More households in the U.S. have pets than have children in the home. When hardship strikes, however, often people must choose between keeping a beloved animal or accepting help for their own basic needs of food, shelter, and safety.

Leanna Taylor is CEO of the Arizona Pet Project (AZPP), a nonprofit that keeps pets with the people who love and need them most by connecting vulnerable community members and families in crisis with services and resources to prevent the unnecessary surrender of their beloved companions. It’s estimated that 20 percent of the unsheltered own pets, and depend upon them for emotional support and companionship. Last year AZPP served 4,403 pet families.

They keep thousands of pets out of shelters and provide families with emergency veterinary care, free spay and neuter surgeries, vaccines, post-op pain medications, e-collars, pet food, and critical pet essentials. The AZ Pet Project is committed to removing barriers that low-income pet owners face in accessing life-saving resources,  while reducing the number of homeless pets.

Their unique approach and revolutionary programs are focused on improving and saving the lives of both people and pets by keeping pets with the families who love them.

AZ Pet Project recently marked a full-year of onsite support of UMOM New Day Centers, a first of its kind program which is now being rolled out at other nonprofits

Remarkably, AZPP is the only organization of its kind in the United States solely focused on bridging these gaps, working to keep pets where they belong: with the people who love them.

Click here to learn more about the Arizona Pet Project: https://azpetproject.org/

Original air date: July 24, 2025.

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