Press Room

Contact:
Rich Avanzino, President,
Maddie’s Fund
(510) 337-8979

MADDIE’S FUND TO GIVE $2.4 MILLION TO SPAY/NEUTER DOGS AND CATS OF TEXAS’ LOW INCOME RESIDENTS

(Alameda, CA – November 2002) Maddie’s Fund has awarded $1.2 million to the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) to support the first six months of a two year spay/neuter program for the dogs and cats of Texas’ low-income residents. The new program, which started in October, will be administered by the TVMA and carried out by its member veterinarians. As surgeries are performed, Maddie’s Fund will provide as much as $2.4 million for the project’s first year.

Maddie’s Spay/Neuter Project in Texas enables qualified low-income Texas residents in fifty-one counties to have their dogs spayed or neutered for $20.00 and their cats altered for $10.00. In addition to the Maddie’s Fund subsidy, these low fees are made possible by participating veterinarians who are reducing their fees to help more low-income pet owners spay/neuter their companion animals. Clients will be asked to show proof of low-income with a Medicaid card and there will be a limit of six pets per household. It’s estimated that up to 40,000 dogs and cats will benefit from the surgery in the first year alone.

“The Maddie’s Fund team is really excited about this project,” said Maddie’s Fund President Rich Avanzino. “We’re tremendously impressed with the leadership of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association and with the enthusiasm of its member doctors. Even before the project officially started, some of the veterinarians were taking out ads and calling the media to promote the program in their own areas. With over-achievers like that on board, we know surgeries will get done in droves.”

About Maddie’s Fund: Maddie’s Fund, the Pet Rescue Foundation , is a family foundation endowed through the generosity of Cheryl and Dave Duffield, PeopleSoft Founder and Board Chairman. The foundation is helping to fund the creation of a no-kill nation. The first step is to help create programs that guarantee loving homes for all adoptable (healthy) shelter dogs and cats throughout the country. The next step will be to save the sick and injured pets in animal shelters nationwide. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Minature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.