RedRover Awarded $433,000 To Keep More Domestic Violence Survivors and Their Pets Together

Safe Housing and Safe Escape Grant Programs to Expand 50 Percent

Press Release – Sacramento, CA – RedRover, a national nonprofit animal welfare organization, was recently awarded a $433,000 grant from an anonymous foundation in support of the RedRover Relief Domestic Violence Assistance Program, just in time for October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This generous grant will allow RedRover to offer more financial assistance for safe pet boarding and veterinary care through the Safe Escape program, increase their Safe Housing grant amounts from $6,000 up to $20,000 and launch a pilot program that enables domestic violence shelters to create their own plan to help survivors of domestic violence and their pets escape abuse together. The grant also funds general operating costs for the program.

All too often, domestic violence victims stay in abusive homes for fear of subjecting their animals to abuse if they leave. RedRover Relief Safe Escape grants pay for temporary boarding and/or veterinary care to enable a domestic violence victim to remove pets to safety so that no member of the family is left behind. RedRover Relief Safe Housing grants pay for on-site space to house pets at domestic violence shelters.

RedRover President and CEO Nicole Forsyth said, “This generous grant saves lives by expanding this vital program to more domestic violence survivors across the country, so they can escape abusive relationships safely with their precious pets. It also allows us to launch a Safe Housing expansion pilot program to identify boarding options beyond those just onsite.”

Since helping its first victim of domestic violence with a RedRover Relief Safe Escape grant in 2007, RedRover has awarded 382 grants to help 688 people with 13,897 nights of boarding for their pets. Since the inception of the Safe Housing program in 2012, 58 grants have been awarded to domestic violence shelters for a total of $238,720.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than 70 percent of pet-owning women entering domestic violence shelters reported that their batterer had injured, killed or threatened family pets for revenge or psychological control. As many as 48 percent of domestic violence victims don’t leave their abusive situations because they fear what will happen to their pets when they leave.

According to Sheltering Animals and Families Together (SAF-T), a national initiative that guides family violence shelters on how to welcome families with pets, only a fraction of the 2,500 domestic violence shelters in the United States report having the ability to house animals onsite.

RedRover is partnering with SAF-T to work toward the goal of having at least one pet-friendly domestic violence shelter in each state. Shelters in the following nine states do not currently house pets onsite and are encouraged to apply for Safe Housing grants: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

Deadlines to apply for Safe Housing grants are May 15 and October 15 each year. To learn more, visit: https://RedRover.org/SafeHousing

More information about RedRover’s domestic violence resources can be found at RedRover.org/Domestic.

About RedRover

Now in their 30th year, RedRover focuses on bringing animals out of crisis and strengthening the human-animal bond through emergency sheltering, disaster relief services, financial assistance and education. Through their RedRover Relief program, they have helped thousands of animals and provided thousands of safe nights across the United States and Canada. For the third consecutive year, RedRover has earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. To learn more, please visit RedRover.org. You can view their media kit at RedRover.org/media-kit.

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