spcavan_120"I am so excited to announce that a warm hearted and very generous friend of the SPCA has offered us a challenge: She will match, dollar for dollar, every donation made between now and May 31st, up to $30,000! This ‘matchmaker’ is challenging our community to rally in their support of us,” says SPCA of Tompkins County’s executive director Jim Bouderau. “A $30,000 challenge at this time of year is crucial to our work in the upcoming busy summer months.”

In 2001 the SPCA of Tompkins County became the first open-admission, No Kill shelter in the United States and opened the first LEED certified Animal Shelter in 2004. Last year, the SPCA celebrated a milestone of saving the lives of over 30,000 companion animals since transitioning to No Kill. This May marks the 10th Anniversary of the completion of the Dorothy and Roy Park Pet Adoption Center and the shelter is planning events surrounding Celebrating 10 Years of Sheltering' for this anniversary.

“It’s going to be such an exciting year,” Bouderau says. “We worked with our “matchmaker” so the challenge was timed to coincide the beginning of kitten/puppy season, when entire litters of animals are surrendered to us for care and eventual adoption. We’ve grown a lot in the last 13 years – especially our low-income spay/neuter programs – and couldn’t have done this without our many donors and the support of our local community”

Bouderau can’t stress enough the importance of local support. “We are not government funded; we rely on the generosity of this community, and their belief in our mission, to make the work we do possible.”

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