Partner Spotlight: My Pit Bull Is Family + Our Spay/Neuter Spectacular Event
Hansel Foundation Executive Director Katy Herman (right) and My Pit Bull Is Family Executive Director Shannon Glenn.
We visited Minneapolis August 24 and 25 to help the incredible My Pit Bull Is Family execute a two-day, low-cost Spay/Neuter Spectacular with our 2025 grant funding, and it was an incredible success!
MPBIF is a nonprofit focused on keeping pets with their people by providing food, supplies, and resources, low-cost vet care, and support of dog-inclusive housing policies. They have amazing things on the horizon the rest of this year, including opening a huge new space from which to serve the North Minneapolis community. Executive Director Shannon is one of the most hardworking people I've ever met and it's inspiring how much she and her team do for their community. She gave us a tour of the animal welfare scene in Minneapolis, her powerhouse organization's multiple facilities, AND the best spots at the State Fair (we did not eat an Uncrustaburger, don't ask). The event was held at Access Vet Care, an incredibly impressive, mission-driven clinic that is able to offer lower prices on some services and believes strongly in making vet care more accessible. The teams from both groups plus the additional volunteer vets and techs that came out for our events were all so kind and delightful.
Marge and Walter, our first and last patients of the event.
We’re so proud to say that in two days, we were able to provide 32 dogs with spays and neuters at $150 per surgery — a remarkable price for community members considering typical pricing for spay/neuter in the Twin Cities is about $600–800; at Access it's typically $475–550). My Pit Bull Is Family generally hosts clinics with $150 spay/neuter every three weeks for a smaller volume of patients at a time, and we're thrilled our grant allowed them to expand this work in such a spay-tacular way this weekend. Our event also offered free microchips, $5–10 rabies and bordetella vaccines, and free distemper vaccines courtesy of Petco Love. Local rescue Save-A-Bull also fully covered surgery costs for a couple of the dogs!
Dr. Angelica and vet tech Le prepping Hela for surgery.
The pups receiving services ranged all different sizes and breeds; we'd say just over a quarter were "bully breeds." Though we are a pittie-focused organization, we are passionate about accessible spay and neuter for all pets. Spaying and neutering all types of dogs directly supports our mission of reducing the number of pitties euthanized in shelters, because we can't end the shelter crisis and pet overpopulation without widespread, affordable spay and neuter.
Here are some of the benefits of spaying and neutering pets:
Longer lifespan and reduced risk of certain cancers, as well as preventing other common health issues like pyometra (infection of the uterus).
Preventing males from wandering. Male dogs can smell a female in heat up to two miles away and want to pursue them! This is a common cause of dogs becoming stray, lost, and hit by cars.
Reducing behaviors like humping and marking, and possibly even reducing aggression
Reducing pet population for years to come. Our country is facing severe pet overpopulation, which leads to overcrowded shelters and more euthanasia. Sterilizing just one animal means THEIR babies won’t go on to have babies, and so on — so one surgery can potentially prevent the birth of tens of thousands of animals. According to the North Shore Animal League, “In six years, one unspayed female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies.”
Learn more here.
Clockwise from top right: Marie from Access Vet Care comforting Hunter before surgery; sisters Lola and Luna; a vet student DeLayne sitting with Rocky after surgery; big guy Titan waking up after his neuter
Many families who very much want to spay and neuter their pets simply can’t afford it. Vet care has and continues to become increasingly expensive, so a key focus of both animal and human welfare needs to be increasing access to these essential services.
My Pit Bull Is Family is one of our favorite organizations because they help both sides of the leash without judgement. Education, understanding, affordable resources, and compassion for humans AND animals are key values of our foundation and theirs. We are so grateful for this partnership and experience!
