About The Ryan Newman Foundation

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ABOUT THE RYAN NEWMAN FOUNDATION
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman and his wife, Krissie, established the Ryan Newman Foundation in January 2005. The mission of the foundation is to educate and encourage people to spay/neuter their pets and to adopt dogs and cats from animal shelters; to educate children and adults about the importance of conservation so the beauty of the great outdoors can be appreciated by future generations; and to provide college scholarship funding through the Rich Vogler Scholarship program to students interested in auto racing careers. The Ryan Newman Foundation is proud to be part of the NASCAR Foundation’s family of charities.

S.N.I.P. Regional Spay/Neuter Clinic
The Ryan Newman Foundation S.N.I.P. Regional Spay/Neuter Clinic opened in December 2008 in Hickory, North Carolina. The foundation donated $400,000 to the Humane Society of Catawba County (HSCC) capital campaign to build the low-cost, high-volume, high-quality regional spay/neuter clinic in the HSCC multipurpose facility, which contains the S.N.I.P. (Spay Neuter Initiative Partnership) Clinic, a no-kill animal shelter and education center. The clinic serves individuals and animal rescue groups in eight counties in the heart of NASCAR country—from the mountains to the piedmont of NC.

National Spay Neuter Response Team
Ryan and Krissie Newman are spokespeople for the Humane Alliance’s National Spay Neuter Response Team (NSNRT). The NSNRT operates much like a NASCAR pit crew, sending groups of trained vets and veterinary technicians to help nonprofit organizations learn how to open spay/neuter clinics using the Humane Alliance model.

Through the NSNRT initiative, which began in 2005, the Humane Alliance’s team of facilitators has mentored 21 organizations across the nation to successfully implement its high volume, high quality spay/neuter model. More than 200,000 companion animals have been surgically sterilized at these clinics in just two short years.

A total of 22 organizations around the country--including the Humane Society of Catawba County--have applied to open low-cost, high-volume, high-quality spay/neuter clinics. Twelve of those clinics opened in 2007 and the remainder are scheduled to open in 2008. These nonprofit spay/neuter clinics will partner with hundreds of local animal shelters and rescue groups in their regions across the nation.

Why is spaying/neutering pet so important to the Ryan Newman Foundation?
Spaying and neutering is the only way to permanently curb the proliferation of millions of unwanted and abandoned animals each year in the United States.

Sadly, U. S. shelters have to euthanize an estimated 3-4 million cats and dogs each year simply because there are not enough homes for all the abandoned dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. Spay/neuter humanely reduces the number of healthy, homeless pets who are euthanized. For example, the Humane Alliance of Western North Carolina non-profit high volume, high quality, affordable spay/neuter clinic located in Asheville. Since its inception 12 years ago, the Humane Alliance clinic has sterilized 180,000 companion animals and reduced the euthanasia rate in the Asheville community by an astounding 72 percent. Spay/neuter saves lives!

Conservation
Ryan Newman has been a fan of the great outdoors for as long as he can remember. From late-night campfires to pre-dawn fishing trips with his grandfather, Ryan spent his childhood exploring the natural world around him.

Today, when Ryan’s not behind the wheel of his #12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, he can often be found fishing on his pond at home or at lakes near speedways across the country. In 2006, the Ryan Newman Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to Trout Unlimited whose mission is to conserve, protect and restore North America’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. The foundation is also working with the conservation organization to develop programs that enable individuals to help protect rivers, lakes and streams.

Racing For Wildlife
Across the nation, natural places are increasingly being lost to development. Woods and grassy meadows are giving way to shopping centers and subdivisions. As a result, families have fewer opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature. In an effort to help preserve America’s special places, the Ryan Newman Foundation has teamed up with The Conservation Fund to launch Racing for Wildlife, a creative campaign to build an American land legacy for generations of race fans who share Ryan’s love of the outdoors.

Together, The Conservation Fund and NASCAR driver Ryan Newman, through the Ryan Newman Foundation, with inaugural support from Michigan International Speedway, are leading the effort to preserve some of these special places—and are turning to the millions of Americans who love NASCAR and the outdoors to help. Each year, Racing for Wildlife will pursue a new conservation project that offers recreational opportunities near urban areas, so families can easily enjoy these protected places. The first project is the restoration of Mill Lake Youth Camp in the Waterloo Recreation Area in Michigan.

Pit Road Pets: NASCAR Stars and Their PetsTM
In 2006, the Ryan Newman Foundation published the hardcover book, Pit Road Pets: NASCAR Stars and Their PetsTM, a collection of first-person stories and intimate photographs of nearly 50 NASCAR celebrities and their pets. One hundred percent of the foundation’s proceeds from the book are being donated to the Humane Society of Catawba County’s capital campaign for the construction of the S.N.I.P. Regional Spay/Neuter Clinic that serves the heart of NASCAR country in NC.

The first printing of the book sold out, and the second printing—sponsored by Meaty BoneTM--was released in 2007. Books can be purchased at Barnes & Noble and other major bookstores across the nation, as well as PetSmart stores, NASCAR.com, trackside at SMI souvenir rigs and Ryan Newman’s souvenir rig, at the Penske Racing Gift Shop in Mooresville, NC, and from the Ryan Newman Fan Club.

Rich Vogler Scholarship
In his youth, Ryan Newman raced alongside Rich Vogler, who tragically died in white flag lap crash on the track. His family set up the Rich Vogler Scholarship in his memory. Newman was a recipient of the scholarship when he attended Purdue University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Vehicle Structure Engineering. The Ryan Newman Foundation donates annually to the Rich Vogler Scholarship fund, which encourages young members of the racing community to further their education.

Hurricane Katrina
In September 2005, a month after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Krissie Newman volunteered alongside Ryan Newman Foundation Executive Director Rosalie De Fini and Ryan Newman Motorsports executive assistant Michelle Croom. The group traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi with a busload of supplies for people and their pets and a tractor trailer load of pet food donated by Purina. The group spent a week traveling to New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and Slidell, Louisiana to distribute the supplies and food to Hurricane Katrina victims.

The Ryan Newman Foundation also donated $19,000 in grants to nonprofit animal welfare organizations that were rescuing abandoned animals and helping families with pets. When Krissie Newman and Rosalie De Fini returned to the Gulf Coast in July 2006 to welcome the Big Fix Rig into St. Bernard Parish, LA, they visited two of the organizations that received those grants—the
Humane Society of South Mississippi and St. Francis Animal Sanctuary.

Quotes from the Newmans

RYAN NEWMAN: “I’ve met a lot of NASCAR fans who are avid fisherman like me, and they know how important it is to protect the beautiful land and water that we enjoy today so our grandchildren can enjoy it in the future.”

RYAN NEWMAN: “Krissie and I are proud to have been asked to be the spokespeople for the National Spay/Neuter Response Team. Across the nation, county animal shelters have to put dogs and cats to death because there aren’t enough homes for all of the puppies and kittens being born each year. The only statistically proven way to stop the animal overpopulation epidemic is by spaying and neutering pets. We have to prevent unwanted breeding to save lives.”

KRISSIE NEWMAN: “In the USA, we spend one billion dollars annually to pick up, house, and destroy homeless animals. If only five percent of that total were allocated to spay/neuter programs, we could open 250 public, low-cost spay/neuter clinics across the country and sterilize more than four million animals each year. Instead of our county tax dollars being used to kill animals, we could be using those funds to prevent unwanted litters and therefore prevent the needless deaths of homeless animals.”

Contact information for publication
For information about the Ryan Newman Foundation
Mailing Address:
Ryan Newman Foundation
PO Box 5998
Statesville, NC 28687