AKI's 2020 Grant Program
For the past 2 years in May, we've announced the opening of our 2020 Africa-
Based Animal Welfare Grant Program. This, our 3rd annual grant program,
kicks off amid so much uncertainty. The AKI Board considered a range of
scenarios and in the end, decided to move forward with the grant program with
one big difference from previous years. This year, we are asking applicants to
describe how their proposal is covid-19 compliant and how they will adapt their
project to changing covid-19 restrictions. We know that the need for animal
welfare grants in Africa is huge and in light of so much bad and sad news,
we decided that AKI's Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program must go on! Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organizations that are interested in applying, please click here.
Please consider donating for a 2020 grant. The more money we raise for the grant program, the more projects we can support, the more animals that will be helped.
Interested donors, please click here to read more about the grant program. If
you'd like to donate to the grant program, please click here. And if you would
like to discuss supporting a specific location or type of grant, please get in
touch.
The AKI Blog
May's AKI Blog posts are about our Partner Organizations and how they use
the funds that you donate:
A Story of 2 Mbwa wa Africa-Tanzania Rescues-2 dogs were nursed back
to health, thanks to Mbwa wa Africa; thanks to AKI donors, vet treatment
costs were covered.
AKI Support to Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society-helping
before and during covid-19-LAWCS staff and Humane Ed students adapt
to covid-19 restrictions while still helping animals.
Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society-Cat Awareness Day-A
bonus, 2 LAWCS posts in 1 month! We wanted to give equal time to cats.
Kingston Community Animal Welfare-working through the covid-19
pandemic-Although KCAW has to deal with significant restrictions on
movement, Deborah has figured out ways to keep Kingston's street cats
and dogs fed and well cared for.
Photo below: Mary Cole and her rescue cat, Kett. Mary is a member of an
Animal Kindness Club, an after-school club sponsored by Liberia Animal
Welfare & Conservation Society. Students in Animal Kindness Clubs are role
models in their communities, showing kindness and advocating for animals.
AKI's COVID-19 RELIEF FUND
Thank you to our donors-it's because of you, your kindness, thoughtfulness,
and generosity that we can provide emergency funds to:
Uganda Society for the Protection & Care of Animals: Worryingly, USPCA's
biggest local donor, a hotel, suspended their donations. Due to travel and social
distancing restrictions, the hotel business is suffering, and they just couldn't
continue their support. Another local business, also feeling the pain of covid-19,
suspended their daily donations of fish for The Haven's cats. AKI is sending
covid-19 relief funds to help cover this unexpected funding shortfall. We gratefully accept donations to help ensure the USPCA has the funds they need to care for the 300 cats and dogs currently residing at The Haven and so they can continue rescuing cats- and dogs-in-need.
Bam Animal Clinics-Uganda: Bam received AKI's covid-19 relief funds and
bought a motorcycle (picture below with the Bam team) so they can now reach
remote parts of Kween and Bukwo counties and bring help to donkey
communities that were previously inaccessible. Bam received permission to
travel for veterinary work and currently they are in eastern Uganda (with their
new motorcycle) helping working donkeys.
Have A Heart-Namibia: HAH uses AKI funds for booster vaccinations and
parasite treatment for HAH spay/neuter clients, for spay/neuter of cats, and for
an HAH-AKI Emergency Fund to help caring pet owners pay for vet costs.
Geesche (HAH-Namibia) told us that during the covid-19 crisis, the number of
pet owners requesting help has increased significantly and the HAH-AKI Fund
is depleted. We will replenish it.
Rex (pictured below) is the most recent beneficiary of the HAH-AKI Fund. Rex belongs to the Rickerts family (so his full name is Rex Rickerts). Rex had a broken leg and Vet Nurse Sheelagh saw how desperate for help the very caring owner was, so she sent a request to HAH to use the HAH-AKI Fund. Sheelagh said that Rex's family is beyond thankful for the help Rex got. They were so worried about him and visited him every day at the clinic. Of course while he was there, Rex was neutered, vaccinated, and treated against parasites.
As funds are available and as needs arise, we'll send additional covid-19 relief funds to our Partners. We're grateful for your support, without it none of this would be possible.
Kindness to Animals has no Boundaries
I've heard from too many donors that they haven't received the thank you/receipt email that I always send when someone donates (it comes from karen@animal-kind.org, so please watch for that email message!) If you've donated to AKI and you haven't gotten a thank you email from me (not an automatically generated receipt), please let me know-I would feel horrible if you didn't receive our thanks. You can always get in touch with me here.
For those of you who like pie charts and especially AKI pie charts that show how your donations have been used, we have new pie charts (How your 2020 donations were used through May) for: Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras, Ghana Society for the Protection & Care of Animals, Save Animals-Armenia, Uganda Society for the Protection & Care of Animals, Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society, and Have A Heart-Namibia (and from last month, Bam Animal Clinics-Uganda and Namibia rural SPCAs). You can find these on the AKI website under Our Partners.
I'm continuing to update the covid-19 situation for each of our Partner Organizations. You can also find this information on the AKI website under Our Partners.
I know this is a difficult and uncertain time for all of us. We wish you health, happiness, and contentment. We are grateful for your help in the past and we're grateful if you can continue to help. Stay safe and well.
AKI donors support our 10 Partner Organizations in Uganda (2 partners), Tanzania, South Sudan, Namibia, Liberia, Ghana, Armenia, Jamaica, and Honduras; and AKI's Grant Program for Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organizations (2019 grant recipients are located in: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mozambique, and South Africa.)
With Gratitude, Karen Menczer, Founder & Director & the AKI Board Thank you for sharing the AKI newsletter with others who care about animals.