French poet Anatole France once quipped: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

That said, Loving All Animals wants to wake everybody up.

The Coachella Valley nonprofit is on an ambitious mission to unite local, regional, and national animal welfare organizations to strengthen the programs intended to stop the killing of animals. It’s a bold endeavor and one that benefits greatly from funding.

Recently, Loving All Animals received a grant from Inland Empire Community Foundation through the Todd Barajas Legacy Fund, which will assist the nonprofit with its spay and neuter program and general operations. 

“These funds go directly to the community,” said Michael Phipps-Russell, Executive Director for Loving All Animals, noting that the organization buys services which provide free spay and neuter vaccinations, microchipping, and ID tags for individuals.

“It’s kind of a two-part program,” Phipps-Russell said. “One is to make sure that people are getting their animals spayed or neutered to the extent possible. Then the other part of that is that it brings a great amount of attention to the whole need for animals getting spayed or neutered in our community. 

“It’s a win for direct services to the animals as well as an educational benefit and being an advocate for spaying and neutering in our community,” he added.

Phipps-Russell hopes the program develops further and gains traction. So much so that if people don’t have accessible services, they “will start to realize that we’ll make them available to them,” he said.

Grant funding will also assist Loving All Animals’ animal adoption process. 

“We don’t just simply adopt the animals,” Phipps-Russell said. “They’re here to get the services they need. In accordance with state law, if they are a treatable animal, they will get the treatments they need to make them adoptable.” 

To be sure, that is a shrewd and progressive way of thinking for shelters moving forward.

“We never really had the opportunity, as a community, until recently, to have the conversation about treating animals,” Phipps-Russell said. “We just had so many. It was just, ‘Well, how fast can we get them out? Do whatever we need to do.’ And we’ve been very successful with that. 

“Now, we’re moving into another phase of animal welfare where we have to take care of them,” he added. “If they can’t get adopted, we have to take those steps to get them to become adoptable.”

That may come in the form of training and additional medical care as well as the animals being evaluated by a licensed veterinary psychologist or behaviorist. 

“That’s what we’re doing in the modern era,” Phipps-Russell said.

In the meantime, Loving All Animals is coming off of a stellar year. It estimates providing more than 1,000 animals with general services, which includes free spay and neuter surgeries. 

Looking ahead, locals can dive into the organization’s stand-out education services, which offer everything from agility training and behavioral training to a list of resources to further take care of one’s pets. These include partnerships with organizations such as Animal Samaritans, Animal Action League, and Palm Springs Animal Shelter.

Browsing the nonprofit’s website provides a list of upcoming events, which also educates locals on the organization’s services and general care for their animals. Click on the “Adopt” vertical to see a list of all animals that are ready for adoption.

Learn more at lovingallanimals.org.

This article originally appeared in the Desert Sun, January 2025

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