#12-Ryan Newman, and his wife Krissie have been named spokespeople for the National Spay/Neuter Response Team (NSNRT). Their first project for the initiative was welcoming the Big Fix Rig into New Orleans, Louisiana. Krissie Newman traveled to New Orleans with Ryan Newman Foundation Executive Director Rosalie De Fini on July 11 to christen the Big Fix Rig, a new 53-foot mobile spay/neuter clinic capable of performing 120 cat sterilization surgeries per day as part of the effort to reduce pet overpopulation nationwide. The mobile clinic was funded by grants from the PETCO Foundation and the Leonard X. Bosack & Bette M. Kruger Charitable Foundation. Welcoming the Big Fix Rig into Louisiana kicks off a major spay/neuter program in the Gulf Coast. Leading animal welfare organizations-the ASPCA, PetSmart Charities, the Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and United Animal Nations-have joined in an effort to fund $3.2 million in support of spay/neuter programs in the hurricane affected areas of Mississippi and Louisiana. The National Spay/Neuter Response Team is an initiative of the Humane Alliance, which is a nonprofit public, low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Asheville, North Carolina. One clinic that is slated to open in 2007 is the Ryan Newman Foundation Spay/Neuter Clinic at the Humane Society of Catawba County’s multipurpose animal welfare facility that is being constructed this year. The Ryan Newman Foundation pledged a donation of $400,000 to build the clinic, which will serve eight counties in the heart of NASCAR country in North Carolina. While in the Gulf Coast for the Big Fix Rig kick-off, Krissie Newman and Rosalie De Fini took time to visit the Humane Society of South Mississippi and St. Francis Animal Sanctuary. Both organizations received a grant from the Ryan Newman Foundation for Hurricane Katrina Pet Rescue. More info at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.(7-14-2006)
