The WHS thanks YOU with 30 Days of Gratitude

April is a very special time at The WHS: it is our 30 Days of Gratitude month. As a community-supported organization, there are so many humbling moments, so much passion and dedication to saving lives and advocating for the humane treatment of all animals, that taking time to say thank-you is not only appropriate, but very much an honour.

Personally, I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to lead The Winnipeg Humane Society. Only a handful of individuals have had this honour since 1894, so I take this responsibility very seriously and I simply couldn’t do my job without the encouragement and support of our board, staff, volunteers and the many rescues and individuals that spend their time and money every day saving animals or advocating for their welfare. To all our partners, “thank you.” Today we announce a new partnership with the Winnipeg Missing and Found Watch Facebook group. And we hope to announce many more partnerships in the coming months.

We are also very grateful to the thousands of donors and financial supporters of The WHS. Close to 70% of our budget is supported through donations. We are deeply grateful for this support and we are and will remain careful stewards of the contributions we receive. Our volunteers, over 700 of them, also deserve our deepest gratitude: without them, our shelter would not be able to operate.

And last but certainly not least, I need to say thank you to the dedicated, professional and caring staff that are part of The WHS team. Every single staff member is committed to the organization and provides compassion, love and care to over 6,500 animals each year in our shelter, and many thousand more that we support through our clinic and the admirable work of our Animal Protection and Humane Officers. They are in the front-line of animal welfare, they save lives every single day.

So while every day we see neglected animals and it breaks our hearts, we also see happy individuals and families adopting their new furry family member. And the transformation between that scared and sick dog or cat and the happy, tail-wagging (or purring) animal ready for a new life is probably the biggest source of gratitude that anyone could possibly have.

Thank you for caring. Thank you for contributing. Thank you for working with us. We are humbled by your support and we remain open to learning about what the community needs and expects from us, and how to deliver in our promise to save lives and advance animal welfare.

Sincerely,

Javier