Statements
Mission
To end pet homelessness before it begins, by providing short-term respite care for pets as an alternative to surrender, with the goal of reunification with their owners.
Background
When an individual or family experiences a temporary crisis, such as hospitalization, loss of housing, domestic violence, addiction treatment, natural disaster, or otherwise, they often have no options for their pets other than permanent surrender. Pawster provides families with an alternative, by housing their pets in a loving foster home until the family is back on their feet and ready to be reunited. Crisis Foster Care keeps families together and pets out of shelters. Pawster is the only organization that provides Crisis Foster Care for pets in Middle Tennessee.
Pawster serves people as much as pets. Caring for pets enables people to get the vital, often life-saving services they need in a crisis. For instance, when someone with a pet experiences domestic violence, they often delay leaving for fear of the pet's safety, because they cannot bring their pet to a shelter. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 71% of women in domestic violence shelters report their abuser threatened, injured or killed a pet as a means of control. As many as 25% will return because the abuser is threatening the pet.
Similarly, people delay medical treatment, inpatient addiction treatment, or transitional housing because such facilities typically do not allow pets. By giving pets a safe place until their owner can reclaim them, Pawster helps people find safety, health and housing more quickly.
Since launching in 2020, Pawster has provided Crisis Foster Care for over 170 pets in 13 Middle Tennessee counties, reuniting 90% with their owners and rehoming the remaining 10% without surrender to a shelter or rescue. Due to the overwhelming need in Middle Tennessee, Pawster has set the goal to foster 125 pets in 2023-nearly double the amount fostered last year.
Impact
DeeDee's story illustrates some key lessons we learned in 2022.
DeeDee came to Pawster when her owner was threatened with eviction if they didn't get rid of DeeDee. The owner asked if we could foster DeeDee until they could secure new, pet-friendly housing. Loss of housing is the primary reason why people come to Pawster.
Unfortunately, it's difficult for anyone to find housing -- much less affordable and pet-friendly housing. That's why we worked with other local organizations this year to develop an affordable, pet-friendly housing database.
But even with our help, DeeDee's owner hit obstacle after obstacle, including several health emergencies and loss of a stable job that left them even less equipped to find new housing.
The good news was that DeeDee's foster wanted to keep her for as long as possible. Pawster typically has a 3-month maximum foster stay, but this case was unique. As long
as the foster was happy, we decided to let DeeDee be.
Meanwhile, we heard from so many pet owners who found housing but couldn't afford expensive pet fees. The board of directors voted unanimously in early 2022 to pay for any pet fees that would allow the families
of current foster pets to move into housing more quickly.
This was the lifeline DeeDee's owner was waiting for. Within a month, her owner had secured a much-needed Emotional Support Animal letter and her apartment agreed to let her have DeeDee back.
We celebrated DeeDee's reunion, but also learned a key lesson for the future: If we can help families move into pet-friendly housing, then pets like DeeDee can reunite with their families so much more quickly. And the sooner pets go home to their families, the more families we can help!
Needs
Financial Needs:
Pawster Nashville seeks to raise $147,000 in 2023 to provide Crisis Foster Care for 125 dogs and cats, or 90 families. These funds will be raised through multi-level individual fundraising campaigns and ongoing grant funds.
Pawster is also designating $20,000 of the budget to fund the hiring of a full-time Foster Coordinator. The addition of a full-time Foster Coordinator will exponentially increase the number of families Pawster can serve. Currently, the Executive Director is the only staff member. By dedicating an entire position to direct services, we will be able to: (1) Recruit more foster families, (2) Expedite the process for onboarding new foster homes, and (3) Expedite the process of placing a foster home for a family in crisis.
Volunteer Needs:
In addition to volunteer fosters, pet chauffeurs and event ambassadors, Pawster is actively seeking new board members from diverse backgrounds to fill key roles in our leadership, including: Fundraising expertise, Nonprofit experience, Animal Welfare experience, Accounting expertise, and Legal background.
CEO Statement
Three years ago, I connected with Natalie Corwin, the co-founder of Pet Community Center. I asked her, "What are the biggest needs in Nashville for cats and dogs right now?" I expected her to say "food pantries" or "affordable vet care." Instead, she told me about the ongoing need for Crisis Foster Care when people are temporarily unable to care for their pets. Then she said, "Now tell me about the nonprofit you're going to start."
Crisis Foster Care was a new concept to me, but I called up some friends and we got to work starting a nonprofit to care for people's pets when they experienced a crisis. The future was uncertain in a global pandemic, but we wanted to help in whatever way we could.
Three years later, with the guidance and support of so many local and national nonprofit leaders, along with an amazing and dedicated crew of fosters, volunteers, donors and foundation partners, Pawster has far surpassed our hopes for the impact we could have on Middle Tennessee families and their pets.
For 2022, the board of directors set a goal to foster 75 pets while their families were in crisis. We surpassed that goal and kept going. If we have learned one thing in the last three years, it's this: The need for Crisis Foster Care is only growing as the housing crisis worsens.
Yet our community has proven that we are up to the task. Over 200 volunteers stepped up over the last three years to foster pets, transport pets, and help in so many other ways. Over 300 individuals have given financially to keep pets and people together. You are a part of the community that is working to end pet homelessness before it begins. Thank you.
Because of the hope your continued support has offered, Pawster's board voted to raise our goals in 2023: We will aim to provide foster care for 125 pets whose families are in crisis. To meet this goal, we will also hire a new staff person by the end of 2023.
Pawster is an animal welfare nonprofit, but we exist to help people. Keeping people and pets together through crisis is what it's all about. And people like you make this work possible.
Thank you for continuing to work toward a future where no one has to lose a (furry) family member because of a temporary crisis.
Gabe Horton
Executive Director, Pawster Nashville
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Animal Related - Animal Protection & Welfare |
| Secondary Category: | Housing, Shelter - Housing Support |
| Tertiary Category: | Human Services - Family Violence Shelters and Services |
Areas Served
Pawster serves anyone in Tennessee, so long as they are able to travel to Middle Tennessee to drop off and pick up their pet(s). The above list reflect the home counties of people Pawster has served so far, but is not meant to exclude unlisted counties.
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Sumner |
