Impact Update – Q1 2024
The Gregory J. Reiter Memorial Fund began 2024 — its 9th year of supporting work for animal and human well-being — with Q1 grants to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and Mercy for Animals.
1a – The Greg Fund is supporting PETA for the 9th consecutive year, and supporting that organization’s Global Compassion Fund for the 4th consecutive year.
In Ukraine, despite ever-greater challenges, the Global Compassion Fund has provided means for PETA Deutschland to continue partnering with Animal Rescue Kharkiv to save some of the cats, dogs, horses, goats, chickens and other animals who are victims of war — often reuniting them with their original humans, or finding new families to adopt them.
The Global Compassion Fund also enables PETA to spay and neuter street dogs and other animals in underserved communities around the world — addressing animal overpopulation at its source, and thereby also reducing risk of disease transmission to people. In March, PETA teamed with local veterinarians and officials in Chichimilá and Cancún, Mexico to provide free sterilization for 499 animals.
1b – For the 9th consecutive year, the Greg Fund is supporting PETA’s Equine Matters campaign — whose Q1 work included teaming with The Washington Post to expose US nationwide proliferation of unregulated race tracks and the associated horse deaths, jockey injuries, and criminal activities. Based on evidence gathered in PETA’s investigation, Georgia prosecutors charged six jockeys with cruelty to animals and a bookie with felony commercial gambling. More in The Post’s February 15 story The feds’ raid on a ‘bush track’ fizzled, so horses kept racing — and dying.
2 – Also for the 9th consecutive year, the Greg Fund is supporting the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine — and for the 6th consecutive year it is sponsoring The Exam Room Podcast on plant-based health, which has now logged 100 million YouTube views in addition to some 20 million downloads. On March 26, The Exam Room hosted the launch of Dr. Neal Barnard’s Power Foods Diet US book tour at the National Press Club in Washington DC.
3 – The Greg Fund is supporting Mercy for Animals’ Transfarmation Project for the 2nd consecutive year. This Project works with farmers who previously raised animals under contract to large agribusinesses — helping those who choose for financial, health, or ethical reasons to transition to growing crops for human consumption. The Transfarmation Project is now creating its first demonstration hub.