Many of us take our cars for granted: they run with a few oil changes, the occasional tire rotation, and some gas (while we swear at the pump as the dollars roll up…up…and up). When they are in the shop it’s an inconvenience and an unexpected expense. For the most part, we rely on cars to get our errands done, our families to activities, and make our lives easier.
Now, imagine your errands include picking up dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and a snake or two. Stopping by an emergency room, a vet’s office, and then an apartment building. After that, you drive another few hours to a house that will soon be a home to one or more of your passengers. That’s a typical day for Wheels of Hope — a van no animal ever takes for granted!
Wheels of Hope is the essential Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals program that assists Animal Care & Control of NYC (AC&C) and its New Hope partner groups in moving animals out of city shelters to safe havens. As each animal is carefully brought out onto one of our four Wheels of Hope transport vans, his or her future brightens. Some are on their way to much-needed medical care. Others are on a journey to foster and adoptive homes, where they will become family pets. And most importantly, all of them are opening up cage space for another animal to be rescued in an already overcrowded shelter system.
Keeping pets healthy is the number one priority: by taking these little (and big) ones out of the shelter quickly, the spread of kennel cough, upper respiratory infections (URI), and other disease is lessened. With the medical burden lifted from the rescue groups who take these animals in, the groups can focus on what they do best: rescuing and finding homes for more animals.
When transport for veterinary care is needed, we are there. When animals need to be moved out of the shelter, we are there.
Just last month, our four Wheels of Hope vans logged a total of 31,000 miles. Since January, these vans covered more than 443,000 miles! In 2010, Wheels of Hope transported more than 8,400 animals out of AC&C shelters. These figures represent thousands of hours on the road, considerable wear and tear on our vehicles (and our drivers!), and the urgent need Wheels of Hope fulfills. They also represent a lot of hope, many new beginnings, and significant progress toward reaching our goal of transforming New York City into a no-kill community by 2015.
“How do you do it?!” is a question we often hear. We do it with the support of caring individuals like you. Your donation helps us pay for gas, tolls, insurance, van maintenance, and our dedicated drivers. These expenses are huge, but necessary to keep our life-saving vans running.
Remember, when one of our vans goes into the shop for repairs, it isn’t just an “inconvenience”; it can literally be a matter of life and death. We have to keep those wheels turning. The animals are depending on us. Your donation of $5, $10, $100, or any amount helps us guarantee that our Wheels of Hope vans are on the road every day, 365 days a year, carrying our precious cargo toward a brighter future.