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Programs and Services
   
  Humane education: An investment in our future.
  Educating children on the value of compassionate living, especially as it relates to animals, is vital to their upbringing and benefits the entire community. Here are a few of the places PAWS visited this year. 
   
  More than 1,000 students attended the recent PAWS Humane Education Program presented at Seward Academy in the Back of the Yards community, where strays and unwanted litters are especially abundant. PAWS distributed vouchers for free vaccinations and spay/neuter surgery at the PAWS Lurie Family Spay/Neuter Clinic. Participants also received Run for Their Lives T-shirts, Frisbees, and lollipops donated by PETCO.
Students walk to Holy Cross Church with Father Bruce Wellems for a special pet blessing service
 
More than 1,000 students attend a PAWS Humane Education Program at Seward Academy in the
Back of the Yards community
 
  PAWS Chicago launches "The Free Fix"
  PAWS Chicago is now offering The Free Fix, a program providing free spay/neuter surgeries to pet owners who live in areas that have both the highest numbers of stray pets and lowest-income residents (South Chicago, Englewood, Washington Park, Pullman, Hyde Park, Austin, Humboldt Park, Auburn Gresham, and Chatham).
   
  In addition to decreasing the stray animal population, neutering lowers testosterone levels in dogs, making them less aggressive and dangerous. A comprehensive report issued by the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) Task Force on Canine Aggression suggests that spaying and neutering dogs may assist in dog bite injury prevention. In fact, the AVMA report includes that 70-76% of reported dog bite incidents involve unneutered dogs.
   
 
With over 33,000 unwanted pets destroyed last year in Chicago, The Free Fix is part of PAWS Chicago's progressive approach to decrease the city's pet over-population problem. Not only is spay/neuter free for pets living in the specified zip codes, it is always free at PAWS for anyone on financial assistance, thanks to our "Prevent a Litter" program funded by PETsMART Charities and Metropolitan Bank Group.
   
  Zip codes offering The Free Fix include: 60609, 60617, 60619, 60620, 60621, 60624, 60628, 60629, 60636, 60637, 60643, 60649, 60652, 60653. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call our Lurie Family Spay/Neuter Clinic at 773.521.SPAY (7729).
   
  Give for the Animals
   
 
As an organization, PAWS Chicago is a very efficiently run not-for-profit business. We currently operate with a paid staff of less than 15 individuals and a volunteer staff of more than 2,000. This means that when you give to PAWS, you are truly giving to the dogs and cats of Chicago. PAWS could not exist and fulfill its mission without the unwavering dedication of our volunteers and the generous gifts of our sponsors.
 
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