Filling the Gap Between Love and Cost
Cherish Pet Angel Network is a national 501(c)(3) built so that no pet is lost, and no family is broken apart, for lack of resources.
A national community of experienced animal lovers.
Creating one fund with infinite impact.
Ending preventable pet loss over money.
Registered 501(c)(3) #77091224028 — EIN #39-2422601
The gap isn't love. It's access.
Sources: PetSmart Charities–Gallup State of Pet Care Study, 2025; Federal Reserve, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024.
Behind those numbers are two heartbreaks that look different but come from the same place. Economic euthanasia is losing a treatable pet because the family can't afford care — roughly 30% of pet owners say they know someone whose pet died for exactly that reason. Economic surrender is giving up a pet you love because hardship made keeping it impossible; 11% know someone forced to surrender a pet over the cost of care. Both are losses no one wanted, and both are fixable.
That gap costs more than pets. Veterinary teams who repeatedly face these decisions carry real moral injury — the distress of knowing you could save a life but were stopped by a number on a bill. It is part of why the profession reports some of the highest rates of burnout and compassion fatigue of any helping profession.
These are not simply medical decisions.
They are emotional decisions.
Human decisions.
Community decisions.
Four Pillars
Cherish Pet Angel Network isn't a charity that waits for tragedy and then asks for help. It's an ecosystem — four groups, each giving something and each getting something back.
The Foundation
Businesses and community sponsors who fund the war chest, so resources are already in place before the emergency call comes.
The Providers
Veterinary hospitals who host a local Hero Fund. The clinical team makes the medical decisions and identifies the cases — we supply the resources and the infrastructure.
The Protectors
Pet owners who join the network, strengthening the fund for everyone and gaining member benefits across our partners.
The Circle of Care
Groomers, boarders, trainers, and other daily-care providers who see families every week and stand with them at the hardest moments.
Crisis Support
Not every emergency arrives at a veterinary hospital. Sometimes it is a fire, a flood, a job lost, a home lost. The pet is healthy — the family simply can't keep going without help, and surrender starts to look like the only option.
Crisis support runs across all four pillars. It is funded by general, unrestricted gifts, as resources allow, and it exists for one reason: to keep a family and the pet they love together when circumstance would otherwise separate them.
Aftercare — when the outcome isn't the one we wanted
When a pet passes, a $650 aftercare grant provides a dignified goodbye, including cremation and keepsakes for the family — arranged through a member provider, or one we source near the family. Funds are paid to the provider, never as cash to individuals.
Built to fund the mission, not just appeal for it
Many causes begin with an emotional need and, from there, return to their supporters again and again for help. Giving is charity, and the reward is the good feeling of having helped. That feeling matters — but it also means the organization is only ever as steady as its next appeal.
We started from the same emotional truth — no family should lose a pet to cost — and then did the part most causes skip: before we asked anyone for a dollar, we built the business plan, the legal structure, and the expansion model designed to fund the mission and return real value to everyone who takes part.
- Hospitals gain a way to say yes to cases they'd otherwise turn away — plus goodwill, PR, and member benefits.
- Investors get transparency and measurable impact.
- Sponsors and partners earn real visibility alongside a cause their customers already care about.
- Families keep their pets — and, when the time comes, say goodbye with dignity.
- Veterinary teams are relieved of the moral injury of saying no for a reason that was never medical.
That's why we say invest, not donate. It's the same discipline our founder brought as a CPA and as founding chairman of the Roc Solid Foundation: no self-enrichment, every dollar accountable.
Why We Do This
Jerry
I've spent decades as a CPA and MBA advisor. I've created companies, managed others, performed audits and led a university research foundation. I learned the metrics. I learned how to make money.
But something was missing — a purpose-driven higher calling.
profit is a tool, not a mission
Growing up in a small farming community, I cared for animals daily. My uncle practiced large animal veterinary medicine. Together we witnessed anxiety, pain and grief that follows loss — suffering that balance sheets never capture.
Today, as owner of a pet aftercare business I see that same anxiety, pain and grief. So the mission is simple but ambitious — build a community that donates money, services, and products to animals and pet owners facing crisis where compassion isn't just a value statement in a corporate deck.
But building a meaningful community needs people; ones who understand that community care and business impact aren't opposing forces. They're the same thing when done right.
If you've ever marked stages of your life by the animals in it, you already know why this matters.
Stuart
I grew up in a small agricultural town, always surrounded by animals and countless pets. My uncle was a large-animal veterinarian, and I worked alongside him as a teenager. Later, after experiencing deep personal loss, animals carried me through the darkest chapters of my life. They have marked each chapter, and I firmly believe they should be treated well and granted dignity at life's end.
I'd spent 20 years creating and running an ad agency — building strategies, managing portfolios, making millions for clients. It was profit-driven work. None of it mattered the afternoon I held my 13-year-old Great Dane, Shane, as he took his last breath. A memory surfaced: a woman in my uncle's clinic, sobbing because her senior dog was suffering and she couldn't afford care. Thirty years later, after buying a pet cremation business, I saw the same heartbreaking choice thousands face every day.
No one should have to pick between paying rent and keeping their pet — or saying goodbye with dignity. So, we launched Cherish Pet Angel Network, a 501(c)(3) that gives immediate support to pet owners in crisis. No forms. No judgment. Just help when it matters most. This is the work that keeps me up at night and gives everything else meaning — a legacy measured not in revenue, but in dignity restored when someone is at their lowest.
If you're a pet owner, veterinary professional, product supplier, or aftercare provider, we need you. Invest to fund emergency care. Sponsor a clinic or a case. Partner your practice to offer rapid, barrier-free assistance. Volunteer your skills. Share our mission with your community. Join us to turn compassion into action — so no pet or their human faces crisis alone.
What Others Say
Jerry was instrumental in the forming and development of Roc Solid Foundation 16 years ago, and I still lean on his insights today. When he commits to a cause, families feel the difference. I'm excited to support him now in changing the lives of pets and their families.