“I’ve been praying that someone like you all would come to help me with my cats. These cats were left on my property over the years and I couldn’t turn my back on them. I have no money for food and scrape together what I can. But they keep multiplying and dying and it kills me. Last week I chose not to get my own medication so that I could buy food for them since a snowstorm is coming and I can’t stand to think of them hungry and cold. I can’t sleep knowing I can’t help them. You have answered my prayers.” – Annie, a Virginia cat caretaker to HT when we arrived to spay/neuter her 15 cats.
WORLD SPAY DAY IS FEBRUARY 25th….and one of the most important fundraising days of the year for the lifesaving work of Homeward Trails. On this day, we beg and plead for donations that allow us to provide spay/neuter to animals in Virginia’s most under-resourced communities as well as on the streets of Guanica, Puerto Rico.
****For anyone donating $100 or more, you will be entered into a raffle to win an amazing prize as soon as our goal is met: $500 Amazon gift card, $100 restaurant gift card, one-night stay at the Trails Home Farm and a Virginia wine gift basket with local wines, treats and HT items. Please donate now through February 25th so we can achieve our goal and notify our hopeful communities immediately.***
Since 2020, our Trails UP program has been going into rural, under-resourced communities every month to prevent the births of kittens & puppies that face incredibly challenging barriers when they are born outside and/or to homes where they are not wanted. So many will die in the streets and woods, under homes and cars or in shelters. We can prevent this suffering with our efforts. But we need the funding to do so.
We have a lofty goal of raising $25,000 this year – which is only 25% of what we spend to bring our free spay/neuter services across Virginia. But every bit helps. Every dollar saves a life. We believe this is our most impactful, lifesaving program. And we need your help making it happen. We must raise these funds before notifying our rural community partners that we can bring our lifesaving services to them in 2025. They are anxiously awaiting word from us.
Since 2020 HT has accomplished the following:
TOTAL CATS SPAYED/NEUTERED: 2,843
TOTAL DOGS SPAYED/NEUTERED: 455
TOTAL PROVIDED FOR MEDICAL SUBSIDIES: $5,500
LBS. OF FOOD/SUPPLIES GIVEN OUT: 1.8 million lbs.
Homeward Trails literally is on-the-ground in the communities that need us most every single month. The cold, the snow, the rain, the heat don’t stop us. We are there. And our efforts are making a huge difference.
In 2024, the Danville Area Humane Society took in 325 fewer cats and killed 610 fewer cats than in 2023. It happens that this same timeframe, HT spayed/neutered 407 community cats and took for adoption a total of 127 cats from the shelter and the community. Our efforts are saving lives in REAL TIME.
Between 2023 and 2024 in Galax, Virginia, the shelter saw a decrease in both cat and dog intakes while we worked closely with the local Twin County Humane Society to provide free spay/neuter for more than 500 cats and dogs. Since 2020, HT has spayed/neutered 981 cats and dogs in Galax. Not only are we preventing animals from being born but our subsidies for medical care are helping to keep beloved pets in homes when they would otherwise end up at the shelter when their owners could not care for them. Our efforts and collaboration are saving lives in REAL TIME.
In Wise County, Virginia, HT has spayed/neutered 835 cats and dogs since 2020 and now has a waiting list of more than 300 people. We cannot meet the demand without your support. The caretakers are desperate for these services and want to do right by the animals but rely on us to provide the resources. With your support, we can say YES to every animal lover who contacts us needing help.
In Guanica, Puerto Rico we continue to provide funding for both street dog and cat spay/neuter and medical care. To date, we have spayed/neutered more than 500 animals. Our partners there work tirelessly to combat an overwhelming number of puppies and kittens born on the streets every day and only with our funding can they alleviate the suffering that so many animals in Puerto Rico face.
PLEASE DONATE TODAY to allow us to continue our lifesaving work. The animals & the people have no one else to turn to. We will leave you with one last quote:
“I recently lost my husband and have no family nearby. I live alone and have only the company of my small dog and the cats I care for. When I lost my job and my health insurance, I felt paralyzed for myself but for my animals. How would I care for them? Where would they go if I died? How long would they go hungry? The medical care, the neutering, the food for me and my animals. You got me through until I could find a job. You saved my animals and me. I will never forget." - Laverne