One Essential Volunteer Tells Why

Her name is Linda. We like to honor our special volunteers by highlighting them here.  These are Linda’s own words in response to, “Who are you, and why do you do it?”

“I manage the ever-changing FOTAS website and its sidekick, Facebook. I have Marketing background, and have created a few websites in the past, plus I have numerous dogs, cats and equines in a happy jumble. I am disabled so must limit my activities, especially those that require concentration.

I moved south hoping to heal some, better care for myself and not do the volume of volunteer work I did previously while still working. It can be overwhelming, yet the most rewarding experience. Just find a cause that really matters to you.

What is it about the South? I love it here so much and thank God every day I look out my window. I find such peace, happiness and beauty here. Yet, I have never seen such an overwhelming number of abandoned animals, obviously intact or having had several litters of pups. It’s like the Caribbean used to be 20 years ago. FOTAS taught me that Aiken County Animal Shelter alone takes in over 5000 unwanted animals a year!

One encounter with the President of FOTAS and I was hooked by such positivity and willingness to help an anxious soul who had, yet again, found several dogs along the road. Already overwhelmed with animals, what could I do?

The officers of FOTAS have inspired me, I have worked with two regularly, sometimes side-by-side at events. How could I not volunteer when they give countless hours, day and night, dedicated to the abandoned and neglected animals of Aiken County? They will do anything to help save a life. They are intelligent, driven, energetic, and, above all, positive about the changes they can make. They are the women I want to be when I grow up.

Yes, I take care of the website, try to make it easy to follow, hope to encourage people to donate or give of their time. I have set up donate buttons for one-time or monthly donations hoping that people will have $5 or $10 a month deducted automatically from their account dedicated to our new shelter, spay/neuter, transport north.  They can even get a documentary DVD about an Aiken Shelter therapy dog just by donating $10 to FOTAS.

Why do I devote so many hours to this cause? Is it because once I start something I enjoy doing I can’t stop until I get it right? Am I avoiding finishing my taxes or doing housework? I could be reading a book, talking on the phone, checking Facebook, or riding my horse! I do all those things anyway, but when FOTAS calls, I drop everything I can and give my best. My commitment to FOTAS volunteers and our FOTAS community is with me constantly, because there is always the chance, if I do my best, that one more life will be saved.”

Young or old, families or groups, come to the shelter, help at or support an event or volunteer behind the scenes. There is always something to do to make a difference. 

 Please, find your own way to help.

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”

April 8^th thru 14^th   

Received: 28 dogs and 26 cats

Adopted: 15 dogs and 2 cat

Euthanized:  39 dogs and 21 cats

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week!” 

MUFFIN -  1 yr.  22 lbs.  Silky Terrier mix. Another Sweet, sweet girl!  Only $70

LUCY –  1 yr.  Green-eyed calico.  Soft and sweet for a good lap.  Only $35!

 

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

FOTAS Begins Year Four with an Annual Meeting and Celebration

On August 18^th, FOTAS celebrated its volunteers, accomplishments, and its vision for the future at our third annual meeting for members.  The meeting highlights are worth sharing for those who wonder what we have been up to.

The 2012 FOTAS Annual Meeting was billed as a “Potluck Snack Celebration,” and nearly forty stalwart members braved the midday heat on the grounds of the County Shelter.

Borrowed tailgate tents were pitched in front of Herby Brown, the 1979 Airstream converted to FOTAS’ signature Rescue Waggin’, and the podium was the ramp to C.A.T.S. (Cats at the Shelter), a lovely adoptable cat colony, another FOTAS contribution to the County Shelter.

Three tables covered with food, iced beverages in coolers below, entertained the attendees until the meeting was called to order. 

The FOTAS treasurer report was an appropriate launch to the meeting/celebration: FOTAS has no debt, and no real overhead as an all-volunteer organization.  This allows all of the money raised, after expenses, to directly benefit the county’s homeless animals.

In addition to Herby and C.A.T.S., here are some additional ways FOTAS has invested over $75,000 in the county Shelter to date:

·       Commercial Laundry Equipment

·       Large dog Play Yard

·       Stainless Steel Cage Banks for surgical recovery

·       Grooming tub and table

·       Platform Scale

·       Renovated the Autoclave for surgeries

·       Toys, treats, food, flea & tick treatments and shampoo

·       Kennel decks and Kuranda beds to get the dogs off the concrete

FOTAS has also raised enough money to fulfill its commitment to the County in the MOU for the new shelter construction: the county makes the funds for the building a priority and FOTAS pays for the Architectural and Engineering costs.

 FOTAS has over 1000 members and roughly 75 active volunteers with both lists still growing. Our volunteers realize FOTAS’ mission by:

·       Making shelter animals more adoptable with training, exercise and TLC;

·       Fostering mamas and puppies or kittens, babies without mamas, and special needs cases;

·       Organizing and staffing fundraisers like our benefit breakfasts, golf tournament, Hunter Pace, Giving Parties, and, of course the grand event: Woofstock Festival of Mutts and Music (to be augmented this year by better weather, a Mutt Strut and, we hope, another Motorcycle Ride-to-Woofstock on 11/10/12);

·       Staffing adoption events at Petsmart and local businesses;

·       Establishing and expanding our Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) to target local communities; and,

·       Maintaining our database, website, social media, thank-you-note and canister program, and writing this column.

In short, FOTAS is volunteers and donors.

The meeting ended with the introduction of two new board members, Frank Townsend and Joanna Dunn Samson, our own banker and lawyer to help steward our growing pains. 

FOTAS’ mission is, in part, to help the Aiken County Animal Shelter be a healthy, happy place where no adoptable pet has to go to die. 

Last year 5,011 unwanted animals came into our shelter, FOTAS helped the county shelter save 1,652 or 33%.  Now that’s worth celebrating.

  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”

FY 11-12	City of Aiken	Aiken County
Imp. Dogs/Cats	656	5,011
Ret. to Owner	143	307
Trans /adopted	159	1,345
Euthanized	376	3,808

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” are HALF PRICE*!

MAY – Lab mix, 42 lbs. A real doll and your new best friend for only $35!

KINDLE – Baby male Siamese mix.  He’s a rare beauty for only $35

 

Volunteer Family Marks FOTAS ‘Making a Difference’ for 3 Years

It was 1999, and Marcia and her teenage daughter, Samantha, were at a local veterinarian’s when they spotted the notice of urgent need for two homeless dogs on the wall.  Having recently moved to Aiken with their equestrian experiences and equestrian dreams, they had a farm and decided that they could save the dogs.

Unfortunately, the clinic had just shipped the dogs to the county shelter, so Marcia and Sam set out Wire Road to rescue them.  At the shelter, when they told the woman seated beyond the glass window what they wanted, she acted as if recovering the two dogs was not just impossible, but absurd.  The dogs could not be found and she would not bother to ask anyone to look.  That was 1999.

For ten years, Marcia, husband Dan and Sam, would recoil in horror at any mention of the Aiken County Animal Shelter. 

Then, around 2006 or ’07, one woman chose to challenge the status-quo regarding homeless pets.  She was serving on a policy committee for county animal control and was appalled at the prevailing attitudes about our public shelter.  The woman began by walking one dog, proposing one volunteer policy, recruiting one animal advocate, at a time. 

Then a transfer policy, one dog or cat saved, an entrenched attitude, one ally, one risk, one favor, and one miracle at a time, FOTAS was born, summer 2009, already teamed with a renewed and reenergized county shelter staff. 

One day, Marcia and Sam see the article about FOTAS and the Aiken County Animal Shelter in the paper.  The story tells how badly foster homes are needed for puppies and kittens.  It quotes the shelter’s commitment not to euthanize healthy litters that are fostered.

“We can do that!” the mother-daughter team decide, and off they go to join the cause.

That was seven or eight litters, lots of lessons and many stories ago: like the promise that if they kept a puppy they were out of the fostering business…well, except for Misty May who Sam adopted because she had to.

“That’s the only one we ever kept,” Marcia says sheepishly. Then she gives credit to their Chow-cross, Nina, who says, “No more dogs!” and means it. 

Samantha’s career has taken her and Misty May to Florida, but Marcia and Dan carry on. Their vacant barn hosts the litters and the fallow garden pen makes a secure play yard. 

In the last three years, the couple has learned that a determined dog can climb a 10-foot barrier to escape a box stall; that a normally sweet stray can be pretty fierce about protecting her pups; that not all babies survive; and, that the job comes with enough joy and miracles to be worth it.

“Any day you save a dog’s life is a good day,” Marcia says.

On Friday, Dan and Marcia hooked their double-axle pickup to Herbie Brown, the FOTAS Rescue Waggin’, to haul nine lucky dogs to catch a transfer north.

Now that’s Making a Difference! 

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For July            2012    vs.  2011

Received	449	461
Adopted Cats	18	7
Adopted Dogs	34	46
Transferred	41	12
Euthanized	(72%)  324	(81%)  373

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” are HALF PRICE*!

BRANDY – 1yr. Lab mix. Affectionate, energetic, intelligent.  Highly trainable great pet!   $35!

JESSE – 1yr, gorgeous green-eyed tabby, already spayed.  Come get her for $35!

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

half price thru 9/8/12!

 

When the Alternative is to Let Them Die What Do You Do?

“The most frustrating thing is that I can’t save them all,” says Girl, “No, I can’t.  But I can save that one.  That’s gotta be worth something.”

Fostering puppies is a three-generation effort, to which Courtney, her daughter Girl, and granddaughter Caroline dedicate themselves with passion.  Since they brought their first litter home in February last year, they count at least 60 puppies that they have saved.

It all began with the Steeplechase Ball in 2011, when FOTAS was the beneficiary of the event’s generosity.  Trying to better understand FOTAS, Girl visited the County Shelter and was overwhelmed by how inadequate it was.  Wanting to help, and having many of her own dogs, it was suggested that she try fostering.

There’s an old kennel under Courtney’s house where her husband used to raise hunting dogs.  Cool in summer, simple to heat in winter, with its own segregated pen attached, it offers a perfect setup for a dedicated foster home for the most vulnerable occupants of the Aiken County Animal Shelter.

“I’ve rescued dogs for years,” Courtney said.

“We can do this,” Girl’s said, thinking that it would give her teenage daughter a chance to experience puppies. 

Living right next door to her Grandmother, Caroline jumped right in.  She was with the puppies before school, after school, and even while she did homework.  One time the pups actually did tear it up.  She even wrote an essay trying to persuade her classmates to adopt or foster. 

In the beginning, the foster-trio was able to eventually place their plump healthy puppies with friends.  That list of available vacancies necessarily dwindled.  Now, many of their fosters end up on FOTAS transfers to northern no-kill shelters.  But the trio brought a litter to Woofstock, and they have been known to take them to Petsmart adoption days, trying to place them in good homes.

Fostering is definitely a labor of love.  Courtney cooks rice with chicken or beef, to build up the puny ones.  Caroline keeps clean newspaper down, and her mom administers the meds.  Occasionally, they use a private vet, but it is not required.  The shelter staff backs up their effort with necessary supportive interventions. 

If you think you might like to try fostering puppies or kittens, a process is now in place to make it as easy and rewarding as possible.  You fill out an application and have a simple home inspection to demonstrate adequate facilities.  You do not need to go to the shelter. 

Nor do you need to start with a mother and babies, or a litter.  There are plenty of “lonely-only-ones” who need a good healthy start to have a chance.  Think of these babies, no mother, no litter-mates, alone in that environment.

Yes, it can be hard to finally let them go, but when the alternative is to let them die, what do you do?

The crazy numbers coming in now are mostly puppies and kittens.  Without foster homes to keep them healthy, they stand almost no chance of surviving.   

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”

For May 14th – 20th 2012  

Dogs taken in: 84

Cats taken in: 88

Dogs adopted: 11

Cats adopted: 12

Dogs euthanized: 76

Cats euthanized: 77

NELLIE -6 week old female kitten. Well socialized and quite a cutie pie!
Half-Price Adoption Fee! $35.00

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

About 3 months old. Two girls and two boys. Cuddly cute, and ready to learn good things! ADOPTION FEE IS HALF-PRICE  $35.00