West Seneca, N.Y. (WBEN) - Thursday marks the return of the annual SPCA Serving Erie County Radiothon, a fundraiser broadcasting on WBEN and 107.7 The Wolf.
The purpose of this annual event is to help raise money for over 12,000 animals being served by the SPCA Serving Erie County each year, and give them a chance at a healthy, happy life.
While Gina Lattuca from the SPCA Serving Erie County feels this fundraiser is always another holiday right around Christmas, she admits the hardest part with the annual Radiothon is taking a look at the year that was and trying to figure out which stories to tell.
"There are so many little miracles that are happening here every single day. Some of these things aren't stories that we can share publicly, or they wouldn't necessarily make the news, but we're here involved in making these things happen," said Lattuca in an interview with WBEN. "Everything from helping to complete a family by allowing them to bring a new animal home, helping maybe a struggling pet owner who's having some difficulty feeding their pets this month. Things have changed this year, maybe this month, next month, it's a little harder to get through. Our pet food pantry can help those people. These aren't necessarily stories that we can always talk about in the media, but these are things that are happening constantly at the SPCA, thanks to our donors who make sure that things like this are happening regularly."
The SPCA Serving Erie County Radiothon is always a significant way for the organization to secure funding for some essential services and programs as they head into the New Year.
"I often think about years ago, when I heard about the SPCA or people hear about the SPCA now, it's hard to imagine that we're able to do all of these programs and services on donations only. That's the only way that this organization is funded," Lattuca noted. "Then you take a look at everything that's happening here at the SPCA: Yes, we have a vibrant adoption program. Yes, we are able to help people if they need to surrender their animals. But then you take a look at our animal cruelty investigations, our wildlife rehab, you take a look at our humane education and community education programs and animal training. It's really hard to encompass everything that this organization does just based on donations. That's a true testimony to the people who trust this organization, to the people who made sure when we were able to leave Tonawanda, a very old building, to come to an actual campus in West Seneca and serve this community. It's an honor to serve this community and the donors who made sure that it happened."
Lattuca says it's hard to put into picture just how much animal welfare and the entire field surrounding animal welfare has changed in the 160 years the SPCA Serving Erie County has been around.
"We are called the 'SPCA Serving Erie County'. We realized a couple years ago we've got to look at that word 'serving', and we've got to determine what the true needs of this community are. We can't keep telling the community, 'Here's what we're going to offer based on what we think you need. What are the real needs in this community?' And when we took a look at that, and when we did infinite research, we realized that pet retention is a struggle for people in our own community," Lattuca said. "All regions of Western New York, all regions in Erie County. People were struggling right now to keep their pets. At that time, we decided pet retention is going to be a major platform of the SPCA Serving Erie County."
Over the last couple years, the SPCA Serving Erie County has focused on those outreach efforts to not just help animals find a new home, but also remove the need some families may feel with having to surrender them to the shelter.
"Our pet food pantry has grown exponentially. We offer several vaccine clinics, Microchip clinics, low cost of that services per-year just to help the people in our community who are struggling through tough times right now. We're working to keep these families together and keep pets in their homes," Lattuca said.
One aspect the SPCA Serving Erie County will highlight during this year's Radiothon is new adoption programs they are offering.
"If people think, you know what, it is the right time to bring an animal in, we now have a year-round program for veterans and active service people. We now have trial adoptions," Lattuca said. "People can see 'If The Fur Fits', that's the name of the program. They can bring an animal in and if the fur doesn't fit, let's bring that animal back and let's find fur that will fit. So there are just different programs that help remove some of the hurdles people might have felt with the adoption process."
Lattuca says the more they looked at adoptions and why people weren't adopting, it was the fear of having to return the animal that was a big fear and a major obstacle for many.
"Once we removed that fear by creating a program that made trial adoptions possible, our adoption numbers went up," she said. "We're excited to talk about the new exciting adoption programs, the new programs we're offering the children of this community, and the new education programs for adults too. There's a lot that happened this past year, and we can't wait to get on the air and tell everybody all about it."
The SPCA Serving Erie County is funded only by donations, as the local organization is not part of a larger SPCA organization, nor is it a county or city organization. So if you're looking for ways to donate to the cause at thie year's Radiothon, there are a few options.
"If you want to be a part of the miracles that are happening here at the SPCA, take a look at YourSPCA.org. You can get through our website, we have links to Venmo, links to PayPal. You could call during the Radiothon. We have a special hotline number just for Dec. 11 this year, that number is (716)-873-SPCA, very easy to remember," Lattuca detailed. "Or during the Radiothon, the best way to give is to just stop on in, join the fun. Check out some of your favorite on-air personalities doing what they do best, and just be here at the SPCA and watch some of these miracles happening. It is contagious."