Just a reminder that our fiscal year ends on June 30th. Please check your records to make sure that you have used your grant allotment for the year. We ask that all grant requests be submitted to us by June 15th. Remember that any unused grant funds at the end of the fiscal year go back into the general pool, to be distributed next year. You lose it if you don’t use it. We don’t want any deserving pet missing out on the urgent care that they need.
If you are not sure about your fund balance or have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Tauber Fund for Animals Update. We have had a very robust utilization of the Tauber Funds this year. They are almost completely depleted and it is only May! We are so happy that so many animals have been helped. But unfortunately, once the funds have been 100% utilized, we won’t know until January of 2024 if our very generous donor will replenish them. Please check our website to make sure that Tauber funds are available before you promise them to a client. If you do have a big case that needs assistance and there are no Tauber funds left, please contact one of us. We can try to help you find a way to help your patient.

We are getting ready to send out our enrollment packets for the upcoming year. Please watch your emails. If you don’t receive your packet by early June, please contact us. Once you received them, please fill out the forms and return them to us by mid-June. We will let everyone know about their grant allotments for FYE24 by the end of June.

After meeting with the Vet Advisory Committee and getting your feedback, we have made some changes to our program for the coming year. We are simplifying the process and making it easier for you to access the funds. Please watch for updates before the end of the enrollment period and at the start of FYE24. We will keep you posted. We want to make it as easy as possible for all of you to use every penny of your funds every year.

Finally, we wanted to meet “Knopa”, a six-year old Maltipoo. Knopa had a very painful abdomen and was urinating frequently around the house. “Knopa’s” mom is elderly, living on a fixed income and is being helped by a caregiver. The caregiver reached out to us and asked for help for the family. We directed her to our list of member hospitals on the SFAfA website. “Knopa” was seen at Peninsula Avenue Veterinary Hospital and was diagnosed with multiple very large bladder stones. “Knopa’s” mom could not afford the surgery that was desperately needed. With the help of an SFAfA grant, Dr. Kelley at Peninsula Avenue performed a cystotomy and removed the stones. On recheck, “Knopa” (and her mom) were happy, doing well and very grateful for the help from Peninsula Avenue Veterinary Clinic and from SFAfA. We are so very proud of our collaboration with all of you. With your help, we hope to be able to share lots more happy-ending stories like this one. Many thanks for all that you do from the board and volunteers at San Francisco Aid for Animals!

Hanna Lee Aurelia Heitz Anne Marie Benfatto, DVM
Hanna@sfafa.org Aurelia@sfafa.org AnneMarie@sfafa.org