MIKE AND DOTTY COLLETT ANIMAL CARE GRANT PROGRAM
Mike and Dotty Collett, who were married for 54 happy years, shared a love of animals, big and small. Throughout their lives they had pets of all shapes and sizes.
The Mike and Dotty Collett Animal Care Grant Program supports local organizations that provide animal care in NVCF’s service area, which includes Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa and Plumas counties.
Mike and Dotty Collett Animal Care Grant Program
This grant program was established to support programs and projects that provide direct services to animals related to improving animals' quality of life, such as food, shelter, medical care and so forth.
Grant applications open annually each September. See the 2026 grant awards below.
Organization | Amount | Date | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
True North Housing Alliance in Chico | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | For food and other supplies at the Torres Shelter’s Duke’s Happy Tails pet supply program for animals of individuals experiencing homelessness. |
TOPCats on the Ridge | $2,800 | 10/21/2026 | For a voucher program that assists low-income residents with spaying/neutering of their pet cats. |
Serene Strides | $2,400 | 10/21/2026 | To expand its equine therapy program. |
High Sierra Animal Rescue in Portola | $3,500 | 10/21/2026 | To distribute vouchers to local pet owners for spaying or neutering their dogs and cats. |
Jan’s Rails to Trails | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | For feed and medical care for abused and unwanted horses. |
Kastlerock Ranch Foundation | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | To help with feed, bedding, farrier care and veterinary services for 10 horses in the organization’s equine therapy program. |
Gridley Animal Control | $2,000 | 10/21/2026 | For a trap/neuter/return program to help reduce the number of unwanted feral cats and kittens in the community. |
Friends United in Rescue, Inc. | $1,500 | 10/21/2026 | To help the organization trap, treat and find homes for approximately 80 stray cats at Antelope Trailer Park and Hidden Harbor Trailer Park in Los Molinos. |
Friends of the Chico Animal Shelter | $2,800 | 10/21/2026 | To purchase an autoclave, which is a medical sterilization device for the spay/neuter clinic. |
Friends of Plumas County Animals | $1,500 | 10/21/2026 | To build two more “catios” (cat patios) to go with three existing ones. |
Durham Doggie Posse and Kittens | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | For responses to calls from local veterinary clinics, shelters and residents to assist in the fostering and rehoming of animals that are abandoned, living in inhumane situations or are in at-risk shelters. |
Companion Animal Welfare Alliance | $1,237 | 10/21/2026 | For effective and humane cat traps. |
Chico Cat Coalition | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | For cats, often more senior cats, whose owners can no longer care for them |
Catnip and Cattitude | $4,700 | 10/21/2026 | For spaying and neutering feral and friendly cats and kittens. |
Butte Humane Society | $5,000 | 10/21/2026 | For the Shelter Care Fund that supports every step of an animal's journey, from intake and medical care to adoption readiness. |
Bidwell Wildlife Rehabilitation | $1,000 | 10/21/2026 | For mammal milk replacement formula to feed the hundreds of baby squirrels, possums and other mammals that the organization takes in each year. |
Mike (Earl) Collett was born in Happy Camp in Siskiyou County and lived in Pittville until moving to Chico. Mike served in the military during World War II and was a foreman for PG&E for more than 30 years. Dotty (Dorothy) Hescock Collett was born in Chico and lived in the same house for 85 years. She worked as a school teacher at Chico Junior High and was a radioman in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Together they enjoyed camping, dune buggy trailblazing throughout Butte and Plumas Counties, water skiing and fishing. Throughout their lifetime they had pets of all shapes and sizes, including a tarantula, a 4-foot-long iguana, lizards, snakes and even a skunk. Of course, they also rescued countless dogs and cats. They were all special but a few stood out.
Quigley, a beautiful Siamese cat, was one. Mike taught Quigley how to shake hands, high five, smooch and play “which hand is it in.” Quigley and Dotty enjoyed walks every evening.
Chief, the Doberman pinscher, was another special pet. He was so smart that Dotty would give him a sack lunch that he would carry out to Mike who would be working in the orchard. Chief would answer the telephone and hold it until he could hand it to someone. Chief could pick out which canned food was his and could tell when it was dinnertime. He would also act as a waterski spotter when Mike and Dotty were on the lake. He would don a hat and sunglasses and sit in the passenger seat until the skier fell, then he would alert the boat driver with a bark.