The Richmond community has received a tremendous honor that was announced this morning at a joint news conference we held with the City of Richmond at our Robins-Starr Humane Center. The successful coalition between the Richmond SPCA and our partner, Richmond Animal Care & Control (RAC&C), has been recognized with a Lifesaving Award. The award, given by Maddie’s Fund®, a national pet rescue foundation based in Alameda, Calif., recognizes the contributions of community partnerships that have successfully saved the lives of all healthy, homeless pets for at least two years and that are likely to sustain an adoption guarantee into the future.

In January 2007, we announced that no healthy, homeless animal had lost his life in the City of Richmond during 2006, and we have maintained and grown upon that success, which has made this city one of the safest in the nation for homeless pets. Never again will a healthy orphaned dog or cat die in the City of Richmond for the lack of a home. Our community coalition with RAC&C is only the fourth in the nation to receive Maddie’s prestigious Lifesaving Award.

In making the award presentation, Maddie’s Fund President Rich Avanzino stated his foundation’s admiration for the Richmond SPCA. “We have watched the organization create some of the most innovative and effective pet retention, adoption, customer service and marketing programs of any animal shelter in the nation. These outstanding programs have allowed the Richmond SPCA to quickly place animals in loving homes and take more stray pets out of Richmond Animal Care & Control. At the same time, RAC&C has maintained an excellent adoption program of its own. The relationship between the two agencies is an incredibly successful model we hope others will follow.”

Joining Robin Starr, CEO of the Richmond SPCA, to speak about the partnership and the award were Richmond City Mayor Dwight C. Jones; and RAC&C Operations Manager Jody Jones. A combined grant of $230,200 accompanied the award, with $160,350 going to the Richmond SPCA and $69,850 to RAC&C. This recognition is for the agencies’ joint success in 2006 and 2007 and will make provisions for the future of orphaned animals at the city’s animal care and control division.

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