After emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, we set a new pace for ourselves in 2023, focusing on sterilizations and public education, our key activities.
Sterilization
We sterilized a total of 1,448 animals, 899 dogs and 549 cats. Most (1,027) were females, but we also sterilized 421 males. The cases represented a steady increase over the past four years and an increase over the number in 2019, the year before Covid-19 struck.
Most of the sterilizations in 2023 took place during 21 regular campaigns in 15 locations. We averaged 66 cases at those campaigns. We also held three sterilization workshops in two locations, where one of our veterinarians, Dr. Ricardo Montes de Oca, provided one-on-one training for three veterinary students. On August 20 we surpassed 24,000 sterilizations since beginning our program in December of 2001.
Our team consists of two veterinary surgeons, Drs. Ricardo Montes de Oca and Arturo Rocha; an anesthesiologist, Dra. Verónica Almaguer; our campaign manager, Julia Salido; and a dozen or so regular volunteers who provide essential help: setting up the equipment, preparing the animals for surgery, assisting the surgeons, attending the animals while they remain in the recovery unit, preparing post-operative medications, instructing the pet owners on post-operative care before discharging the patients, and packing up the equipment after each campaign.
Because the campaigns are held in numerous locations, no two locations are alike, and unexpected challenges are not uncommon. Our team has developed great coping skills and an admirable team spirit that makes us quite proud. We also appreciate the enthusiasm and patience of our clients, many of whom arrive at the campaign sites several hours before the campaigns begin. In most campaign locations, community members provide lunch or snacks for our team.
Education
In 2023, with the support of a grant from a U.S. family trust, we formally launched a program focusing on teaching children compassion for animals. We recruited a retired public-school teacher, Antonia (Tony) López, to organize entertaining and instructional activities for youngsters. Most of the teaching activities in 2023 took place at our sterilization campaigns, where families must often wait for several hours for their pets to be operated on and discharged.
Besides the campaigns, Tony and Julia Salido, who also has extensive teaching experience, organized educational activities focusing on pets’ needs at several other venues during the year. They included a program for youths, a primary school, and a community center in the village of Cajones that hosts activities for children in the surrounding villages. Julia designed a giant board game for children and a puppet theater, which we are using to instruct children on caring for their pets. During the year we distributed scores of educational coloring books to children who attended the events.
Prior to 2023, we published our online newsletter each quarter. In March of 2023 we gave it a new name, Barks and Meows, and began publishing it each month in a more attractive format. Altogether, we published 71 articles, all of which can be read here. The articles report on our activities and events affecting animals in Guanajuato and provide useful advice on pet care.
To expand our reach, we published numerous short posts each month on Facebook and Instagram. Some of the posts were based on our newsletter articles.
At the invitation of the city’s local television channel, Channel 8, we began giving interviews about pet care on the channel’s morning program every two weeks. Tony and Julia have been the main presenters, but we have invited others to give several of the interviews, including the veterinarian in charge of the city’s Animal Control and Care Center. At the invitation of Channel 8, we are continuing the interviews this year.
Finally, we continued displaying educational messages on the backs of two city buses throughout the year. Each message ran for three months. Altogether, we displayed XX messages.
Fundraising
Financially, 2023 was a very successful year for Amigos. In addition to the valuable support of our individual donors, two generous grants received in late 2022 meant that we could expand our education program, provide our campaign manager with a raise, and still sterilize a minimum of 120 animals per month. Our expenses were slightly lower this year too, even with an increase in the number of animals we sterilized. Our total income in 2023 was $885,655 mxn. Our total expenses were $740,433 mxn.
In 2024 we anticipate needing to replace our van, a 2000 Ford Windstar, which we purchased in 2015 and use mainly to transport equipment to sterilization campaigns throughout the municipality of Guanajuato. Surviving 24 years on some of the area’s worst roads is an achievement for any vehicle, and our van has encountered numerous adventures. It needs to be retired. We hope to find a donor to cover at least part of the cost of replacing this vital piece of equipment.
All our activities relied upon dedicated volunteers, who tirelessly gave their knowledge, talent, and energy to make Amigos one of best known and most respected nonprofit organizations in the city of Guanajuato. To all of them we are extremely grateful. And to everyone who supported us in 2023, we offer our profound thanks.