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Rochester non-profit receives first part of Golisano donation


ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — News 8 is checking in with some of the organizations awarded ‘surprise’ gifts by Tom Golisano back in September. The entrepreneur and philanthropist announced a remarkable $360 million to be divided among 82 non-profits, over a period of time, spanning the upstate region.

While incredibly generous, the timeline of receiving the funds has led to at least one instance: a lull in standard donations.

‘Never expected this’: Best Buddies WNY able to further mission after donation from Golisano

Headed For Furever is a foster based animal rescue in Rochester that opened in 2020. After it was announced the non-profit would receive that $250,000 donation, a Facebook post at the beginning of October revealed community donations completely stopped.

Within the initial post, officials said they were unsure when the grant would make its way to the rescue. As medical bills began to pile up, staff also became unsure how they would continue to operate at any capacity.

That all changed Thursday when CEO Kaitlyn Fitzgerald told News 8 they received the promised funds from Golisano. Officials said the grant would help cover the $21,000 payoff cost for its new adoption center on River Road in Scottsville. The post to Facebook also went onto say if they did not come up with funds quickly, they would have to stop intakes and rescues.

However, with the gift now in the non-profit’s possession, Headed for Furever is getting back on track. Sunday, a cat adoption event allowed for the preview of the new adoption center space. Organizers said the event ties into the original mission of finding homes for rescues.

“The point of this adoption center was to be able to have open hours a couple times per week. We’ve done a couple smaller adoption events just out of my house, but this is going to be where we can have volunteers’ youth groups will be here just so that people can come routinely and either play with the kittens, volunteer or hopefully adopt,” Headed for Furever Chief Financial Officer Morgan McCarty told News 8. “While this grant has been life changing to us, it definitely doesn’t mean that we can stop fundraising now, which is why we went ahead and hold events like this.”

Again, Headed for Furever, similar to so many of the organizations which were awarded these generous gifts, still rely on donations and volunteers. For more information on ways to help, click here.

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