What a year! When I stepped into the executive director role this past February, I was nervous but honored to take on the challenge of overseeing an organization that means everything to me. In 2022, Gateway Pets (GPG) had another record breaking year of helping nearly 4,000 pets thanks to our dedicated supporters, staff, volunteers, fosters and adopters.
While every program within GPG saw so much success this year, we also experienced so much heartache with many difficult medical cases, catastrophic flooding and pet families losing their homes due to the eviction moratorium ending. We, along with nearly every animal welfare group across the country, found ourselves regularly in crisis mode and filled to the brim with animals in need. There is currently no end in sight for the influx of animals entering overcrowded shelters, which makes our community programming and partnerships more important than ever.
In 2023, we are very excited to begin implementing our 3-5 year strategic plan to grow our organization to the best it can be and overcome any challenges we may face along the way. Additionally, we will begin offering an additional low-cost medical clinic on Wednesdays to treat sick and injured community owned pets in the East Side Pet District, as well as further expanding our adoption and foster programming to be even more inclusive. We will also continue doing everything possible to keep pet families together and prevent owned pets from entering an already crowded shelter system. I am confident that with the support of our incredible team, we will have another successful and impactful year in 2023.
I end this year with so much gratitude for all of you, and for all that GPG has been able to accomplish. Here’s to another year of helping pets and the people who love them!
Cheers to the New Year!
