The Animal Emergency Endowment was started in the early 1990s by Dorita “Dody” Resnick, a transplanted Houstonian. Dody loved and cared for dogs, cats, birds and other wildlife all her life. She learned of a particular need one day at her local veterinarian’s office. A person had brought an injured dog to the clinic and wanted to help the animal with care, but did not have the funds to pay the entire bill. Dody paid the bill and many vet bills thereafter, but the ongoing problem of homeless animals without care truly resonated with her.

Though the clinic was staffed with sympathetic and generous individuals, they could not afford to give free care to every need. Dody set up and funded a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity, which remains to this day The Animal Emergency Endowment. Not only did the Endowment pay for injured animal care, the mission branched out to include spay and neutering and adoption services.

Through generous donors, the mission of the Endowment was expanded to include education and rescue work. The Endowment has helped fund veterinary education at Texas A&M University, through the veterinary college’s foundation. During the wildfires in central Texas years ago, funds were supplied to assist rescue teams help treat and restore horses and other animals who were rendered homeless as well as saving wildlife as they were able to.

The Endowment also helped with funding for veterinary students to do summer rotations working in shelter medicine at the Houston SPCA. The Endowment has undertaken to help support literally dozens of rescue groups working in the metropolitan and surrounding Houston area with funds for rescue/adoption, spay/neuter and transport to confirmed adoption centers in other parts of the United States. Due to Houston’s warm climate, the breeding season is year-round, creating stress on existing entities.

Today, the Endowment’s support of these rescue groups has helped to literally save thousands of dogs and cats from euthanasia, and helped reduce the critical overpopulation in Houston’s economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.