Schumacher Veterinary Clinic

Today as we gathered for our annual holiday photo and party, we all talked about how thankful we are for each other and for all of you. Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Holiday Season!

Day 19-12/19 Spotlight-Community Foundation Micro-Grant Special shout out today to Alex Nelson—he is a youth fellow with Nuestra Juventud which supports youth-driven initiatives and meaningful community engagement. Alex’s compassion for unhoused people and pets led him to donate his micro-grant to The Schumacher Grant. What an amazing gift ❤ Today is our 19th day of fundraising—we’ve kindly requested that folks skip the Christmas cards, gifts, and cookies and consider making a donation to ARF [via Dona Ana County] or SNAP instead. Funds designated to The Schumacher Grant are earmarked for the care of pets belonging to the unhoused and in-need populations. So far this year we’ve worked with animals from Community of Hope, La Casa, La Pinon, La Clinica de Familia, and The Salvation Army. Donations are tax-deductible—we are so grateful for the critters we’ve been able to help this year and we have some big plans for 2025!

Thank You For The Kind Words and Reviews!

Day 11-12/11 “Valleys make the mountains.”—Pierce Brown SVC is on Day 11 of 25 to fundraise for The Schumacher Grant. Please consider forgoing the usual cookies/gifts/cards to donate to SNAP or ARF [through Dona Ana County] if you are able to. Any and all help is greatly appreciated and all donations are tax-deductible. We are working to make this a permanent resource to help provide vaccines, spay/neuter surgeries, and general veterinary care for clients who are unhoused or otherwise in need. In 2024 we have been able to help clients from La Pinon, La Casa, Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, and The Salvation Army. Applicants do have to meet specific requirements to receive funding, please feel free to ask for more details! Little has changed day-to-day—clinic staff and clients continue to deal with illegal encampments, harassment, and erratic/dangerous behavior from individuals who are clearly mentally/physically unwell. There are no easy solutions to deal with these problems. The current climate is difficult for SVC and surrounding businesses to combat and has led to significant impacts on business and revenue. SVC continues to put our best foot/paw forward through The Schumacher Grant and our community outreach, but in addition to any financial assistance, we would greatly appreciate it if folks could take just a minute to call/email City and State officials to relay their concerns. We appreciate you all!!

Day 8-12/08 Spotlight-Boehringer-Ingelheim [BI] A quick shout-out on Day 8 of our fundraising efforts to highlight an awesome company and an even more amazing rep [TY Shellie Dutton!!!!] who always have our back and who were more than willing to step up and donate vaccine packages when I first had the crazy little/big idea of vaccinating critters at Camp Hope. With your help, these efforts quickly exploded into aid bags, spay and neuter surgeries [SNAP], and general veterinary care [ARF through Dona Ana County]. BI has always been incredibly supportive of veterinary professionals, our clients and their pets, and have proven their willingness to go the extra mile to help those in need. Thank you BI!!! We trust BI to protect all our pets ❤ https://bi-animalhealth.com SVC is fundraising between now and Christmas to continue these efforts to aid animals belonging to the unhoused/in-need population. Applicants must meet specific requirements to receive financial assistance. Any donations to SNAP or ARF are very much appreciated—please designate any funding to go towards The Schumacher Grant for this purpose. Donations are tax-deductible. Those who donate/like/comment are entered in the Christmas drawing for some cool, new SVC swag!!

Day 7-12/07 “Remember. Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies.” —Stephen King Gratitude today for all those who have encouraged me [both in public and private] and kept me going this year. The current situation is difficult for EVERYONE involved and EVERYONE deserves better. This includes the business owners, the local homeowners, our clients, the unhoused population, EVERYONE. The human situation regarding homelessness, crime, and illegal drug use is certainly multi-layered and complex…there are no simple answers. Most days I am just thankful that the animals are easier to help ❤ Thank you to everyone who has donated to The Schumacher Grant through SNAP and ARF [via Dona Ana County]. Feel free to abandon the normal holiday cards and goodies and donate any amount to our efforts for community spay/neuter and general veterinary care—SVC and myself are committed to doing our part. So far this year we have been able to help clients through Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, La Casa, La Pinon, La Clinica de Familia, and The Salvation Army. These deductions are tax-deductible and so appreciated. And if you have an extra minute, please take the time to call/email/attend City Council meetings to express your concerns. You matter ❤

Day 6-12/06 Today is one of my favorite days-it’s my day off, but I’ll spend the morning in the clinic handing some spay/neuter cases for Mesilla Valley Community of Hope [http://www.mvcommunityofhope.org]. I will readily admit, I still don’t agree with many of their rules, but I do appreciate that residents are allowed to keep their animals, so I see it as a great starting place for me to make a difference personally. I’ve learned so much this year about the challenges of treating mental health issues and drug addiction, the growing homeless crisis in our country, the uphill battle for affordable housing [that’s a very complex topic…please do your own research about sobriety first vs housing first…] and I strongly believe that we should offer a hand-up, not a hand-out. My work through SNAP and ARF [Dona Ana County] via The Schumacher Grant, is my/our small way of trying to help with these challenges. Everyone has heard me say that you can’t complain about the problem unless you’re willing to be part of the solution. Flashback to our first spay/neuter day and some really awesome volunteers who turned out to help us recover these critters after surgery. SVC will keep fundraising between now and Christmas so that we may continue to fund these efforts. I want these resources to be permanent for our community Any amount helps. All donations should be specifically designated towards The Schumacher Grant and are tax-deductible. Everyone who donates/likes/comments is also entered in the drawing for some special SVC swag!!

Rewind to aid bags

Day 5-12/05 Spotlight-ON YOU! A quick flashback to the amazing canine and feline aid bags that YOU made possible!! SVC, LCPD, and all of Las Cruces were all understandably rattled after LCPD Officer Jonah Hernandez was brutally murdered a very short distance away. The past 10 months have been a whirlwind of learning about where we are lacking in support for drug use and mental health issues, affordable housing, and other measures to help combat the rampant issues with homelessness, crime, and addiction that are plaguing our community. The problem is certainly complex and multi-layered and no one agrees on the best way to handle the human problems. When I first asked for help to address the animal issues though, I was met with overwhelming and humbling support. Thankfully, animals are easy to help and I quickly realized how many amazing folks I knew…people who wanted to do SOMETHING, but needed a starting point. SVC and The Schumacher Grant have been honored to help in this capacity. Our plans quickly exploded from just vaccines to aid bags to spay/neuter efforts and to general veterinary care. We were able to rapidly progress from working just with pets from Community of Hope to those low-income/in-need clients from La Casa, La Pinon, The Salvation Army, and La Clinica de Familia. SVC and The Schumacher Grant have been able to help so many people and pets over these past several months. Las Cruces still faces significant problems, but I’m just glad we can make a small, positive contribution. SVC continues to request that this holiday season you forgo the cards and cookies and instead consider a donation [any amount helps!] to ARF [via Dona Ana County] or SNAP-please designate that your money goes towards The Schumacher Grant so we can make this project permanent and sustainable. As an added bonus, we will enter everyone who donates/comments/likes to a drawing for some cool new SVC swag. We love our clients and we love our community. You help us

Day 3-12/03 Spotlight-La Casa Some of you have met Stompy ❤ This dog has [literally and figuratively] taken me all over the world. My husband jokes that if I opened my mouth wide enough, Stomp would crawl inside!! Although he’s now retired from competitive agility, Stomp never fails to greet me every evening at our front door with a cacophony of squeaks to tell me all about his day. It’s no surprise, that if push came to shove, I’d probably give up my truck, my house, almost anything, for this darn dog. I was at Purina Farms for a big agility trial back in April 2024, shortly after Jonah Hernandez’s murder. I was in the very beginning stages of planning for community veterinary care and The Schumacher Grant, dealing with an instance of battery against a staff member, and public safety was surely heavy on my mind. I saw a poster that weekend for The Purple Leash Project—an amazing initiative that Purina backs to help promote domestic violence shelters that are pet friendly and allow survivors to keep their pets. Upon returning home, I was so thankful to connect with La Casa locally and find that they, too, worked towards keeping people and their pets together. More information on the Purple Leash Project can be found at https://www.purina.com/purple-leash-project. Also, please take the time to learn more about La Casa at https://lacasainc.org. SNAP and ARF [via Dona Ana County] have both helped SVC in providing for people and pets at La Casa who are survivors of domestic violence. SVC will continue to fundraise between now and Christmas to further support these efforts. Any amount helps. Please designate any donations towards The Schumacher Grant. Donations should be made directly to SNAP or ARF. Thanks for helping!

LastCC

Day 2-12/02 It’ll be a typical Monday around here—we are fully booked and will work to accommodate as many additional cases as possible after the holiday weekend. I have a major orthopedic case this afternoon-scheduled many weeks in advance, so I likely won’t make it to today’s City Council meeting-this is unfortunate. I’ve copied the link to my last appearance which very briefly highlighted some of the success we’ve had via The Schumacher Grant and veterinary outreach. Late last week, the meeting agenda was published along with the proposed Resolution regarding legislation the City Council will be endorsing/promoting in the upcoming session in Santa Fe. Some important subjects [including animal welfare!] are on the table. However, some equally vital subjects-specifically those regarding competency restoration, bail reform, juvenile justice, and treatment options for drug abuse/mental health are notably absent. Many will remember the rash of burglaries and vandalism that SVC endured last year along with the multiple instances of battery and concerns regarding our/your personal safety more recently. Beyond the financial losses, the inconveniences to clients, and the disruptions in patient care, Todd and I lost significant amounts of time with repeated trips to interview with LCPD, the office of the Public Defender, victims’ advocacy, court appearances, the list goes on and on. Long story short-the [repeat] offender had a long rap sheet with a history of violent crimes, child abuse, assault against peace officers, drug charges, failure to appear…and yet continued to be released in short order and was free to roam the streets. I was appalled at our last hearing when the Public Defender posited that as a “business” this crime against us was somehow less important than a residential burglary as “no one” [hmm….24/7 emergency services…rethink that…] would be present during evenings or weekends and were safe from physical harm. Bus

Don’t miss our Chiropractic Clinic from 2pm-4pm tomorrow!

Cornhole!

Our cornhole team 🙂. Glad we got to participate in and sponsor this event!!