It is with sadness that we announce that our founder Gretchen DeWitt passed unexpectedly on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. As one of our board members said, “We’ve lost one of the kindest, most caring and overall wonderful people on the planet.”
A full-time resident of Puerto Vallarta, Gretchen formerly owned a San Francisco public relations/special events business for 25 years and was active in fundraising for a number of charities. She was a founding member of the board of directors of Planetree, a national health care resource.
After moving to Puerto Vallarta in 2006, Gretchen co-founded the SPCA de PV and served as its first president. In 2009, she joined the board of directors of PeaceMexico for a three-year term, focusing her fundraising efforts primarily on “Ayuda a los Animales,” the free spay/neuter clinics. In June 2013, Gretchen and Amy Welch, former PEACE USA treasurer, founded PEACEAnimals.
Gretchen and her husband, Ned, resided in Puerto Vallarta’s Centro, and between them have four children, ten grandchildren, two dogs and six cats, all rescues except for the children and grandchildren.
PEACEAnimals is a Mexican nonprofit organization (AC) that operates 42-44 clinic weeks annually, visiting thirty plus towns and neighborhoods, primarily in Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding areas. In 2019, PEACEAnimals sterilized 5,892 cats and dogs – free of charge. Learn more at peaceanimals.org, or on their Facebook page.
