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EASEL News: March 2021

Grant Team (continued from page 1)

bring animals from outside the state, especially from areas
that may have suffered from natural disasters – such as the
tropical storms that ravaged the south over the last few
summers. These transports are costly, but the impact they have
on EASEL’s ability to rescue animals that otherwise may have
found themselves in dangerous and unsafe conditions has
been vast.
Each year, Dr. Georgia Arvanitis, EASEL’s VP, and Director
of Grants, provides the grant writing team with a list of grant
providers and funding sources. The team, which consists of
Juliya Golubovich, Iain McWhinney, Michelle Megnin and Joe
Tyrrell, divvy up the applications and get to work. For many
of the grant programs, EASEL is a regular recipient of funding,
but Georgia always manages to find some new grant programs
as well. No two grants are the same, and no two grants have
the same requirements, so the grant writing team gets busy “Happy Tails.” It told the story of Zak, a tuxedo cat found near
gathering the data and drafting their applications. a local fast-food restaurant. EASEL was able to use Zak’s happy
Many of the programs, particularly those related to spay/ recovery to highlight the work we do with community cats.
neuter programs and animal transports, ask for data on Joe also emphasized a lot of the work the grant writers due
the work that EASEL does – number of animals rescued, that specifically highlight animals with medical conditions
number spayed/neutered, number of animals in EASEL’s care and their unique connections with humans. One story is that
euthanized for medically necessary reasons, etc. Recurring of Azaliah, a deaf child with complicated neurological issues.
grant programs often ask for reports on how their money is Azaliah was understandably afraid of animals and took little
being spent. But the grant writers all seem to agree that their interest in them, until she was introduced to Ray, a tuxedo
favorite grant application always ask for stories of EASEL’s many kitten who’d lost both his eyes due to infection. While Happy
successes, appropriately called “Happy Tails.” Tails don’t always result in securing funding, being able to
Like so many EASEL volunteers, many members of the grant highlight the successfully work EASEL does, even with animals
writing team first became part of the EASEL family when they who might otherwise be considered lost causes, is infinitely
came to adopt a pet. Joe Tyrrell first came to be involved when rewarding.
the Ewing Animal Shelter was still in its old location, which Juliya pointed to another particularly important project: the
was closing down. It was unclear what was going to happen to work EASEL did in 2020 to secure a new grant to help support
all the animals at the shelter so Joe came down to see about the transferring of animals in from high kill shelters both in and
adopting a new furry companion. out of state. Not only was this a new grant source, which had
He found Feona – a lovely tuxedo cat estimated to be not funded EASEL programs before, but it also aligned perfectly
between 7 and 9 years old. Feona had seen a rough life and, at with EASEL’s new initiatives to rescue animals from other areas.
the time, was the longest feline resident of the shelter. She’d In 2020, more animals than ever needed safe and happy homes
been rescued from a hoarding situation in Pennsylvania and and EASEL had its most successfully year to date when it came
had very few remaining teeth. But it seems all Feona needed to adopting our cats and dogs.
was a second chance, because Joe is happy to report she is This grant was particularly challenging for the grant team
thriving and lively ten years later. Michelle and Juliya shared because it required them to compile EASEL’s own data as well
similar stories of their furry pals. as the statistics for the shelters we planned to partner with as
The grant writers find the work they do incredibly rewarding well – many of which were already located in underserved and
and have a deep understanding of how important the work overwhelmed areas.
is to the success of the shelter. But when asked, each of them The work the grant writing team does at EASEL goes largely
highlighted a different grant program as the one that stands unnoticed – but it is far from unimportant. In fact, EASEL can
out most to them, as one that they were particularly proud of. credit its grant team directly for being able to fund many of our
Michelle highlighted the Innovation Grant from Maddie’s Fund, most popular and impactful initiatives and programs. While
which helps support EASEL’s Foster Care Program. Particularly, it each member of the grant team told a different story of how
provides support for Bottle Baby and Kitten starter kits to help they came to be involved, both with EASEL and the grant team
initiate new foster guardians and provide the needed materials in particular, they all share the same love for the work that they
for fostering infant kittens. do. They all expressed a similar sentiment that they strive to
One specific and memorable grant application Joe recalls continue to see EASEL’s impact expand beyond our immediate
is the Folke H. Peterson Foundation grant EASEL applied for area and continue to save, rescue, rehabilitate and find loving
in 2018. This grant featured one of the previously mentioned homes for as many animals as possible.

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