The Gwen Fund provides financial aid for veterinary care with priority given to emergency, palliative, and after death care. The Gwen Fund was inspired by a very special chocolate lab, Gwen. President of The Gwen Fund, Chris Olinger, had the pleasure of having Gwen as his sidekick for 15 years! In September of 2020 Gwen was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma. She experienced changes in behavior which drove Chris to seek an opinion from his veterinarian. Unfortunately, the vet still was unable to make any determinations. Chris then was presented with the option to do more testing, one of which was over $700 dollars. Chris and his family wanted answers so they did the test and got the devastating results. Gwen’s tumor had ruptured and she had only a few days left.
Their veterinarians went above and beyond to make her comfortable and provided them with the opportunity to spend quality time with Gwen and give her a dignified farewell. She passed away on her bed surrounded by her family on September 26th, 2020, at 11:25am. While processing the loss of his bestfriend Chris knew he wanted to do more. He realized how lucky they were to have been able to access this higher-level testing. They had the funds which allowed them to find the problem, and act. Without this, Gwen would have died scared, alone and in a lot of pain. The Gwen Fund was founded so no family had to experience this type of loss due to lack of funding.
The Gwen Fund works with local veterinarians to determine need and may step in to assist with all or some of the financial resources needed to provide these tests. It was a long process getting started and fundraising to have the capital to start their Financial Aid Program. The Gwen Fund proudly opened the program in January of 2022 and recently earned their first case. You can apply for Financial Aid by visiting their website at TheGwenFund.org.
If you are interested in joining the Gwen Fund team as a volunteer you can apply here! To help them make the world a better place for pets check out their shop where 100% of the proceeds remain within the organization and to provide financial aid for preventative, critical, and palliative veterinary care.
Our pets are family too! To learn more about protecting your loved pets with a Pet Trust, visit ACT4Pets.org.
