Dear Friend,

Thank you for your recent gift to support the county’s neediest animals. We hope you will soon enjoy your Awkward Pet Portrait as much as we have enjoyed creating it. We are so grateful for your generosity.

Your donation and commitment help ensure that our guiding principles, Open Door, Open Heart, continue to guide our work through these challenging times.

As the highest-impact animal welfare organization in the county, the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter serves approximately 22,000 people and 7,500 animals every year. We provide services at our two locations in Live Oak and Watsonville and through preventive community outreach programs, such as:
🐾 Healthy Pets for All – Free veterinary care for low-income and unhoused individuals.
🐾 Planned Pethood – A progressive low-cost spay/neuter program for pets in need.

What makes the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter truly unique is that we are an open-admission shelter, meaning NO ANIMAL is ever turned away—regardless of age, medical condition, or behavior. Our mission is to be a humane resource for the community, offering a safety net and second chances to local animals. Our success depends on the generosity of people like you.

Help Us Reach More Pet Lovers!

Will you share this fundraiser with two friends?

📢 Your support could help us find the next 180 pet lovers who want to join in! Every share expands our reach and ensures we can provide life-saving programs for animals in need.

🔗 Share the fundraiser: Awkward Pet Portraits

Your generosity is improving the lives of vulnerable animals and the people who love them. Thank you for being part of our mission.

With warmth and gratitude,

Nga Trinh-Halperin, Executive Director
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation
Creating a Compassionate Community

P.S. There are so many ways to give! Please let us know if you have any questions about Employer Matching, Legacy Giving, and DAF, IRA or Stock donations by emailing me at nga@scanimalshelterfoundation.org

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation’s tax ID number is 51-0439604. This letter serves as our official acknowledgement and receipt of your gift. The IRS requires you to keep this with your federal income tax records for this year. No goods or services were provided in consideration for this gift, which is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Awkward Pet Portraits 2026

By Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation

Awkward Pet Portraits 2026

Our 2nd annual awkward fundraiser! Community made art in support of our local animals in need.