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The Turpen's and APA

I pledge to continue to donate a portion of every Real Estate transaction I close to Action Programs for Animals (APA). Help me support this organization.

APA is a progressive animal welfare organization seeking to improve the quality of life for companion animals in Dona Ana County and greatly reduce the number of unwanted animals impounded and euthanized at the municipal shelter.

APA's mission is to help Dona Ana County reach our No Kill goal to eliminate the unnecessary killing of companion animals via progressive & friendly animal-welfare programs and services. Our vision is that our efforts will help transform our community, improve the quality of life for our companion animals, and greatly reduce the number of abandoned and homeless animals impounded and killed at our municipal shelter.

Services & Support Offered by APA:

  • A pet food bank program for pet guardians who are suffering financial hardship - distributing over 500,000 lbs of food to over 2,000 families
  • Spay/neuter and veterinary care assistance.
  • A Second Chance Dogs & Cats program, which takes in former abuse-case animals, many of which are pit bull-type dogs, and helps find these dogs homes vs. the alternative of going to the municipal shelter to be put down. APA recognized that many of these dogs need extra support to acclimate to life in a new home, so post-adoption training and support is provided to families willing to give these special dogs a home where they will never have to suffer neglect or abuse again.
  • We pull as many at-risk dogs from the municipal shelter, put them into foster homes, and then find them new forever homes. We save more than 90% of all the animals that end up at our municipal shelter.
  • We're located in Las Cruces, NM, but our services are offered to all those in Dona Ana County.

Get Involved with the Turpen's and APA

Tobe and his wife Shawn got involved with APA in 2009, when it was only a food bank. Since then they've helped the APA on their mission to save thousands of animals from kill shelters, fostered several dogs and cats, and have donated their time and money to the APA. Read more about the Turpen's involvement.

DONATE   ADOPT   FOSTER   VOLUNTEER


A Letter from Shawn Turpen

My name is Shawn Turpen. Tobe Turpen is my husband. Our journey with APA began in 2009 when the organization was only a food bank aimed at supplementing dog and cat food for people struggling financially.

I was a stay at home mom and had plenty of time to help out with APA's endeavor. One Saturday per month all the volunteers would gather at our designated location and hand out collected bags of food and treats.

I spent many a day traveling around picking up food from donation bins and taking it to storage for the once a month event.

APA then embarked on a new mission. That of saving at risk animals from our local animal shelter. This was a very big undertaking and required the team work of many dedicated volunteers. The mission was to save as many dogs or cats as was feasibly possible, take them to a quarantine home for a week, then find foster homes and then up for adoption. I embraced this 100% because once an animal is rescued by APA they can NEVER be returned to the shelter. APA is always the 2nd number on the microchip and the shelter works closely with APA in seeing the safe return of any of APA's animals. Once saved, forever saved and I loved this idea and concept.

These animals were always the ones at risk of euthanasia because they appeared unlikely to be adopted from the shelter for many different reasons. Others were at risk simply because the shelter was at capacity.

My girls and I would help pick up animals from the shelter and get them to quarantine. Take those who needed medical help to one of the volunteer vets in the city, deliver to foster homes, pick up from foster homes, really just any type of job that needed to be done, if we were available we hopped in the van and got to it.

I then talked with my family about becoming a foster home for small dogs. Hence we began our journey of fostering for APA. Our first dog was a Jack Russell, beagle cross named Jack. He had been in the shelter for nearly a year. We had some trials and tribulations with Jack due to him not understanding humans. He and I watched the Olympics together and finally bonded.

3 years and over 50 dogs (a few kittens) later we are still a part of APA. We have kept two of our foster dogs, hey only two, and every day I am reminded of how proud I am of the work APA does at saving these babies because the very thought of one of our fosters not being offered a life and home is tough.

We have stepped back from fostering at the moment and instead have chosen to support them through donations from our real estate transactions for 2016. We hope by our doing so, more citizens will be aware of what they do and may find a way to help out by volunteering, fostering or donating.

2 years ago APA was able to open a facility on West Picacho. This has enabled them to rescue more animals and they still run the food bank out of the facility. This also brought on more financial hurdles for them as they are strictly volunteer and rely on donations.

I have merely scratched the surface of the amount of time and work the Director and Volunteers put in to this organization. They are undying in their dedication. We encourage you to click on the link and check out their webpage. They are also on Facebook.

Thank you for reading,
Shawn