Yucaipa Animal Placement Society (Y.A.P.S.) was founded by Betty Martines in 1957. At that time, homeless dogs and cats were wandering the streets of Yucaipa with no where to go, except to Betty’s home. Y.A.P.S. was born out of Betty’s great concern for their welfare, and her desire to save these animals from certain death. Her vision of a “no kill” shelter came from her conviction of wanting to place these animals into loving homes. Through years of hard work and with the help and support of Betty’s most ardent supporter and husband, Jim, Y.A.P.S. was able to incorporate in 1973 as a 501C-3 non-profit organization. The Mission Statement of Yucaipa Animal Placement Society “To prevent cruelty of animals in the operation of a rescue shelter and placement center for pets, and by furthering the education of a public sentiment of humanity and gentleness toward domestic and other animals.” Together they worked tirelessly to find a donated piece of property or at least one they could afford to see their dream come true. They finally met with the County of San Bernardino, who generously agreed to lease three acres of land on 13th Street for a dollar a year to Y.A.P.S. and this continues to this day. A shelter was built on September 29th 1983, at its current location on 13th street. Under the fourteen years of direction from Betty, hundreds or perhaps thousands of animals were saved and placed into loving homes. Betty worked tirelessly coordinating rummage and bake sales, anything that could raise money for the shelter until the death of Jim, her best friend, constant companion and husband. For several years after Jim’s death in 1991, Betty struggled with the shelter as it almost floundered. In 1998 the board of director hired Sherri Laffey to be the new successor to Betty. Undaunted by the situation at the shelter and knowing what big boots she would have to fill, she went to work. In no time the shelter was cleaned up with the help of a new organization in town, the Set Free Church. Animals were again being brought in for adoption; the shelter was once again fulfilling the mission that Betty had dreamed of. After the initial cleanup, Sherri was able to broaden the goals of Y.A.P.S. to include new programs designed to help animals. The Animal Rescue Program was the first to go into place at Y.A.P.S. in 1999. This program was designed to keep animals that could be adopted, out of local shelters. Sherri worked successfully for Y.A.P.S. to obtain contracts from the local municipal shelters. These contracts enabled Y.A.P.S. to be able rescue otherwise ill-fated animals before they were euthanized at “no cost” to Y.A.P.S. The quarantine and medical procedures regarding these “rescued” animals are still in force today. Shelter rescued animals are brought into the Y.A.P.S. facility, where they are quarantined for fourteen days to prohibit the spread of infectious diseases, and then spayed or neutered before being placed as available for adoption. This program has spared the lives of 70,000 dogs since its inception.       Back to top Sherri also established the “Senior Pet Companion Program”. Aware of Yucaipa’s large senior population she was surprised that many seniors came to the shelter to adopt an animal, but always seemed to hesitate. For many of the seniors it was not only the cost of adoption, but the routine upkeep and care, making it merely a dream for many of the seniors. The rules in local mobile home parks that were against pets also did not help the situation. YAPS in conjunction with Yucaipa Mobile Home Renters’ Association, and the City Council set out to amend the rules governing pets within the parks. The cooperation proved successful, rules were amended, and AB 860 passed on January 1, 2001. Soon the seniors were up at Y.A.P.S. to adopt their new animal friend. However, finances were still an issue as difficulties arose in taking care of the animals. Eventually Y.A.P.S. applied for grants from the Community Foundation’s Herdina Program to fund the newly formed “Senior Pet Companion Program”. The first like it in the nation; it received national attention. Doris Winkler from the Senior Report visited Y.A.P.S. in 2001 and it was televised nationally. Calls from across the country came into the shelter from seniors wanting to be a part of the program, and we found ourselves sharing our knowledge with shelters across the US to help them implement similar services. To date we have several hundreds of Senior’s in our program. Y.A.P.S. encourages volunteers from all walks of life, which helped spread the news of the good works of the shelter. Yucaipa High School FFA Department soon wanted to contribute and be a part of the facility. Thereafter ROP and countless other organizations would join the cause. After a while, we began to notice how much the animals would actually sooth and calm the children. This led to the founding of the Youth Volunteer Program. This program encompasses all children from age 13 and up, including those required to complete community service due to minor infractions with the law. Our shelter soon became a safe haven for the children of the community, as well as the animals. To date we have record of over 65,000 donated hours of volunteerism from adults and children from Yucaipa and surrounding areas. The shelter was flourishing; the community was growing and with growth can sometimes come conflict. It was apparent with the many public events going on in the community that we needed to encourage the City to restrict animals at certain public events to ensure a safe time for all. Sherri authored ordinance 212 for a safer Yucaipa. To help ensure the safety of the community and to encourage responsible pet care she also lobbied the City of Yucaipa to implement a Spay and Neuter Program as well as bringing licensing in house and reducing the license fee for altered animals. All were successful and to this day residents can still pickup vouchers to spay or neuter their pets as well as licensing them at Y.A.P.S. With knowing the domestic pets in the community were being accounted for and helped, it was time to raise awareness for our equine and livestock animals that frequently broke out of their pastures were often found roaming the busy streets with catastrophic results. As a result, YAPS began to lobby San Bernardino County, San Bernardino Sheriff Department and the City of Yucaipa and local veterinarians to pull together the Emergency Livestock Program in 2002. This program ensures Yucaipa’s horses; livestock and other large animals will receive 24-hour emergency care 365 days a year. It played a critical element in saving the life of horses that had been hit by a car on February 7th, 2003, as well many others.       Back to top On August 14th, 2003 a young, healthy black bear was shot and killed in a rural neighborhood of Yucaipa. He was a wild bear that wandered into the neighborhood on occasion. New residents within the community, lacking experience with wildlife, panicked, and the bear was killed. From that tragedy, a division of Yucaipa Animal Placement Society was created called the Wildlife Corridor Program. The purpose was to help our new residents live with the wildlife within our community and not destroy it in the process. The focus was placed on the dissemination of information to the public, as well as cooperation with Fish and Game in hopes that urban sprawl will not mean that precious wildlife would disappear. Focus was placed on coexisting responsibly and happily, by understanding nature. Since the start of this program, Y.A.P.S. has been able to help save the lives of many of our wildlife residents. Receiving recognition from local television and radio stations on many occasions, this was also the first program of its type to be endorsed by the Department of Fish and Game. Sherri stepped down from being Executive Director in the spring of 2005. The next three years proved to be very trying for the shelter. Without a strong working board and a passionate leader, the shelter began to falter. The once beaming programs were now closed, volunteers diminished, and grants were not obtained. Then, a prominent community leader and passionate animal lover Claire Teeters, watching at a distance, decided to get involved. Claire a long time friend and supporter of Y.A.P.S. had been communicating to Sherri over the years explaining the difficulties of the shelter and finally with the agreement of the board they together asked for Sherri to return to California for a short time to keep Y.A.P.S. from failing. Working as a team the board hired Sherri’s daughter Nicole Laffey as Executive Director on January 3rd of 2009. Nicole had several years of experience working at the shelter as the Executive Assistant to Sherri. Starting in January of 2009, Nicole had the shelter sparkling again by the first of March. Due to the hard work of Nicole, the strong and active board of directors and Sherri, the volunteers returned, the programs were restarted and grants were applied for and awarded. Nicole took the steps to activate several programs that had been inactive for several years and increase the community involvement of YAPS. She applied for and received the Herdina Grant, enabling the reactivation of the Senior Pet Companion Program. She also hosted vaccine clinics for seniors in the local community to further help seniors with their pet care. Early in 2010, she partnered with Petco and became and active member of Yucaipa Rotary. Partnering up with Petco opened up new avenues of increasing the visibility of YAPS animals and increasing the scope though which these rescued animals could be re-homed. Nicole is continually looking for ways to see YAPS thrive and to carry out the values embodied within the YAPS mission statement.

A quick summation 1999-2005
	2002 Excellence in Education Award from the San Bernardino Board of Education. For our work with the children in our community.
	Authored and implemented the Emergency Horse and Livestock Program with the City of Yucaipa and County of San Bernardino.       Back to top
	Lobbied and obtained AB60 to allow pets into mobile home parks.
	Successfully lobbied the City of Yucaipa to bring licensing in-house.
	Authored ordinance 212-making our streets safer for our community.
	Authored and implemented the City of Yucaipa’s First Spay and Neuter Program.
	Created and implemented solutions for our community and surrounding area’s to co-exist with our wildlife with our Wildlife Corridor Program endorsed by the Cities of Calimesa, Yucaipa and the County of San Bernardino.
	Obtained several grants from the Community Foundation Herdina Fund, which provides low-income seniors medical assistance and other necessities for their animals.
	Festival of the Animals – brings education, awareness in the form of a celebration for the animals and children. An event that brings over 10,000 attendees to our community.
	2005 Commendation by the City of Yucaipa for community and humanitarian service for the work at the shelter       Back to top