An Advocate, A Friend
Dorothy Ricks was an unwavering force for good in Hattiesburg, partnering with Southern Pines for over a decade to help improve the lives of homeless, hurting, and in need animals. Whether it was assisting clinic clients in our front lobby, writing thank you notes to donors, pitching in at shelter adoption events or clinic events, and so much more. She was a staunch advocate for animal welfare, a dependable team member, and an encouraging cheerleader for our staff. Her passing was a huge loss to our local animal welfare community and we greatly miss her.
While Dorothy loved all animals, community cats were her true passion. To memorialize our friend Dorothy's love and work with Hattiesburg community cats, we've created the Dorothy Ricks Community Cat Fund which helps to fund lifesaving cat spay and neuter programs such as our monthly Tomcat Tuesday events, our annual Spay-a-thon event, Free To Be, and other community cat spay and neuter efforts.
With the Dorothy Ricks Community Cat Fund, we hope to honor her memory by continuing her legacy of love for community cats, her commitment to the mission of Southern Pines, and her passion to make her community a better place.
"Dorothy has been a force to be reckoned with as she helped Southern Pines and our community meet the needs of animals and people in our community, and she has volunteered thousands of hours with our organization. She was the first one to arrive at our rabies clinics for the last 12 years. She coordinated our intake at the front door for 10 years before COVID. She booked appointments before we had the staff to do so, and folded laundry 2-3 days a week. Dorothy helped those who forgot their glasses fill out their paperwork and those who couldn't pay for part of their pets care by paying for it or helping identify funding to meet their needs. She has helped clients get home when their car broke down or they ran out of gas. She would occasionally take animals back to their homes when their person had trouble getting back for discharge. She has met people when they got lost so they could follow her to the clinic and sat with owners while they were anxious about their pet having surgery.
Dorothy was most passionate about community cats. She fed a colony near her home and helped Trap Neuter are Return cats all over our community. She would join the Southern Pines Staff as we traveled to different communities to trap colonies of cats and fix them. She would often be the person who would go check the traps in the middle of the night. Dorothy was an incredible advocate for animals in need. She worked so hard to make our community a better place for the people and pets who live here, and she is very missed."
~ Dr. Alicia Fortenberry, Medical Director, Southern Pines Organization
" Dorothy's passion for and commitment to the amazing community cats of Hattiesburg was inspiring. She is so missed, by us and by all of the cats she loved so well."
~ Ashlynd K.
How It Works
The Dorothy Ricks Community Cat Fund helps to make the following programs possible:
-
Tomcat Tuesday - Taking place on the first Tuesday of the month*, our Tomcat Tuesday special helps to make neuter surgery more accessible to owned male cats in our community.**
-
A $1,500 gift makes one Tomcat Tuesday event possible and helps 50 cats
-
A $12,000 gift makes Tomcat Tuesday possible for a whole year and helps 600 cats
-
-
Community Cat TNR - The Dorothy Ricks Community Cat Fund also helps to offset a portion of surgery fees for outdoor community cat, as well as any incidental charges that may occur*, and lowers the cost of community cat surgeries to just $35 per cat for the client.**
-
A $20 gift makes one discounted community cat surgery possible!
-
-
Free To Be - This fund helps to make spay and neuter services free to Hattiesburg residents who are trying to help community cats in their neighborhoods. The cats are fixed, rabies vaccinated, and then placed back in the neighborhood they came from to promote healthier, more stable community cat colonies.*
-
A $55 gift helps cover the cost of one Hattiesburg community cat surgery!
-
-
Spay-a-thon - Taking place on World Spay Day, this annual event discounts spay surgery for up to 200 female cats, preventing unwanted kitten litters, promoting a healthier cat population, and helping to ease the burden on local shelters.**
-
A $250 gift helps us to fix 10 cats
-
A $1,000 gift helps 40 cats receive surgery
-
A $5,000 gift helps to fund the entire event to help 200 cats***
-
* This program is not currently grant-funded and is dependent entirely on community donations. Therefore, this special is available only if funding allows.
** There are no residency requirements for this program at this time.
*** If you or your organization are interested in sponsoring a Tomcat Tuesday or a Spay-a-thon event, please contact our Philanthropy & Marketing Manager at dsnell@sopines.org for more information and for marketing opportunities.