Arlington Animal Services Community Cat Coordinator Grant

In Arlington, people dream big and the idea of dramatically increasing the lifesaving efforts for animals is an achievable goal in The American Dream City.

Arlington Animal Services (AAS) received grants from national animal welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society to increase the number of cats humanely trapped, spayed or neutered and vaccinated by 1,000. This includes both free-roaming “community cats” as well as cats that are relinquished to the City’s shelter. Best Friends is also funding a full-time community cat coordinator position for one year and providing $5,000 for Trap-Neuter-Return program supplies and equipment. During this time, AAS will also provide another 300 spay/neuter/vaccinate surgeries on shelter and community cats.

“The partnership with Best Friends Animal Society is a huge blessing for Arlington’s community cats, shelter staff, and volunteers,” Arlington Animal Services Manager Chris Huff said. “The TNR program for our city can only grow with success by the tools, funding, and partnerships made possibly by Best Friends Animal Society.”

Best Friends Animal Society is excited to be working with Arlington Animal Services, said Desiree Triste-Aragon, the Society’s Community Cat Program manager.

“These community cat projects save lives, and their positive impact extends beyond the cats — to shelter and enforcement staff, volunteers and advocates, and the community. Once these cats are sterilized and vaccinated, they can live healthy, happy lives in their communities, where caring residents look out for them,” Triste-Aragon said. “Sterilization and vaccination provide a public health benefit to the community, too, a vast improvement over the failed trap-and-kill approach that has been used for generations.”

It’s not just cats that will benefit from this partnership between AAS and Best Friends Animal Society.
Pat Guerrero, who is Best Friends Animal Society’s Volunteer Engagement & Programs senior manager, and her team guided AAS through achieving the prestigious designation of a certified Points of Light Service Enterprise. Guerrero said Best Friends has a licensing agreement with Points of Light, an organization dedicated to mobilizing people to take action on the causes they care about through innovative programs, events and campaigns. That licensing agreement allows Best Friends to offer this opportunity to Best Friends Network partnering animal welfare organizations to enhance their own volunteer programs, utilizing a comprehensive assessment of engagement practices supported by strategies, tools, and coaching to improve performance across ten areas of volunteer engagement practice.

“Arlington Animal Services met the best-in-class standards in effectively delivering on their mission by strategically engaging volunteer time and talent,” Guerrero said. “By working more effectively and efficiently, they will now be getting a greater return on their volunteer investment. Service Enterprise certification signifies that organizations have the capability and management expertise to strategically use volunteers to improve the performance of their organization. Research shows for every dollar invested in effective volunteer engagement, organizations can expect three to six dollars in return through more effective program delivery. This represents a three hundred to six hundred percent return on investment. Service Enterprises are significantly more adaptable, sustainable and better resourced to do their work.”