The Churchill Foundation
Pet overpopulation is a major issue in Las Vegas, leading to certain dogs being at-risk due to medical issues or behavioral problems, which unfortunately becomes a factor in how many dogs local shelters and rescues can take. That’s why The Churchill Foundation focuses its efforts on rescuing these dogs who deserve a fur-ever home.
The Churchill Foundation (TCF), a Las Vegas-based dog-rescue founded in 2013, works with local shelters to put at-risk dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds into loving homes. The founders formed the organization after rescuing a terminally-ill dog named Churchill. The vets predicted he’d only live for six months. Seven years later, Churchill is still around, despite the prognosis the vets gave him.
TCF’s mission is to “EDUCATE those looking for a new pet on important lifestyle matches to ensure for-life placements,” “ADVOCATE for saving every life by dedicating our time to major medical and behavioral cases, because all lives deserve a chance,” and to “INSPIRE others to think past stereotypes and misinformation about shelter dogs and breed labels.”
Stefanie Frank, TCF Marketing Coordinator, discussed their work and how it separates their organization from other rescues.
“Our founders have extensive backgrounds in animal behavior and provide effective, gentle training and rehabilitation for our adoptable animals and their new families,” Frank said. The organization specializes in medical and behavioral issues ranging from heart conditions to reactivity or aggression.
Every dog from the foundation receives free training for life. This helps ensure the dogs stay with the families they’re adopted out to.
Impacts of the Pandemic on the Churchill Foundation
Mayra Perez-Brittsan, TCF Events Coordinator, discussed how the pandemic has affected the rescue, and how they’ve responded.
“The pandemic and subsequent shut down forced us to cancel many of our in-person adoption and fundraising events,” said Perez-Brittsan. For the Foundation, it’s been more difficult to find new ways to engage with volunteers, donors, and the community.
According to Perez-Brittsan, the local shelters from which they get most of the dogs they care for drastically changed their adoption protocols this year. As a result, there have been little to no dogs for them to help recently. “It has been an unusual situation, to say the least.”
In response, Perez-Brittsan said they took this “time off” to focus on the dogs currently in their care and grow as a team and build their procedures and resources for their volunteers.
“For the majority of the pandemic, we have relied on Facebook fundraising to help us with our vet bills,” Perez-Brittsan said. “We have a balance that reached 20k at one point, so paying that down is our top priority.”
Virtual Art Auction
Back in July, the organization held a virtual art auction on their Facebook page where people placed bids on local artists’ paintings, including some paintings of the dogs in their care. Some of the dogs even helped make paintings for the event.
“It was extremely fun and successful, and we plan to do another one before the end of the year.”
You can still visit the event page to see all the other art pieces auctioned for the event here.
TCF is also hosting their annual “Thankful Pup” fundraiser event to make Thanksgiving meals for dogs in Las Vegas. More details will be available soon.
Perez-Brittsan went on to say that once some of their community partners reopened, they joined together to raise some proceeds. One of these partners included Tacotarian.
“They dedicated their July food special to us and donated some of the proceeds from that special to our vet bills,” Perez-Brittsan said. While they’ve chipped away at some of their expenses and vet bills, they still have a long way to go.
Other community partners that The Churchill Foundation works with can be seen here.
Moving Forward
Over the past few months, Perez-Brittsan said they’ve been “hanging on by [their] bootstraps.”
“As a rescue that specializes in medically-in-need animals, our vet bills tend to be pretty high at times, but when we are able to hold live events and fundraisers, the donations are there to help us,” she said.
She explained that they want everyone to stay safe and healthy, so many of those opportunities haven’t been available this year. As a result, their vet bills increased more than expected, and they had to stop accepting new animals.
“It has also been a little difficult for us to just not be able to engage with our community and supporters in person as much as we would like to,” she added. “ We love each and every person and we miss being able to talk to them, face to face, share a pint with them, and laugh. We can’t wait to be able to do all of that with them again.”
#GetinMotion with The Churchill Foundation
Donations
Stefanie Frank then shared got to best support The Churchill Foundation, the most impactful being donating. TCF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, so all donations are tax-deductible. Donate with a credit card by visiting their donation page here or set up a donation through Amazon Smile or Smiths.
Frank then said, “For people who like to shop, Vegas Sports Shop gives us some proceeds of their sales with the code TCF10. Frankly Good Coffee, a local coffee roaster, has a Coffee and Canines Special, where $20 of every sale goes to us.”
TCF also has an Amazon Wish List for those who want to send them the specific items they need directly, and they accept gently used items like crates and baby gates.
Email the organization at info@thechurchillfoundation.org to donate an item and coordinate a pick-up or drop-off. You can also contact them with any ideas or suggestions.
Volunteer
Frank then shared that TCF is run entirely by volunteers, who help transport dogs to and from vet appointments, help at events, and even take the dogs on field trips. Learn more on their volunteer page here. By clicking “join” on the page, you’re taken to their volunteer Facebook group, “Churchill’s Misfits.”
Foster
You can also help by fostering a dog in their care to lighten the rescue’s workload.
“Fostering is one of the most fun and rewarding ways to help!” Frank said. “We take care of anything that the dog may need; all you have to do is provide a safe and loving home until we can find their forever family!”
The foster application is available here.
Share
Lastly, Frank said that sharing their website and social media posts with friends and family is a big help and raising awareness.
“Let them know that we exist and have amazing dogs up for adoption!” she said. “Advocate for shelter and rescue dogs! Advocate for spaying and neutering animals and being a part of the solution to ending homelessness of animals!”
Check out available dogs to adopt (or foster) through TCF, like Dublin shown above, here.
The Churchill Foundation Namesake
Frank concluded by sharing a bit about their rescue’s namesake and inspiration for the organization, Churchill, who she said is “a shining example of what can happen when you give a terminal shelter dog a chance.”
“Our founders created a bucket list and Facebook page for him back then. It quickly inspired a loyal online community that followed his adventures,” she said. “The longer he lived, the more goals we added. While the bucket list is no longer active, Churchill still is”
Churchill is now a retired therapy dog whose golden days include snacking and lounging at home and even recently going on vacation to Whitefish, Montana.
“Churchill is and always will be the inspiration for all that we do.”
