Foundation for TJO Animals Awarded $185,000 Grant from Wiederhold Foundation

Foundation for TJO Animals Awarded $185,000
Grant from Wiederhold Foundation
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 15, 2025
 
Contact: Janna Brown, Executive Director, Foundation for TJO Animals 413.306.5161
 
 
SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Foundation for TJO Animals has been awarded a grant in the amount of $185,000 from the John T. and Jane A. Wiederhold Foundation, a supporting organization of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation.
 
Funding from the grant will enable the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center (TJO) to provide on-site spay/neuter surgeries for shelter animals and cats and dogs from low-income owners in Springfield and surrounding communities. Funding will be used to purchase medical equipment to expand the surgical suite within the building and subsidize the spay/neuter surgeries.
 
The goals of the grant are to spay/neuter 1,000 cats and dogs within the first year of funding and to provide medical care for animals in the TJO Adoption Center. Financial barriers to affordable veterinary care can lead to preventable illnesses, surrender of animals, and euthanasia. Creating a veterinary suite that provides access to care will improve the health and well-being of pets, reduce disease outbreak, and decrease surrenders to animal shelters in Springfield and surrounding areas.
 
TJO has faced ongoing challenges in recruiting veterinary staff, and for the past year, the organization has not had a veterinarian on-site. As a result, medical care, including spay/neuter surgeries has been, and continues to be, provided at offsite veterinary clinics. This process requires staff to coordinate the transportation of animals to and from appointments, resulting in a significant impact on staff time, length of time in shelter for animals, and increased costs.
 
Expected Results:

• A decrease in length of stay as animals are more quickly able to be spayed/neutered and be made available for adoption.
• A decrease in intake due to increased access to spay/neuter services.

 
"We are so fortunate that the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation awarded the Foundation for TJO Animals the Wiederhold grant for this spay and neuter program. The MSPCA and its community outreach program are doing great things in Springfield to aid TJO and other local shelters and rescues, said Janna Brown, executive director for the Foundation for TJO Animals. “We face a significant struggle in Western Massachusetts with so many animals in need of basic veterinary care and families struggling with the rising costs of, really, everything. We are hoping to keep this program going for the foreseeable future and continue to fund more initiatives that can bring aid to the community in need.”
 
Mike Keiley, vice president of the MSCPA-Angell’s Animal Protection Division shared, “As we developed the MASS coalition, we recognized that there were challenges we were all facing—like the dog capacity issue—and other problems that were specific to certain areas of the state. In Springfield, Dakin [Humane Society] and TJO were reporting spikes in both dog and cat overpopulation that we were not seeing on the eastern side of the state, as well as frequent parvovirus and panleukopenia disease outbreaks in the community. We recognized that Dakin and TJO had their hands full already with these issues impacting animal capacity and threatening the health of those animals already in their care, so we knew we needed to join this fight and help address these community issues head on.”
 
The Foundation for TJO Animals raises funds to provide resources and support for critical veterinary care and enrichment for the animals at the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and depends on the generosity of its supporters to achieve its goals.
 
###
 
Founded in 2007, the Foundation for TJO Animals is dedicated to raising much needed funds at the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center, serving the cities of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee, Massachusetts.