Making a Difference Now (MADN)

Making A Difference Now (MADN) is dedicated to the well-being of all creatures.  Our mission is to rescue animals, educate communities, and advocate for animal welfare. We have been helping animals and the people who love and care for them since 2009.

A major focus of our work is to reduce the number of homeless and at-risk animals, and the number of healthy animals euthanized in our nation's shelters.  Many animals who die in shelters are healthy animals or animals with treatable conditions who would be happy, healthy, loving pets if given the chance. They die only because they have no home to go to and the shelters do not have the space or resources to continue caring for them.  

Please note this is NOT a shelter problem; it IS a community problem.  Shelters do not want to kill animals. They simply don't have the resources and support within their communities to save them all.   And that is where each of us can make a tremendous difference - by supporting local shelters and rescues (like MADN 💚), fostering animals, volunteering to help with spay/neuter and TNR, community cat caregiving, transporting, financial support when possible, promoting responsible pet ownership, helping when you see an animal in need, and ALWAYS  adopting from shelters and rescues and never from puppy mills or irresponsible breeders.  These are the actions that save animals and every one of us can help!  Just decide YOUR path to Making A Difference.

Here are some of the ways MADN is Making A Difference.

• MADN volunteers have coordinated caretaking teams for community cat colonies for years, including the colony that was the inspiration for MADN's creation in 2009. During this time, we have fed, watered, monitored, and sheltered cats; rescued kittens who were young enough to be socialized so they could be adopted into forever homes; placed friendly, socialized, adoptable adults in foster and permanent homes; rescued ill and injured cats and provided veterinary care and rehabilitation; and rescued profoundly ill and fatally injured cats and taken them to the vet to end their suffering - certainly not the outcome we always hope for but in our view, the final kindness we can provide. 
• Sometimes the animals we rescue require a lot of veterinary care and recovery/rehabilitation:  a dog whose teeth, mouth and gums were in awful shape; a  sick kitten miraculously seen in the middle of the road, filthy and full of infections; a kitten so young, sick, and injured that she would almost certainly have died soon had she not walked into a trap at a MADN TNR (trap-neuter-return) location; a beautiful young cat with huge abscessed wounds that required ongoing antibiotics and treatment for several weeks, followed by ongoing foster placement when he was found to be positive for FeLV. In all these and many others, MADN arranged for the necessary veterinary and foster care to allow these animals to recover and move on to their forever homes.
• Sometimes we simply reunite lost animals with their families or cover food or medical expenses to keep pets well and families intact.  One of the most amazing reunions was of a blind and deaf dog who snuck out of his house and somehow managed to cross two busy streets without being hit - in heavy rain no less! - before MADN volunteers found him.  Recent years have been challenging for many families in providing care for themselves and their pets.  We believe that families need to stay together and we help when we can.
• Because Kentucky has many communities with far more animals in need than shelter space and resources can accommodate, MADN partners with rescue and transport organizations to help those animals move from their home communities to rescues in northern states where more foster and adoptive homes are available.  One important factor in this regional difference is the much better utilization of spay/neuter services in northern states.
• All the direct-to-animal services described above are critically important in saving lives.  But solving these challenges long-term requires greater public awareness and advocacy regarding animal welfare issues and training within the animal welfare community on best practices. To that end, MADN has developed two highly regarded educational programs, both of which were halted due to Covid and just restarted in 2023.  
  • MADN's Making A Difference animal welfare conferences in Lexington Kentucky are headlined by highly regarded national experts addressing issues of critical importance to the animal welfare community and others concerned about the welfare of animals.  Making A Difference 2023: Reimagining Animal Welfare was held in October 2023!
  • On the Road Workshops are training sessions for animal welfare staff and volunteers that MADN takes on the road to different Kentucky communities to allow people to receive training and to network with colleagues in their own areas.  

Thank you for your support as we work together to build a kinder and more compassionate world for all creatures!