PIDO Steps Up for Animals in Ukraine

Point Isabel Dog Owners recently announced that any cash stuffed in our donation jar at our Point Isabel park cleanup on Sunday, March 20 would go to recommended organizations working on the ground in Ukraine to help pets and other animals. All are helping pet owners on the run or have stayed behind, at great risk, to help animals – dogs, cats, horses, zoo animals, even a bear sanctuary – stranded in embattled Ukraine. We hoped to send at least two organizations a few hundred dollars. We promised to match what was collected, up to $500.

What happened over the next three days warmed our hearts. People stepped up big-time, from all over the Bay Area and as far away as Huntington Beach, Chicago, and North Carolina. More than $500 in cash was stuffed into PIDO’s donation jar at the park by people out walking their dogs. Little kids shyly offered wads of one dollar bills. Senior citizens arrived with personal checks. Online donations poured in. By Monday night, PIDO had collected $4,000 we could distribute evenly among four organizations who desperately need support.

We have now sent $1,000 to these four organizations:

• Saved by the Vet (based in Romania but now supporting refugees fleeing across the border with their pets), 

• Network for Animals (based in the UK and US, partnering with local groups to bring food and medicine in and evacuate pets out),

• International Fund for Animal Welfare (partnering with shelters, helping zoo animals and a bear sanctuary, providing pet food and vet supplies),

• Shelter Ugolyok (animal rescue and farm sanctuary, building up a wartime reserve of supplies but having trouble getting those through the battle zones).

As any additional donations come in earmarked for Ukraine, PIDO will continue to pass them along quickly. Thank you so much to PIDO members, family, and friends who have contributed so generously to this urgent cause.