2024 Charity:
The Street Dog Coalition

Midwest FurFest is excited to announce that The Street Dog Coalition is back as this year’s charity beneficiary!

In 2022, MFF attendees and the convention staff raised more than $110,000 for Street Dog’s Chicago-area efforts to help care for the pets of unhoused people.

Street Dog was founded in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2015 to provide medical care and other assistance to the pets of people experiencing homelessness. The organization has branched out to more than 60 cities and towns across the nation through grassroots efforts, including a strong operation in Chicago in partnership with The Night Ministry.

The Chicago team hosts recurring veterinary clinics alongside The Night Ministry’s Health Outreach Bus, which parks once a month at bus stops in Chicago neighborhoods with a large homeless population. The Night Ministry staff includes a social worker and a nurse practitioner who offer medical care to pet owners along with HIV testing, medication distribution, and links to housing and identification.

MFF 2024’s generosity will sustain and expand this and other local Street Dog initiatives across the Midwest. Thanks to the 2022 effort, Street Dog says its Chicago team is in a comfortable position to continue providing preventative care at street clinics in addition to compassionate care beyond the street clinic setting for another five years.

Furries have shown their compassion for Street Dog repeatedly – in addition to MFF 2022, furs at Orlando’s Megaplex have raised more than $167,000 over two years to assist Street Dog operations in Sarasota and Brevard County Florida, and PAWCon in San Jose, CA brought in $11,000 last year for the Bay Area Street Dog team!