One and a half-year-old pitbull mix Diamond and her new litter of pups were among the furry friends in line outside GRACE Marketplace, cuddled closely in a shopping cart.
Diamond and her litter were some of the 20 pets treated by the St. Francis Pet Care’s mobile outreach van. The nonprofit pet clinic in Gainesville partners with GRACE Marketplace, a one-stop shop for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness at 3055 NE 28th Drive to provide monthly wellness clinics for pet owners.
While many of the pets the mobile van sees are one-time visitors, Diamond was cared for while pregnant at a past visit to GRACE Marketplace. Wednesday, she and her litter were treated with vaccines and a general checkup.
Gifted to the nonprofit organization by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the vehicle with two stations and an exam room provides the space for St. Francis Pet Care to bring pet services to low-income residents of North Central Florida.
In addition to its GRACE Marketplace monthly clinic, St. Francis Pet Care offers two other outreach clinics in partnership with local organizations: Southwest Advocacy Group and Twisted Oaks Rescue.
The goal of the clinics is to provide medical care to the furry companions of people who may not have the ability to get transportation to the permanent clinic. The mobile van comes to the homeless shelter every third Wednesday of the month.
Pets at the outreach clinics are treated by Sarah Wingfield, clinic manager at St. Francis Pet Care, and a team of volunteers. Wingfield has volunteered at the organization since 2018 and became a manager in 2020.
“We're driven by our mission,” Wingfield said. “Our mission at St. Francis is to keep people and pets together for as long happy lives as they can, and so we want the pets to be happy and healthy.”
St. Francis Pet Care’s outreach work goes beyond the vaccines, heartworm, flea prevention and cleaning it offers. Wingfield said staff emphasize the importance of maintaining vaccination statuses for pets to prevent a public health issue.
“We try to encourage them to be responsible with their pet ownership as well as a benefit of getting free services,” Wingfield said.
Similar to the mission of the nonprofit clinic, Jacob Schaffer, the animal welfare coordinator of GRACE Marketplace, works to keep pets and owners happy and healthy at GRACE Marketplace.
“The animal welfare program is to…educate [pet owners] on what animal welfare is,” Schaffer said. “It puts a smile on a lot of people's faces seeing their animals get the care that they need.”
The animal welfare program provides the pets of GRACE Marketplace with the supplies and medicine they need in between the St. Francis Pet Care wellness visits.
“St. Francis is so valuable because it offers the services to these pets that they would not normally be able to get, whether it be from not having money or not having transportation or both,” Schaffer said.
Founded in September 2007, St. Francis Pet Care was born out of St. Francis House, a Gainesville homeless shelter and soup kitchen at 413 S Main St. It was created as a nonprofit organization providing clinical care weekly for pets of people experiencing homelessness, veterans and extremely-low income residents of North central Florida.
Through grants, fundraising and community support, St. Francis Pet Care expanded to grow its facilities and is now open to the public with reduced charges and fees, Dr. Lawrence Garcia, the medical director at St. Francis Pet Care, said. It moved into its new building at Southeast Fourth Place in August 2019.
Lauren Murphy, a 21-year-old UF zoology and art senior, originally worked at St. Francis Pet Care as a volunteer until she became a senior technician last June. She shares the same passion for animal health and welfare as her clients do, she said.
“Money should not impact your relationship with a pet,” Murphy said. “Anybody is able to love a pet just the same regardless of their financial status and we should not be limiting who can have a pet and who cannot based on who can afford it.”
Sophia Viera, an 18-year-old UF animal sciences freshman, began volunteering this week at St. Francis Pet Care. Viera was looking for volunteer opportunities and was attracted to its cause.
“I like [St. Francis Pet Care] because … it is helping a community of low income and veterans,” Viera said. “The mission is special.”
As one of its main features, the wellness clinic provides exams and vaccinations to prevent serious medical issues.
“If owners are educated and provide preventative care, you can avoid a whole lot of things,” Wingfield said.
Brenda Kallak, a 63-year-old Gainesville resident, has frequented the clinic since she and her husband relocated to Gainesville from Arizona in September 2023.
While at checkup for her dog Cody James at St. Francis Pet Care, the staff encouraged and educated Kallak on how to continually care for her pup who is injured.
“These people are wonderful,” Kallak said. “I felt like they really cared for the animal and not just the money.”
St. Francis Pet Care launched its new outreach program in Keystone Heights in October in partnership with Twisted Oaks Rescue, a pet service at 7637 El Dorado Ave., Keystone Heights, FL.
The nonprofit clinic recently became a part of the Atlanta Humane Society’s affordable veterinary clinic branch called Remedy: Yout Community Vet. According to St. Francis Pet Care’s website, the merging of the two organizations will be able to impact more pets and people in North Central Florida.
Contact Molly Seghi at mseghi@alligator.org. Follow her on X @molly_seghi.
Molly Seghi is a first-year journalism major at UF and a Fall 2023 Avenue Reporter. When not writing or journaling, she can be found at a live music event or working on her podcast “An Aural Account.”
