopters and finding them new homes.
“I think (the partnership) has been hugely beneficial for A Rejoyceful Rescue,” Heyza said. “The fact that they give back for every single adoption that’s done through PetSmart is amazing. PetSmart is truly giving back to their community in that respect because the dollars that we get from that go right back into our community efforts.”
Special needs adoptions always stand out to Heyza.
Orion, a cat with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) who was with the rescue for nearly a full year, was recently adopted from the PetSmart cat adoption center, she said. Another cat condo resident, Potato, recently found her forever home after raising a litter of kittens. Potato was considered special needs because she required a home where she would be the only animal, Heyza said.
Orion, an FIV+ cat, recently was adopted from A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue through a PetSmart cat adoption center. (Photo courtesy of A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue)
Orion, an FIV+ cat, recently was adopted from A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue through a PetSmart cat adoption center. (Photo courtesy of A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue)
Expand“We couldn’t even bring her back to our shelter because she didn’t like all the animals in our shelter,” Heyza said. “So that was a really huge success story — the fact that she found a home as an only-cat through PetSmart Charities, and being able to have those condos there.”
For more information, visit rejoycefulrescue.com.