The Arizona Animal Welfare League and SPCA serves as the lead agency for Maddie's Pet Rescue Project in Maricopa County and Maddie's Spay/Neuter Project in Maricopa County, which are sponsored by generous grants from Maddie's Fund, The Pet Rescue Foundation. The foundation and projects are named for Maddie, who was a very special Miniature Schnauzer. Maddie captivated her human caregivers so completely they started a $240 million foundation in her name so that millions of dogs and cats could be given a better life.

The goal of these innovative and forward-thinking grant projects is that by 2012, Maricopa County will be a community in which every healthy or treatable dog and cat in our animal shelters can be guaranteed a permanent home.

The two collaborative projects involve twelve animal welfare organizations and dozens of veterinarians. They specifically focus on increasing adoptions from animal shelters and rescue groups and facilitating low cost spay/neuter opportunities.

All of the organizations in the Maddie's Projects work independently on the specific goals of the projects in which they are involved, and the groups also join together as a coalition to share ideas, strategies, and successes that help further the projects' ultimate goal.

About Maddie's Fund®:
Maddie's Fund®, The Pet Rescue Foundation, (www.maddiesfund.org) is a family foundation funded by PeopleSoft Founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl, to help create a no-kill nation. The first step is to help develop programs that guarantee loving homes for all healthy shelter dogs and cats throughout the country. The next step will be to save the sick and injured pets in animal shelters nationwide. Maddie's Fund is named after the family's beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.

For more information about the Maddie's Projects in Maricopa County, visit http://www.commonpaws.org/ or call 602-275-3366.

To see the full community statistics for the Maddie's Projects in Maricopa County, click here!