King’s Harvest is a non-profit, no-kill animal rescue based in Davenport that provides meals and lodging to pets that come from homes unable to adequately care for an animal.
The institution started in 1966 when a woman at the Davenport Vineyard Church began distributing food to the homeless population living by the Vineyard. Throughout her journey, people offered mass support, eventually leading to the commencement of the King’s Harvest Ministry.
Volunteers housed the animals, fed them, gave them water and played with them until their owner was financially stable enough to provide for themselves as well as their animal.
The shelter rarely takes in stray animals. Instead, they accept animals whose previous owners did not have the resources to properly care for them. People who have animals they cannot care for anymore, for any reason, can contact the ministry for an Owner Surrender Appointment.
Crucial times left people on the streets with the decision of whether to abandon their animals outside throughout the brutal winter or give them up for adoption. King’s Harvest was able to aid with this extremely distinctive demand. The shelter offers an environment where homeless people can drop off their animals until they are able to get back on their feet.
King’s Harvest also provides opportunities for people to adopt animals and give them their forever homes. “King’s Harvest is a no-kill shelter, so I knew it was the best place I could’ve gone to get a pet,” commented senior Ayah Alsheikha.
The shelter has a pet assistance program that supplies free pet food through donations and volunteers. Other resources include education on correctly caring for animals, rehoming pets of the homeless and low-cost neutering.
There are well over 70 million stray cats and dogs in the United States alone. Inevitably, this leads to animals being hit by cars, made vulnerable to attacks or susceptible to catching contagious diseases.
King’s Harvest strives to help with the animal overpopulation problem by neutering stray animals. Spaying has many benefits for animals including improved pet behavior, decreased unwanted spraying, increased lifetime and better health. More than 2,000 unwanted kitten births have been prevented in under four years thanks to King Harvest’s proactive mission in neutering and spaying animals.
They are a perfect organization for individuals looking to adopt a pet without practices of corrupt animal reproduction. “Breeding animals is so unethical, and there are so many animals out there looking for homes, so I knew I wanted to adopt,” Alsheikha said.
The backbone of the King’s Harvest animal rescue is built upon volunteers who want to help their community. “They started as a homeless shelter then branched off into taking care of pets, now it’s a great place to volunteer, you can donate cat food, old blankets, donate your time, adopt a pet, there are lots of things you can do alongside King’s Harvest for animals,” former volunteer Marrie Petty communicated.
They are always open to taking new volunteers; applications are available on their website.
Ava Hartsock • Oct 2, 2024 at 10:31 am
I think it is really important that struggling pet owner’s have a reliable place they know they can safely surrender their animals to keep them off the streets. This helps to minimize the stray animal population.