Impact Update: Q3 2024
The Gregory J. Reiter Memorial Fund supports work to end animal abuse in many forms, promoting vegan living and systemic change that also benefits people.
During July-September 2024, the Fund made fresh grants to:
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for its work to modernize research and stop the capture, breeding, and use of animals for experiments.
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) for its animal-free clinical research on human health.
- Mercy for Animals (MFA) for The Transfarmation Project work with farmers transitioning from animal agriculture to crops.
Also this quarter, the film Humans And Other Animals began streaming on digital platforms after its live theatrical release.
More below!
The Greg Fund made the latest of its regular grants supporting PETA‘s work to end the capture, breeding, and use of animals in outdated experiments — and to promote advanced research methods that produce better outcomes for human health. PETA’s most recent success, in September, was a decision by Charles River Labs, the world’s largest breeder of animals for use in experiments, to cancel plans for a facility that would have housed up to 43,000 primates on ecologically sensitive land next to a wildlife refuge in Brazoria County, Texas.
The Greg Fund made a separate grant this quarter to the clinical research program of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) — which for more than 20 years has conducted animal-free, human-based research showing the health benefits of vegan diets for conditions including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The Greg Fund also made its latest grant to The Transfarmation Project of Mercy for Animals (MFA), which helps farmers transition away from animal agriculture to growing crops for human consumption. In September, Transfarmation launched its first Demonstration Hub, Barn Farm Plant Haven in North Carolina. Here, Tom and Sokchea Lim once raised hundreds of thousands of chickens per year under a contract system that trapped them in constant debt — but now they have repurposed the farm to grow plants and mushrooms.
The new film Humans And Other Animals is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play. The Greg Fund made a donation in 2021 to support the film’s production, and I was honored to attend a live premiere screening in Philadelphia, where PETA president Ingrid Newkirk made introductory remarks. The film is described as “an epic journey, from cutting-edge science to high-stakes spying, that forever changes how you see animals — including yourself.”
While the Fund runs primarily on assets Greg left behind, it has also expanded its reach through donations from friends and supporters. Thank you to the following generous individuals who have contributed to the Greg Fund to date in 2024:
- Anonymous (3)
- Jennifer Bailey
- Pavel Belau
- Ting Yi Bell
- Judy Coldren
- Jennifer Barbara Congdon
- Jeana Curro
- John Di Leonardo
- Rob Haworth
- Susan Johnson
- Keith Kemplin
- Christine Kestner
- Deborah Kula
- Jim North
- Diana Ok
- Mary Pauli
- Holly Melinda Pepper
- Emily Perryman
- Masha Skuratovskaya
- Emily Parker Slough
- Lawrence and Zoray Spielvogel
- Quincy Tang
- Yi Ting
- Daisy Warin
- Kristy L W