This is how a council grant helps reunite family violence survivors with their pets
A Moonee Valley City Council grant is empowering a local community organisation to keep family violence survivors connected with their much-loved pets.
In 2022, Second Chance Animal Rescue received a four-year Partnerships Grant for its Safe House for Pets Program, which assists people fleeing violence to continue caring for their pets.
The supports are also available to people experiencing homelessness or senior community members undergoing medical care.
With backing from Moonee Valley City Council, Second Chance has been able to provide hundreds of in-need residents with emergency pet boarding, free veterinary care, pet goods, training and pet grooming services. The organisation also runs a free, monthly pet food collection centre at Westfield Airport West.
In just the past 12 months, the grant funding has made it possible for the organisation to:
- Assist more than 1,000 pets in the Moonee Valley council area, primarily cats and dogs
- Provide access to emergency boarding for 253 pets
- Support 430 pet owners in need, who have benefited from free pet supplies such as collars, leads, bedding, kennels, food, enrichment items, jackets, toys and training sessions
- Distribute more than 89,120 free pet meals to local pet owners experiencing financial hardship
- Enable local support organisations to provide more holistic care to their clients, and
- deliver more than 143 pet care packages to people unable to collect supplies.
The free pet care services help maintain connection between victim-survivors and their pets, something Second Chance CEO Marisa Debattista says “can be the difference between life and death”.
“People tell us ‘We couldn’t do this without you’ or ‘I don’t know where my pet would be if this service didn’t exist’,” Marisa says.
Do you have a project that needs grant funding?
Moonee Valley City Council’s Partnership Grants Program supports local organisations and groups to deliver multi-year projects that address the social, cultural, economic, and environmental wellbeing priorities outlined in MV2040.
Council will later this year award another two-year Partnership Grant.
Applications for the Partnerships Grant Program open on Thursday, 24 July.
Visit our Grants webpage to learn more about the grant, including how to apply.
Marisa remembers the application process as easy, and says, “The support we received from Council along the way was wonderful.”
“We are on the forefront, doing the work that the community need, so it’s great when local government looks after organisations like ours.”