After a two-month break, grassroots organization Fix Long Beach will return on Sunday, August 21, to provide free spay/neuter procedures for the dogs and cats of the city’s residents who couldn’t otherwise afford the procedure.

Fix Long Beach was founded by Claudia Hoffmann when she’d seen enough dogs running in the streets, most of them unaltered. This, combined with the resulting shelter overcrowding, which led to euthanasia when rescue resources were exhausted, gave her the idea of providing spay/neuter procedures to Long Beach residents who couldn’t afford the procedures or who weren’t educated about why they’re necessary. She took her concept to Eldad Hagar, head of the LA-based nonprofit rescue Hope for Paws. Hagar and his volunteer staff rescue dogs from the street, documenting each episode from locating the dog to the rescue and adoption. The heartrending but ultimately joyful videos can be seen on the Hope for Paws website. (Sharing links to the videos on Facebook and other social media helps fund Hope for Paws and, in turn, efforts like Fix Long Beach.)

“We want to attack animal overpopulation at its roots,” Hoffmann said. “We want to get many more people involved—come out with programs like this all over SoCal and the U.S. I hope people will wake up and see what’s needed—report abuse, fix their pets, and do something so that these types of programs won’t be needed.”

Hagar readily agreed to fund Hoffmann’s project. Armed with fliers and a group of equally enthusiastic volunteers, she canvassed residents of target areas in Long Beach. The first mobile clinic was held in June, 2013 at Orizaba Park; 28 pets were fixed.

Since then, Fix Long Beach has spayed and neutered over 5,000 cats and dogs at their mobile clinics and provided countless vouchers for free procedures to residents who couldn’t get an appointment. The events also provide free microchips for cities served by Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS), which include Long Beach, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill; and $10 vaccines and flea meds to any pet who comes with a human.

Organizations such as Friends of Long Beach Animals and Justin Rudd’s Community Action Team have added to the clinic sponsorship, and the Second and Third council districts sponsored a clinic held at the beach area below Bixby Park in April. Fix Long Beach also received ACS’s One Too Many award in 2015 for their work in lowering shelter overpopulation and euthanasia. ACS manager Ted Stevens attributed the steady three-year drop in euthanasia—67 percent for both cats and dogs since this month in 2013—to Fix Long Beach’s efforts.

Tireless? Not the Reality

The phrase tireless volunteer could be classified as an oxymoron. Scheduling appointments, planning, setting up at 6:00AM and breaking down at around 4:00AM, fund-raising, running interference for everything imaginable—volunteering for this event is exhausting. Even with appreciation and honors, volunteers, especially committed ones, get very, very tired. The Fix Long Beach group thus took a break to breathe and regroup after the May clinic, and much to the delight of people on the waiting list, they’re back and ready to roll.

Calls have begun for scheduling appointments for the August 21 clinic, to be held at Houghton Park, 6500 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, near Jordan High. This particular clinic is for dogs whose owners live in Long Beach and who qualify for the procedures, but any qualifying Long Beach resident may come in person to receive a voucher for a free procedure for either cats or dogs. Follow this link http://fixlongbeach.com/ for information and appointments. Fix Long Beach’s volunteer staff asks all applicants for appointments for their patience; as imagined, they still have hundreds of requests to go through.

Eldad Hagar has committed to fund the clinics until the end of the year.

“Until then, we will continue to help decrease the shelter impound & euthanasia numbers,” Fix Long Beach’s Facebook page reads.

Visit this link to donate to Fix Long Beach. Fix Long Beach also has an Amazon Wish List that can be accessed through the link.

“My mission is to rescue. My dream is that one day I won’t have to.”

~ Tia Maria Torres, founder of the Villalobos Rescue Center for pit bulls in Agua Dulce, California