— Photo courtesy Tim Stoaks
The nonprofit organization Friends of Newport Beach Animal Shelter announced the launch of their “Founding Members” fundraising campaign on Tuesday.
The hope is to engage 1,200 new founding members through their organization’s website, FONBAS officials wrote in a press release. The group has several goals for the campaign, including to purchase a permanent animal shelter for the city.
“We are grateful and proud of our Newport Beach Police Department’s Animal Control Division, which is responsible for running the existing leased shelter in the Santa Ana Heights zoned for kennels,” FONBAS President Tim Stoaks said in the prepared statement.
In 2016, the city started running its own shelter instead of outsourcing the services for lost and stray animals. That led to the formation of the volunteer organization in 2017 with the mission of raising money in hopes of bringing a higher level of care to the city’s shelter services.
“Our goal has always been to be to make it easier for owners to find lost their lost animals, and to make every stray more adoptable by augmenting medical care above and beyond what the city would provide,” Stoaks said in the message. “We want all animals to be able to put their best paws forward and find a forever home.”
Friends of Newport Beach Animal Shelter has been successful in these efforts, officials reported, and is now looking to take their fundraising to the next level by engaging the community in its latest membership drive.
“The support and love we’ve seen from the community has been great,” Stoaks noted in the press release. “I feel confident Newport will continue to embrace our vision and efforts for a permanent home for the shelter.”
There have already been major donors stepping up to make this a reality, but there’s still more to do, Stoaks added.
Through the Founding Members campaign on the organization’s website, animal lovers can choose between various amounts to donate within categories like “puppy/kitty” for $25 and the “big dog” category for $1,000. There are several donation levels in between.
“Pets bring so much to a family’s dynamic, and we hope residents will join us and provide Newport with its own forever home for animals in need,” Stoaks concluded.
Donations can also be sent to Friends of Newport Beach Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 10791, Newport Beach, CA 92658 or online at fonbas.org
