LETTER FROM OUR MANAGER

Dear Front Street Community,

As I look back on 2022, one word comes to mind: Resilience. Whether a government organization or nonprofit, the animal welfare sector faced many challenges, including a nationwide veterinarian shortage, unfilled staff vacancies, increased animal intake, backlog of spay and neuter for shelter pets and our community's owned pets, and longer lengths of stay for animals in our care. However, as I write this letter, I know we stayed focused and persevered.

The Front Street Animal Shelter team is serving more pets and people than ever before. We hold our free monthly vaccine, microchip, and pet supply community events, all made possible by private donations and grants. Our Homeless Outreach Assistance Program works with community members experiencing homelessness and their pets, ensuring they receive vaccinations and veterinary care. The foster volunteers are fostering pets in record numbers to keep our capacity manageable. Community members getting lost pets back home before bringing them to the shelter helps us save valuable space for animals that must enter the shelter. The volunteers show up daily to walk dogs, clean kennels, wash dishes and laundry, assist with marketing shelter animals and much more.

I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic Front Street Animal Shelter employees who have dedicated their lives to helping animals and people at the shelter and in our community. With the ongoing staffing shortages, they remained positive, always showing up and going the extra mile, staying late, or coming in on their days off to ensure the animals, community and their team members received the needed help. I often say that important work is difficult work, and we can't expect it to be easy. However, the resilience of the Front Street Animal Shelter team amazes me.

Lastly, I cannot thank our donors and grantors enough. We would not be able to offer many programs and services without the generosity of individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations who generously donate and grant us funds. Because of this significant community support, we can help more people than ever before.

The Front Street team and I look forward to continually improving our services and programs for animals and people in the City of Sacramento.

Sincerely,

Phillip Zimmerman
Animal Care Services Manager