Back to Business: Scott County Humane Society

The bank helped secure the animal shelter with payroll protection program, or PPP, funds last year.

“They helped facilitate PPP loans to many small businesses,” said Bob Citrullo, interim executive director of the Humane Society. “That was their contribution. You need a good financial institution to work with.”

PPP was federal funding handed down to businesses and organizations like the Humane Society to help them financially during the pandemic.

Citrullo is serving as interim executive director of the Humane Society while the board of directors looks for a permanent replacement. He was not in the Quad Cities when COVID hit last year, but he said he is familiar with the PPP process.

He was director of an animal shelter in New England last year. The shelter lost business for two months after COVID hit and were doing some adoptions by appointments only. He said his organization relied on PPP funds to help navigate a difficult time.

“PPP loans were essential to our organization so that we could continue with payroll and the normal costs of running a business,” he said. “They were helpful to us as things slowly started turning around. This is a very labor intensive field. It’s very important to receive funding for that, and we’re grateful for that.”

On May 24, the Scott County Humane Society opened their doors for the first time in more than a year. While adoptions are not yet to the level they were prior to COVID, Citrullo said he anticipates a return to normal soon.

“There are benefits to doing adoptions by appointment, but we’re never going to get to that level we would like,” he said. “It’s best to be open to the public. We get a lot of walk-in business. A lot of adoption numbers here come from walk-ins. People are not sure, they look around, see what pets are available. We were missing that piece.”

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