Ahimsa Foundation

This is a long overdue testimonial to the wonderful work of the Ahimsa Foundation.

I'll forever be grateful to Ahimsa for funding a TNR/spay-neuter program for community cats in Virginia. A friend and I had launched our region's first TNR program in 1997, at a time when anything other than trap-kill for community cats was still controversial. We had no idea what we were leaping into, and we had little to no fundraising experience, but the need was great in our community.

Somehow we heard about the Ahimsa Foundation, and in early 1998, we wrote and submitted our first-ever grant proposal. I still remember the joy we felt when we received an acceptance letter and check from the Ahimsa Foundation. It was more than the money; it was knowing that another organization believed in what our small, all-volunteer group was accomplishing. Receiving that first grant from Ahimsa bolstered our confidence and encouraged us to apply for more grants and expand our fundraising in other ways. I remember talking to Aina Allen at Ahimsa Foundation and how kind and helpful she was.

While I moved to Maryland in 2003, the Virginia program is still going strong, and I'm still active in grassroots TNR programs, since I soon discovered the need was just as big in Maryland. More than 20 years after I applied for that first Ahimsa grant, I still spend most of my free time helping to trap cats for spay/neuter and raising money for these programs that save so many lives and prevent countless cats and kittens from being born. And I credit the Ahimsa Foundation for providing an essential morale boost in my early years of TNR work and ensuring that I didn't give up.

Tha Ahimsa Foundation has long been a supporter of our grass roots endeavor "C.A.R.E.' . We began in 1992 as a rescue support group in Los Angeles, then opened a no-kill sanctuary in the Los Angeles High Desert in 1998. It was at this point that we came to know and work with the Ahimsa Foundation. You see we started our sanctuary out bass-ackwards, having rescued 300+ doomed animals and having to rely on our sweat, tears and prayers for miracles to keep this good-hearted but poorly funded project (and it's 300 animal lives) alive. The Ahimsa Foundation, in our eyes, counts as one of the miracles. Year after year their generosity gave us the strength to continue on.