FOTAS Gives Thanks for Many Things

This year, Friends of the Animal Shelter have much for which we can be grateful.

We are deeply indebted to individuals, families, neighborhoods, schools, clubs, and communities throughout Aiken County who have given generously of their time and money to help the animals at the County Shelter. 

We are grateful for our local business community’s ongoing support.  Talent, expertise, professional services and resources, and dollars have been invested over and over in our cause.

FOTAS is a 100% volunteer organization, and we are so very grateful for that spirit which moves our volunteers to go out to the shelter day after day, week after week, to assure our adoptable dogs get the attention and exercise they need; to spend time with the cats and kittens; so our homeless pets can be seen as potentially great family members.

Our volunteers plan and execute fund-raisers like Woofstock, Breakfast at FATZ, the FOTAS Hunter Pace at Three Runs Plantation, golf tournaments, and special “giving parties.”  We have clubs like Future Farmers, Girl Scouts, Serteens and NJROTC who dedicate themselves to advancing the FOTAS Mission to help provide a Community Shelter in which we can all take pride.  We are so thankful for all they do.

We have a state-of-the-art website because of a volunteer.  We have broadcast email capabilities, keeping our membership 1000-strong up to date on our progress, special needs, and involvement opportunities – all because of a volunteer. 

We are blessed with rarely talented volunteers who understand database management, how to maintain financial accounts, how to recruit and organize the right help at the right time, and those who can appreciate contributions in just the right way.

We are profoundly grateful for the volunteers who take on litter after litter of abandoned puppies and kittens, who find transfer partners at no-kill shelters, and who see that some very lucky dogs and cats find their way to forever homes.

We have volunteers who are developing targeted spay/neuter programs across the county, who make the calls, who help the owners, rescuers, businesses do the right thing and spay/neuter as many dogs and cats as they can in their communities.  We are so very thankful for all their combined efforts.

We are blessed with county staff and county officials who have joined us in one of the finest public-private partnerships ever seen in creating a better community.  For the officers in the field and shelter staff dealing with daily heartbreak, to county administration and officials determined to find the optimal combination of resources and outcomes, we are thankful.

Perhaps there is nothing for which we in the FOTAS family can be more grateful than the miraculous creatures whose cause we champion day in and day out, our pets.  Dog lover or cat lover, we know the loyalty, affection, entertainment they bring us. 

If we let them, our pets can teach us about tolerance, patience, forgiveness, honesty, and love.  We are thankful always for them, and the opportunity to live up to their image of us.   

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

November 12^th thru 18^th   

Received: 37 dogs and 46 cats!

Adopted: 8 dogs and 1 cats

Euthanized: 48 dogs and 22 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

TIGER – +/-1 yr, 34 lbs, He has stripes.  He is great on a leash.  Super friendly and only $35

 

SHADOW – Golden boy.  3 months old. Lovely, quiet personality. Purr-fect gentleman! $35

 

Woofstock like Aiken County Just Gets Better!

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Could there have been a better way to spend that perfect Saturday?  The sun came up and shone all day on what is becoming FOTAS’ signature fund-raiser, the Woofstock Festival of Mutts and Music.  In its second year, and  continuing to grow, Woofstock is yet another reflection of a very special community. 

The kick-off to the day was a parade of dogs called The Mutt Strut, a special fund-raiser with an assortment of local celebrities, prizes, and the opportunity to win the 64G iPad with cellular and wifi.

At the festival entrance, it was plain that no one would go hungry.  Papa Russ’ Bar-B-Q, Papa John’sPizza, Bruster’s Ice Cream, Coach T’s, and the Willcox were all on hand to satisfy a range of appetites.

This year, the “Music” component offered live broadcast from 93.9 Bob FM, Tony B. from WKSX  92.7 FM, and a return engagement of Aiken’s own jazz ensemble, 4 Cats in the DogHouse. 

Woofstock offered so much to do and see at the event, one might have missed the rockin’ backdrop that gave the day such a festive feel.  Tony B and “The Cats” went out of their way to include all the dog-lyric favorites: “Hound Dog,” “Walkin’ the Dog,” “Who Let the Dog Out?” rendered by some of the finest musicians anywhere.

In addition to the 18-plus businesses and individuals that contributed door prizes or raffle winnings, more than forty-five vendors and exhibitors encircled the two performance rings.  There were artisans, unique and pet-related products and services, rescue groups and community nonprofits. Local and national businesses, too, signed up to have a presence in front of Aiken’s dog-lovers, knowing there probably isn’t a better group of people with whom to do business.

The centers of the rings offered a variety of dog events, from efforts to match adoptable shelter dogs with potential homes; agility and training demonstrations, and health and fitness exercises, to three dog contests reminiscent of the Mutt Dog Show from Woofstock I. 

Surely, the opportunity to see if one’s dog was Best Kisser, had the Best Trick, or Best Costume had to be one of the festival highlights.  What made those contests even more special was that the judges, Sofia, Sophia and Christian, had won their positions as judges in the Woofstock Essay Contest.  They had written responses to the question, “What can we (Aiken County) do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens?”

That question is at the heart of FOTAS mission, as well as six-plus months of work to create our Woofstock Festivals.  Although hundreds of people contributed to the festival’s success, there are two, without whose tireless leadership Woofstock II would never have happened: Edie Hubler and the late Susan Henderson.  God Bless them both where they reside.

The Woofstock Festival brings us together around a very special cause.  This year, in addition to raising nearly $20,000 for the new County Shelter, it brought us all together on a beautiful day to enjoy how much we can accomplish together.

FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at

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Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

November 5^th thru 11^th   

Received: 43 dogs and 21 cats!

Adopted: 18 dogs and 5 cats

Euthanized: 28 dogs and 26 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

--> DWIGHT – +/-1 yr, 45 lbs, bright brindle lab/terrier mix. Affectionate, good on leash. $70.  Tiny price for a new best friend

--> ANGEL – Young, snow white with one green and one blue eye.  Purr-fectly yours for only $35

 

 

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*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

FOTAS Partners with SPCA to Make Possibility Reality for County Shelter

All that exceeds FOTAS’ accomplishments are our possibilities!  Here are a number of recent reasons for our optimism.

Yesterday, FOTAS held its second Woofstock Festival of Mutts and Music.  With the weather forecast, sponsor/vendor/exhibitor support, and community interest as predictors of success, it must have been spectacular.  All of the proceeds from the event will be invested in our new shelter.

Last month, accompanied by some very special adoptable dogs, FOTAS engaged the community on the needs of our County Shelter at St. Mary’s Chocolate Festival and Fall Steeplechase.  More than 5,000 unwanted, mostly adoptable, dogs and cats a year are still coming into a grossly inadequate facility.

Since January FOTAS has transferred 431 dogs to no-kill shelters up north. They move through an unbroken chain of relationships from our inadequate shelter to volunteer foster homes, to transfer partners, to the love of responsible, well-vetted homes. 

Combined with our county adoptions, we are saving twelve- to fifteen hundred pets a year, and still seven out of ten animals coming into the county shelter die there. 

Naturally, we cannot build, adopt or transfer our way out of this heart-breaking reality.  The real solution to the horrific euthanasia rate of impounded animals is to address the problem at its source: the elimination of unwanted litters of puppies and kittens through spay/neuter and responsible pet ownership.

Beginning last spring, through an opportunity offered by Pawmetto Lifeline in Columbia, FOTAS volunteers moved deliberately and actively into facilitating low-cost, targeted spay/neuter services through the new Spay/Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Wagener area citizen’s response to the program was huge and saw that more than 80 cats and dogs were fixed before funds were exhausted in Columbia.  That is when Aiken SPCA stepped up to the plate and became the critical partner for FOTAS SNAP in Wagener, picking up the surgeries for an additional 50 to 60 animals.

FOTAS and Wagener owe a huge debt of gratitude to Gary Willoughby, the SPCA’s executive director, who dedicated private funds received to continuing two spay/neuter transports of up to 20 animals each to their clinic this month.

As FOTAS continues to expand SNAP, piloted so successfully in Wagener, to other county trouble-spots, the SPCA will be ramping up their surgical capacity in the new Albrecht Center.  The partnership emerging between the two organizations has the potential to move our county ever closer to never having to euthanize an adoptable pet!

There are so many ways you can help us achieve this goal.  One way is to make a donation to our Capital Campaign for the new county shelter.  Another is to write a check to FOTAS-SNAP and help fund targeted spay/neuter with the SPCA.

Or, now that the cold weather is upon us, the county shelter badly needs warm blankets for its current residents who are relegated to the overflow pens. 

Donate: dollars, food, or blankets.  Volunteer.  Foster.  Adopt a shelter pet.  Help make the possibilities realities.  We need you; in fact, can’t do it without you.   

 FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org 

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

October 29^th thru November 4^th     

Received: 50 dogs and 44 cats!

Adopted: 10 dogs and 2 cats

Euthanized: 27 dogs and 34 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

 

Jazmine - Boxer/Mix: Walks well on leash. OK with cats.

 Only $35 

 

LOONEY – 3 yrs 13lbs  Siamese mix female. Gorgeous! Prefers to be only, or top-kitty.  Yours for only $35.                              

*All adoption fees include: Spay/Neuter, heartworm test, all shots, worming, and microchip.

Steeplechase to Woofstock FOTAS at work for County Shelter

F.O.T.A.S. is how Aiken County Animal Control spells Animal Advocacy, and gives new meaning to Public-Private Partnership.

Last weekend, FOTAS represented our County Shelter among many community non-profits at the 2012 Fall Steeplechase.  With the help of South Aiken Serteens, we educated the public about our foster, transfer, and adoption programs, and opportunities to volunteer.  Four dogs found new homes as a result of our presence. It was a breezy, glorious day!

Next Saturday, November 10^th, FOTAS brings back the Woofstock Festival of Mutts and Music at Highfields, kicked off by the Mutt Strut relay and fundraiser.  Get people to sponsor you, your dog, your family; raise $100, $200 or $300 and be eligible for great prizes.

The superstars that raise $300 by Saturday, November 10^th, are entered to win the 64G, cellular, wifi iPad tablet, plus get the T-shirts, prizes, and have a blast with their dog, family, friends’ dogs, or all of the above.  Virtual Walkers can raise money,too.  $300 by 11/10 gets your name in the hat to win.

Of course you don’t have to raise money to participate.  A whole family and all their dogs can parade in the Woofstock Mutt Strut for $25, or one adult for $10, child under 12 for $5. 

Once you have the dogs out, you might want to see if they are the Best Kisser, can perform the Best Trick, or are sporting the Best Costume.  Register for those three contests between 11 and 12 o’clock at Woofstock. 

Three student judges won their titles by entering the Woofstock Essay Contest and answering the question, “What can we do about all the unwanted puppies and kittens?”

Sophia Frank, Christian Madden and Sofia Ferreira will be helping to select the winners of the Dog contests: Best Kisser (11:30), Best Trick (12 noon), and Best Costume (12:30). 

Even if you are not participating in the Mutt Strut Relay and walking for Aiken County’s homeless pets, you can come out for the contests, or just come out and have a blast, with or without a dog.

The Woofstock Festival, a day full of family fun, food, and music, is a huge community event made possible by volunteers, local clubs and businesses, and the residents of Aiken County who love their animals. Every dollar raised, after expenses, will go towards our new county shelter.

The vision for the new Aiken County Animal Shelter is a happy, healthy place that is the heart of a responsible, animal-loving county.

If you are unavailable next Saturday, consider becoming an approved county shelter foster home.  Unfortunately, the need for temporary guardians for puppies and kittens, and dogs waiting to be transferred north, is constant.  Contact the County Shelter, or go on line, to get an application. There are so many, many ways you can help FOTAS help our Aiken County Animal Services provide our community with a great animal shelter. 

We can’t do it without you, and you may find the most rewarding commitment you’ve ever made – spelled F.O.T.A.S. 

  FOTAS Volunteers work with the AIKEN COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, 411 Wire Road.  For more information, contact “info@fotasaiken.org” or visit FOTAS on line at www.fotasaiken.org

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

October 15^th thru 21^st    

Received: 48 dogs and 30 cats!

Adopted: 6 dogs and 4 cats

Euthanized: 45 dogs and 41 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” So much LOVE for so little!

MONTY 

1 yr. Soft, lovable ,bright Lab/Pitt mix

For just $70. Tiny price for a great friend.

   

 

COCONUT 

Precious young adult female.

                            Yours for only $35.