Sacramento SPCA receives grant to increase disaster education and visibility for pet owners
SACRAMENTO - When disaster strikes, people need to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. And for Sacramento's most vulnerable populations, that's not always easy.
You've heard about evacuation packs for people, but what about pets?
"It has everything that a family would need," said Dawn Foster with the Sacramento SPCA. "If they had to get on the road and evacuate their home to provide for their pet in the event of an emergency."
The SPCA is one of the nonprofits recently given a grant by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation in an effort to increase disaster education and visibility.
"What we're asking is people to answer five questions about their preparedness and that enters them into drawling for an evac pack," Foster said. "And so that's how we're engaging with the community and determining what is their preparedness."
"We wanna make sure we're including everyone because when disaster strikes it disproportionally affects groups who do not have resources ready and in place," said Kelly Siefkin with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.
Siefkin said six nonprofits received grants.
ACC Senior Services gave out disaster resources in English, Vietnamese and Cantonese. Resources for Independent Living did training on when to stay home and when to evacuate. Even the Society for the Blind received a grant.
Siefkin: "They created the first of their kind emergency disaster kits in Braile," Siefkin said. "Those will be able to be used going forward."
Dominic: "Half of those are things I never would have thought of."
Siefkin: "I know and I think a lot of people never think they'll be in that situation, but disaster strikes when you aren't prepared."
"Based on the community we've surveyed so far about 50% of people say they are prepared," Foster said. "They're prepared for a disaster, their household is prepared. Unfortunately, about 905 of those aren't ready and prepared for their pets."
Whether it's fire or flood, these organizations are on a mission to make sure the most vulnerable and even their pets are ready should disaster strike.
The grants were made possible by the California Office of Emergency Management. In conjunction with our story, the SPCA is giving away 10 evacuation packs for pets. For more information, click here.
