Keeping Pets and Families Together When They Need It Most: ARC’s Pay It Forward Fund

McKenna snuggling Orange, a sweet feline whose family received assistance from the Pay It Forward Fund.

One of the questions we're asked most often is how the Hanson Family Foundation is making veterinary care more accessible.

While the Pet Wellness Veterinary Hospitals are a nonprofit entity, that does not mean services are free. Instead, it means the hospital is mission-driven rather than profit-driven. Its purpose is to provide high-quality, compassionate veterinary care at affordable prices while generating enough revenue to cover expenses and sustain services for the community.

The majority of clients, approximately 85%, are able to pay for their pets' care, with some utilizing convenient pay-over-time options. At the Foundation's Animal Resource Center (ARC), we believe no family should have to choose between caring for their pet and paying their bills. No one should be forced to surrender a beloved companion because of a temporary financial setback.

With that in mind, ARC serves as a humane case management program, accepting referrals from human service agencies, churches, shelters, and rescue organizations throughout the community. We work alongside pet families to determine what they can reasonably contribute toward their pet's care, while donor-supported assistance helps bridge the gap.

In July alone, more than 70 pet families received ARC financial assistance at the two nonprofit hospitals. For pets like Orange, a friendly feline, pet patients are receiving lifesaving surgeries, cancer treatments, pain management, vaccinations, and preventive care that may have otherwise been out of reach.

The Hanson Family Foundation has invested in the facilities, equipment, and resources needed to make affordable, compassionate veterinary care possible to the Sioux Falls community. But donor support through ARC’s Pay It Forward Fund is what makes financial assistance available when families need it most.

Every donotion is matched dollar-for-dollar by the Hanson Family Foundation, doubling the impact of every gift. The fund exists because compassionate people continue to invest in our work.

Every day, the veterinary team witnesses the impact of the fund firsthand. The Pay It Forward Fund is about more than veterinary care. It's about hope when families feel helpless. It's about compassion when life becomes overwhelming. It's about preserving the extraordinary bond between people and the pets.

If you've ever loved a pet, worried about an unexpected veterinary bill, or simply believe pets belong with the families who love them, we invite you to pay it forward today.

ARC’s Pay It Forward Fund demonstrates what can happen when a community comes together around a shared belief: every pet deserves access to veterinary care, and every family deserves the opportunity to keep the pets they love.

When you support ARC's Pay-It-Forward Fund, you are helping write the next success story. You are helping keep tails wagging, purrs rumbling, and families whole. Together, we can continue paying it forward, one pet at a time.