Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw SAFPAW believes in knocking down poverty obstacles that exist for those we serve and their pets.

The Southern Alliance for People and Animal Welfare (SAFPAW) is a local non-profit serving Davidson County by working to improve the quality of life in our community for people and pets in need. SAFPAW provides pet food, supplies, and veterinary care free of charge pet owners who are homeless, or living at or below the poverty level. Our weekly Spay/Neuter Transport picks up every Thursday morning

and brings each pet back that same evening. Animals are spayed or neutered, fully vaccinated, dewormed, treated for fleas & ticks and nails trimmed. In addition our weekly transport helps with basic wellness pet needs. Our homeless outreach program provides food, camping supplies, and other basic needs to those we serve. We also assist those looking to secure more permanent housing by helping with transportation, acquiring necessary IDs (such as social security card, state ID or drivers license, birth certificate, etc.), working through the application process, and everything in-between, including move-in day! SAFPAW is able to make a tremendous positive impact in the lives of people and pets throughout Davidson County, but only with the help of our generous and compassionate community. Swing by our page at Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - SAFPAW and "Like" us to stay up to date on all of the amazing work being done every day. And don't forget to come check out our website too (www.safpaw.org) and consider making a donation so that we can all continue to build our community better and stronger every day!

06/01/2026

This past Saturday we gathered at the welcoming Eastwood Christian Church to put together our Lunch Meals for delivery. Under the direction of our Meals Coordinator Lori Eslick and our Assembly Line boss Bettina Bowers we always get this task done in record time and we have fun at the same time. We like to call this “organized chaos” but just know this, we are serious about serving those in our community struggling with hunger.

And thanks to donations both Miranda Liss and I brought lots of dog food (along with never enough cat food!) to hand out because no one should be hungry. Miranda is amazing at community outreach and gathering what SAFPAW needs to serve both animals and people.

Our team on Saturday of Lori, Jenny, Bettina, Dara, Karla, Katie, Miranda and myself finished up with putting the meals together and Katie, Miranda and I headed out to deliver lunch meals, pet food, farm fresh eggs, baby wipes, socks & t shirts and love to everyone on our stops.

We headed out with close to 300 lunch meals and every one was handed out. Thanks to our longtime friend and partner Jessica Pentecost we left her with meals enough to serve the children she watches out for in the Napier neighborhood where we serve. I have known and worked with Jessica for well over a decade and she is a force for good.

The folks who give up their Saturday to serve are my heroes. Every one. And the volunteers who make the sandwiches and deliver them to the church are absolutely critical to making this work happen.

Because you donate we can feed. Saturday’s hunger patrol came at a financial cost of $400. We had to move from every Saturday to every other due to the cost, and that move did hurt our hearts. And while I am working on possible grants, it is your donations that send us out.

Katie, Miranda and I (and everyone who is on our delivery team) have our routes but we also look for folks in alleys and side roads and camps that have managed to still exist. The alleys and streets off of Murfreesboro & Lafayette where we find our friends who are so close to our hearts. They mean so much to us and we absolutely enjoy the time we spend with them. This I know, meals unite folks together. You want to know what meant so much to me this past Saturday? We stopped on one side street and a woman came to us saying that she had spent the morning getting high and really needed something to eat. Her friend told her not to say that but she responded with this “these folks just want to feed us, they know we are high”.

Now addiction hurts my heart. But we will never solve that crisis by being clinical. Someone struggling with addiction does not need a reminder of what that struggle costs them. However I truly believe that a meal and a genuine smile and hug can deliver dignity and hopefully the understanding that they do matter. When people seek you out and come to you with meals and other needs that truly tells people that they are worthy. And that is what can bring people off the streets, knowing that they do matter.

Thank you for making our Meals Program happen. And we rarely have pictures to show you. What happens on the streets where we deliver becomes a sacred bond. Sometimes a picture is appropriate but mostly it is not.

What began in 2020 continues to grow in response to the need. Our Meals Program means so much and I am grateful for your support.

Laurie Green
Lori Eslick, Meals Coordinator
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

[email protected]
[email protected]

I received a call from a woman who had a lot of eggs from her happy backyard chickens. She wanted to donate them to the ...
05/29/2026

I received a call from a woman who had a lot of eggs from her happy backyard chickens. She wanted to donate them to the folks we serve and I was truly thankful for her call.

So on Thursday morning Lori Eslick (our Meals Team Coordinator) and I headed way out in the country to meet Karen and her creative and beautiful daughter Gloria. The good in this amazing woman was honestly so bright. Lori and I had the best visit.

This coming Saturday is our Lunch Meals Delivery Saturday so along with our lunch meals we will have truly farm fresh eggs to give out!

The call I received from Karen is truly the start of a relationship we want to keep. Lori bought several dozen eggs from her in addition to what she donated to us.

What a great morning we had! And we are looking forward to handing out eggs on Saturday to those we serve.

Thank you Karen and Gloria!

Laurie Green
Lori Eslick
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

[email protected]
[email protected]

This is something I never wanted to say out loud, because that makes it real. But it is real. Our beloved Rowdy has cros...
05/21/2026

This is something I never wanted to say out loud, because that makes it real. But it is real. Our beloved Rowdy has crossed Rainbow Bridge and is now back with Shiloh and his first human, our Charlie.

Our sanctuary began in 2016. And we have loved so many animals and people who brought light and meaning to our sanctuary. Rowdy is a painful loss that is raw right now, but will heal in time. He was a promise I willingly made to Charlie, that if something happened to him Rowdy would be taken care of. That was an easy promise, we loved Rowdy as much as we loved Charlie.

I’m sitting outside as I write this and the mist from a late night rain feels good. I’ve done my crying over the earthly loss of Rowdy and our SAFPAW family knows that we did right by Rowdy. I mean he was the inspiration for our screened in porch! He loved sitting outside by Michael, our sanctuary manager. Rowdy loved watching over our cats. I can truly say to Charlie that we honored his request. After he passed on Rowdy became our dog.

A sanctuary is not a place where loss never happens. And absolutely the loss of every person and animal who has lived here hurts but crossing over is as much a celebration of life as bringing that life into our sanctuary is. I acknowledge and honor both.

This is why I want more for our sanctuary. I want more land to take more lives in. I want to celebrate their arrival and honor their leaving, seeing both as a recognition of their life.

The loss of Rowdy is a lot to take in. But he was such a large presence that our grief is nowhere near what we would have lost had we never known his complete love for us.

Rowdy is back with Charlie and Shiloh and we are okay. Because we gave them both a home and a family and in the end, that is what matters. And that is what is celebrated.

Laurie Green
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

My friends Who Sundae and Tracy Liddell both have a FB Birthday post up on my personal FB page to raise funds for SAFPAW...
05/13/2026

My friends Who Sundae and Tracy Liddell both have a FB Birthday post up on my personal FB page to raise funds for SAFPAW in recognition of my birthday.

And that would be much needed funds. Every smaller nonprofit I know of right now is struggling. Folks it is a hard time for donations and we all understand that. But it is a scary time for all of us. And the reality is that some of us will not make it.

As for SAFPAW, there is no way I could ever let our doors close. Our sanctuary that has always housed cats, people and Rowdy must stand strong. We take in adoptable cats but also cats that are…unique. Meaning they are not adoptable but with us they have found a home. With us they have found a family and a whole lot of love.

The programs you support with donations are:
1. Our Sanctuary
2. Our Meals Program
3. Our Christmas Program
4. Our Spay/Neuter & Wellness Transport Program

Please go to my FB page and give. It would make this birthday mean so very much.

Love to you all,
Laurie Green
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

[email protected]
[email protected]

For every mother living and trying to survive while unhoused I am thinking of you on this Mother’s Day. For every mother...
05/10/2026

For every mother living and trying to survive while unhoused I am thinking of you on this Mother’s Day.

For every mother who lost her children when she lost her housing, I am sorry that too many fail to see your worth and your efforts.

For every mother sleeping in an alley or a tent who will not get flowers or dinner fixed for them, we failed you when we provided no path back from the darkness.

You are a Mother still. You are a woman who matters, still. I just pray that someday we will see all mothers as worthy even when they stumble. Because Mother’s Day is not just for the mothers who wake up to breakfast cooked by children in a magazine worthy kitchen. It is a day for every mother who has fought so hard to come back from hell and her demons and is still standing.

You are who I am praying for on this Mother’s Day. Because you are worthy.

Laurie Green
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

A recent adoption that just made my heart so happy! Karen is a vet tech at our amazing partner, Goodlettsville Animal Ho...
05/10/2026

A recent adoption that just made my heart so happy! Karen is a vet tech at our amazing partner, Goodlettsville Animal Hospital. When I brought this little nugget in she fell in love at first sight.

She asked if she could foster and of course, with her heart and experience that was an easy yes. After he was old enough to be neutered we made it official!

And even better, when she and her family get moved they might be looking for 1 more kitty to make their home complete.

Our Cat Sanctuary is unique in that we take in the “not adoptable” and the impossible to place. I always thought that was missing in our cat rescue world. So I wanted a sanctuary that would be their home. Where Terrance, Otis, Sage, Trinity and Sinatra would find their cat posse and their home. And even though most would consider them as impossible to adopt we saw them as perfect family members for our sanctuary home.

Of course we have a lot of purrfectly adoptable cats just waiting to show off their feline charms. Some come that way and some come to us so uncertain and so broke down. With us they find a place where they don’t have to be anything but what they are. We loved them before they even came to us. What I have learned is that for adult cats, once they learn that we don’t expect anything from them, that all we want is for them to be secure and happy then their personality starts to show out.

We are a different kind of Cat Sanctuary and that difference makes for some really happy cats. It is a lesson in organized chaos, for sure. But it works. I have found that once you lay the groundwork based on a foundation determined to make it work then it does.

And because you give we will continue to watch cats go from being afraid to leave their carrier or humane trap to a cat that greets me on our cat proof screened in front porch.

That is joy.

Laurie Green
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

[email protected]

This picture so captures my vision. And while it does not show the people we have housed, the humans we have taken in an...
05/05/2026

This picture so captures my vision. And while it does not show the people we have housed, the humans we have taken in and loved it does show the side by side walking together that is what we have practiced since our first sanctuary opened in 2016.

And now we are looking to move again. That is a calculated move based on what I envisioned since I first used a donation to pay for our first sanctuary. Now when I put my vision into action I use my heart but I also use my pragmatic brain. Our second move made enough money to sustain us for a year. I am aiming for this move to do likewise. And to get us closer to my vision of the sanctuary I am wanting to build.

These are rough times for smaller nonprofits. Too many have stated that their doors might close and indeed that is a very critical danger for all of us. We are all in a fight for the lives we serve because times are so tough for those who donate. But we get up every morning and we make things work for those we serve because that is who we are.

When I put our current sanctuary on the market it is, as I stated, a calculated move I have made with my heart and brain. But we need you as never before. We have a cat sanctuary that serves cats in a way that has never been seen in Nashville. We take in cats that will never be “adoptable” because they deserve a home no less than cats who are considered adoptable. We take in people who are hurting from being rejected over and over.

My vision is based on leaving the streets and working a garden. On helping animals heal and I truly know that when you help an animal heal, when you eat food you grew this heals you.

I’m not here to say if you don’t donate now we may close our doors. But we won’t grow and be the sanctuary I know we can unless you grow with us.

Laurie Green
Southern Alliance for People & Animal Welfare - Safpaw

[email protected]

Address

1326 Plum Street
Madison, TN
37115

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 6:30pm
Saturday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

+16154748390

Website

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