2022- Year In Review
2022 was one of the toughest years we’ve seen in rescue. There were more shelters than ever asking for transport assistance, and finding out-of-state rescue placement was the hardest it’s been since Laura started transporting dogs out of TN in 2016. We had to travel farther than we have in years and seek out new partners to try to save as many animals as we possibly could. When times get tough, we work harder and get creative to find ways to keep saving animals.
We’ve finished our last transport of the year, so it’s time to dig into the numbers to see exactly what we accomplished this year! 2022 was our first full calendar year of operating as CASA. We transported 2,489 animals this year and aided in the rescue of some unusual creatures! Mice, rats, horses, ducks and chickens were added to our roster in addition to the usual cats, dogs and an occasional pig. We like to keep it interesting as we help in any way we can! We have a huge impact in TN and transported animals out of 32 different counties in TN and 46 shelters/rescues within those counties this past year. We also helped out a small number of out-of-state rescues where we could and added AL, CA, FL, KY and NY to the list of states we assisted. We have driven over 143,000 miles in the past 20 months that we’ve been operating as CASA. We battled HIGH fuel prices this year and spent nearly $20,000 just on fuel. But despite that, we still maintain a very low “cost per animal” transported, as we do our best to be good stewards of what we’ve been given and make every dollar stretch as far as possible.
One of our biggest accomplishments in 2022 was creating and beginning to operate a spay/neuter program. Thanks to several generous people, we were able to purchase the equipment and supplies we needed to set up a clinic space for altering some of our transport animals. We held our first surgery day on February 26th and proceeded to alter 792 dogs and cats over the next 10 months. Maily has created a fun and efficient spay/neuter program and we have been blessed with a great team of volunteers that assist us on surgery days. We have received two grants to assist with our spay/neuter program this year and look forward to applying for more grants in the coming year as we expand our program. Having the ability to provide fully vetted animals to our transport partners allows the animals to get adopted quickly, which then frees up foster homes to help more animals in need. Vet access has become extremely restricted the past two years, so this is a crucial service to help ease the bottle neck for our transport partners of waiting on vet appointments.
Speaking of our amazing team of volunteers, we have conservatively logged 6,575 hours this past year on tasks such as transport driving, health certificate days, surgery days, cleaning crates and administrative tasks. We have such a fun, talented and generous group of people and we love working together to accomplish big things.
Britt ran several successful fundraising campaigns this year, and we received a few donation matches, which allowed us to purchase our first van under CASA and pay cash for it! We have several faithful supporters that always come through when we need a little extra help, and we feel so blessed to have them on our side.
As we wrap up the year and look back on what has been achieved, we’re humbled by the support we’ve received and are proud that we’ve been able to not only hold our own in a very tough year, but thrive. Thank you to everyone that has played a part in supporting our mission this past year. Look out 2023 because we have big things planned!