Pope John Paul II Memorial Fund
In honor of Pope John Paul II, Rikki's Refuge has set up a special Memorial Fund to help people who are financially unable to provide medical care and/or food for their pets. The amount of familes we can help will be determined by the amount of money in the fund.

Right now I have several people waiting for help. One is a family with a horse who needs his annual medical work done. Vaccinations, teeth done, worming. That's it. The horse is 28 years old and best friend of a little girl with cerebral palsy. The family may be faced with finding another home for the horse if they can't raise the money for this care. They can manage the food and the hay in the winter. The little girl is not doing well and will likely cross the Rainbow Bridge in the next couple of years.

I want to be able to step up and provide annual medical care for this horse so they can stay together. We're only talking $200-$300 a year. But I can only do this from a special fund or if we have excess money. I can't neglect Rikki's animals.

Another case I'd like to help is a lady who's mom is terminally ill.
Hospice will be helping to care for the mother in the daughter's home for the next several months. The daughter has birds, dogs and cats. The mother is terribly allergic to animals, has a fatal respiratory illness and cannot be in the house with the animals.

The daughter needs a place for her animals until the mother has passed. She does not want to give them up permanently. She will not put them to sleep. She needs to help her mother. She is financially destitute as she's been caring for the mother and cut back on work hours and spent a lot of money on her mother's needs. The animals need their medical work updated before Rikki's can allow them on the property.

Vaccinations have fallen behind, and blood tests are needed to make sure these pets won't bring a disease into Rikki's animals. Again, we're only talking a couple hundred dollars and then not much a month. I simply cannot put Rikki's animals at risk by allowing these to come without the prior necessary medical work. One animal with a disease could infect all members of that species at Rikki's.

These are two cases the Pope John Paul II Memorial Fund could help with. There are hundreds more. Families who'd keep the cat or dog if it was spayed and stopped reproducing young all the time. People who've taken in a stray but can't keep it without help with upfront medical issues. Emergency medical care from accidents or sudden illness. Long term illness of an owner which makes it impossible to afford vet care or even food.

If you'd like to donate to this special fund, please mark your donation as "Pope John Paul II Memorial Fund" or "Community Assistance Fund". To donate via credit card use our PayPal account.