What a Day for FOTAS at the Chocolate Festival

If you slid into the 24^th Annual Chocolate Festival off of Fairfield Avenue last week, between the Karaoke Bandstand and the big bouncy slide, you encountered the enthusiastic representatives of FOTAS. 

Sergio, DaVinci, Joanie, Ritchie and Rex, five unique adoptable dogs from the Aiken County Shelter, represented us the best.  They were the stars.  At very least, many attendees stopped to lavish attention on those lovable dogs; at best, two of them were adopted, Sergio and DaVinci, and went home with their new families. 

Occasionally, it seemed like Rex, Ritchie and Joanie were going to be chosen, too.  But it wasn’t their day.  Check them out on Petfinder.com, and see for yourself how special they truly are.

The Serteen animal-lovers, Katie, Jada, Madison, Justine, Carly and their supervisor, Valorie, came to help show off the dogs. The Serteens have become regular ambassadors for the animals at the County Shelter, and FOTAS has learned to count on them as valued members of our family.

The new edition of the “FOTAS Dogfather” tee-shirt and the brand new “Fairy Dogmother” shirt, both conversation starters among dog enthusiasts, went on sale that day.  If sales at the Chocolate Festival are an indication, and you want one, you had better come out to Steeplechase (10/27) or Woofstock (11/10) and get it while supplies last.

The corner assigned to FOTAS was perfect.  It offered a big area to set up dog pens and retail displays for our hats and shirts; two picnic tables for folks to gather around; lots of shade, and many, many attendees walking by.

In our quest to bring the plight of the county’s homeless animals to the public’s attention, and to bring public concern and involvement to our community shelter, FOTAS welcomes the opportunity to participate in community events like ST. Mary’s Chocolate Festival.

This year, we are focused on our Capital Campaign for the new Aiken County Shelter, due to break ground in a few months. Our volunteers work to make the public aware that we exist, that the need is urgent, and that together we can truly make an essential difference.

As people stopped to chat last week, we were amazed again by how many still do not know that there are two local shelters: one private, one public; one state-of-the-art-brand-spanking-new, and one that was grossly inadequate ten years ago, but is obligated to function in service to the public, but not to the animals.

Our next major fundraiser is our second Woofstock Festival on November 10^th.  It kicks of with our first “Mutt Strut,” a family-oriented dog parade that will kick off the festival.  Last Saturday, we had our Mutt Strut posters and flyers out.  If you missed yours, go to the FOTAS website www.fotasaiken.org/woofstock

Register, get friends and family to sponsor you and your dog(s) participation, raise $100, $200 or $300+ dollars and win prizes.  The biggest prize is a chance to win a 64gig iPad.

The Grand Prize is a shelter we can take pride in.  Please 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”

October 1^st thru 7^th   

AVIS-A young adult Calico tabby. Gorgeous markings, sweet dispositions. $35

Received: 76 dogs! and 17 cats!

Adopted: 12 dogs and 10 cats!

Euthanized: 32 dogs and 17 cats

Aiken County Animal Shelter "Pets of the Week!" So much LOVE for so little!

TRAVIS-A handsome gentle bear  who deserves a forever home. $70

 

 

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

Mutt Strut at Woofstock for the New County Shelter

Mutt Strut?  Yes, it is an opportunity to do something fun with your family, especially the four-legged members, while making a big contribution to Aiken County’s homeless animals. All of the funds from this year’s Woofstock Festival and the Mutt Strut will go directly to FOTAS’ Capital Campaign for our new Aiken County Animal Shelter.

We will tell you how to get involved (even if you won’t actually march in the Mutt Strut Parade), but let’s look at what can happen if you walk a dog for a cause.

Last April FOTAS participated in a similar event in Columbia.  The fundraiser was for a new facility that offers high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter.  FOTAS had an opportunity to compete with other area rescue groups and win thousands of dollars worth of spay/neuter surgeries.  All we had to do was find sponsors for a dog walk.

FOTAS volunteers contacted other FOTAS members who contacted friends and families all over the world to sponsor their participation in the event. 

FOTAS volunteers walked their own dogs; they walked shelter adoptable dogs; and, they had enough people supporting their efforts to win the competition, and that was just the beginning.

The funds awarded provided FOTAS with an opportunity to launch a pilot for a targeted, subsidized spay/neuter program that we call SNAP: Spay-Neuter Assistance Program.  Due to the need to transport the dogs and cats to Columbia, the Wagener-Salley area was chosen for the pilot.

The project began August 1^st, and before all those SNAP funds are exhausted, nearly 100 animals will have been spayed or neutered.  The number of unwanted cats and dogs that this project will prevent is almost incalculable, especially given that only two intact dogs, plus just two intact cats, can conceivably produce nearly half-a-million offspring in only 7 years. 

It all began with a dog walk.

While SNAP addresses the prevention end of Aiken County’s unwanted animal population, the obligation to collect and house the overwhelming number of homeless cats and dogs that already exist is the other end.  The current County Animal Shelter has no humane way to house them all, or, in spite of our best efforts, to rescue most.  More than 7 out of 10 die there. 

Help is on the way with FOTAS’ Capital Campaign.  The Woofstock Festival is our signature fundraiser and it begins with a dog walk called The Mutt Strut.  All of the proceeds from the Mutt Strut and the Woofstock Festival will go to the Capital Campaign to be invested in our extraordinary new Aiken County Animal Shelter.

Here’s how to participate in the Mutt Strut:

Register to walk, or to be a virtual walker. There are forms on line and around the area.  The fee includes entrance to Woofstock. Get people to sponsor you and win prizes.  Raise $300 and enter a drawing for a 64G iPad.  Get a dog, and come out on Nov. 10^th.

It  all begins with a dog walk, and then good things can happen. Join us, please.

  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”

September 10^th thru 16^th   

Received:  61 dogs and 29 cats

Adopted:     5 dogs and   1 cat

Put down: 16 dogs and 33 cats

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

BOOTSIE - 

BOOTSIE – Shepherd mix.  Young and smart enough to be your best friend!  $70 is a deal!

TINKERBELL -  13 wks. Female tabby.  Big eyes.  Cute as she looks  $35 for kitty, purr-FREE!

 

 

 

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

NJROTC Unit were the Stars of the FOTAS Benefit Breakfast at FATZ

Last Saturday, FOTAS held its fourth annual benefit breakfast, an occasion marked by many firsts.  It was our first-time event with FATZ Café, having outgrown our original partner, Applebee’s. 

We had adoptable animals from our county shelter on site for the first time, thanks to Herbie Brown, our Rescue Waggin.  A cat and two kittens found new homes.  With great community support, we sold more merchandise, and raised more money than any previous benefit breakfast.

And most significantly, we were honored to work side by side with the NJROTC Unit (Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) from Aiken High.

If you Google “NJROTC,” here’s a bit of what their website will tell you about the program:

The NJROTC accredited curriculum emphasizes citizenship and leadership development, as well as our maritime heritage… seamanship, navigation and meteorology.  Classroom instruction is augmented throughout the year by … community service, academic, athletic, drill and orienteering competitions…, marksmanship sports training, and physical fitness training.

What does the NJROTC program do?

• Promotes Patriotism
• Develops informed and responsible citizens
• Develops respect for constructed authority
• Develops leadership potential
• Promotes high school completion
• Promotes higher education
• Promotes community service
• Develops a high degree of personal honor, self-reliance, individual discipline and leadership…

The service and work ethic s developed in the NJROTC program’s participants were in evidence at the FOTAS breakfast.

Commander Negron is understandably proud of the performance of his young people, and he clearly enjoys his role in their development as the unit’s commander at Aiken High.  He has led both rifle teams and academic teams to win state championships, but last Saturday they were Aiken County Animal Shelter champions.

In selecting rising senior Bobby Arthurs as the unit’s executive officer for 2012-13, Commander Negron said, "This year, he was my go-to guy for all big community service activities, as well being a platoon commander."  No surprise to find young Arthurs leading the unit serving the FOTAS breakfast.

Bobby started his freshman year looking for a way out of gym class, which participation in the NJROTC program affords.  Now he has his eyes on the Marines and the Citadel.

Valery, a rising sophomore, was recruited in the 8^th grade by a couple of High School cadets.  She likes the teamwork, skill building and the way the program gets them involved in serving their community.  She loved fund-raising for the shelter.

Here’s the thing - next year, when we settle in at our brand new, fine and final Aiken County Animal Shelter on its rolling wooded lot, FOTAS  sees an opportunity to do much more than rescue lots and lots of homeless pets. 

We are building a public place that beckons, a place that can deepen the character and enhance the quality of the Aiken County communities it exists to serve.  Animals do make us human.  Humble, practical and creative, our new public shelter will inspire the best in us, much like those magnificent young people with the NJROTC at Aiken High.

  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”

June 11^th thru 17^th

Received:   84 dogs & 19 cats

Adopted:     4 dogs & 13 cats

Euthanized:  33 dogs & 19 cats

 Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

XENA and WEBSTER - darling, inseparable, loving, year-old siblings.  These two are truly better than one!   Half-price at $35 each  

WEBSTER

XENA

 

COCONUT  - Cuddly male kitten who will purr for you.  Yours for 

only $35! 

 

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

 

 

There are Many Ways and Many Reasons to Participate

Let’s start with some really fabulous news: April 2012, FOTAS volunteers, County Shelter staff and rescue partners working together saved 132 dogs and cats through adoptions and transfers to no-kill shelters.  The bad news is that the euthanasia rate was still 86% for the month.

FOTAS, as the non-profit animal advocacy and fund-raising arm for Aiken County Animal Services, is working nonstop to involve the entire county in a three-pronged approach to addressing this problem:  community awareness of animal issues; providing an adequate, healthy, humane county shelter; and, animal population control through spay/neuter.

Rescuing 132 animals in a single month is a signature achievement, but when nearly 400 animals are coming through the door, it can feel like Sisyphus pushing that proverbial rock up the hill only to have it roll back and his struggle to repeat.  Sisyphus was condemned to this futility for eternity; FOTAS believes there are realistic remedies for our pets, that is, if enough of us care.

Shortly, we will officially launch a capital campaign to raise the approximate half-million dollars still needed to build our new county shelter.  We are going to pull out all the stops over the next year or two to make this happen, because this is our best last chance to do this right. 

FOTAS foresees the opportunity for everyone throughout the county to have a stake in this venture, and to leave a lasting legacy far into the future: just who we are, and what we stand for, when it comes to responsibility and compassion for our animals.  As we seek to enroll Aiken County citizens in making a contribution, FOTAS endeavors will be hard to miss.

On Saturday, May 26^th, we march in the Memorial Day Parade.  Herbie Brown, our community designed, magnificently renovated ’79 Airstream Landyacht, recently converted into a climate- controlled Animal Rescue Waggin’, will be making his Aiken debut.  Herbie will be the centerpiece of FOTAS’ demonstration of appreciation for our fallen veterans, accompanied by seven special adoptable dogs from our county shelter with their volunteer handlers. 

Three weeks later, on June 16^th, Herbie will be the “Kitten Caboose,” full of adoptable kittens at FOTAS’ first “Breakfast at FATZ for the County Shelter Cats.”  Tickets are already on sale through our volunteer network, at the Aiken County Shelter, Bone-i-Fide Bakery and Aiken Saddlery.  We even have commemorative no-show “bookmarks” for our fans who can’t make it to FATZ’ yummy breakfast.

The breakfast is dedicated to our cats, because on November 10^th the second annual Woofstock Festival will feature the dogs in a community celebration full of surprises, and bigger and better than ever.  Stay tuned.

In between events, we will be present in other meaningful ways: adoption days, our annual meeting, and Steeplechase in the fall.  It all brings us closer to our vision: Aiken County Animal Shelter never has to euthanize an adoptable pet. 

We are counting on your support.  Volunteer.  Walk dogs.  Raise money.  Foster puppies, kittens, or transfer candidates (short term).  Promote spay/neuter.  Join 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”

For the month of April 2012  

Dogs taken in: 243

Cats taken in: 141

Dogs adopted: 70

Cats adopted: 31

Dogs euthanized: 204

Cats euthanized: 125

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week”

DOOLITTLE – 2 yrs. This boy is a beauty and 

so affectionate for only $35!

WIGGLES – 5 year old boxer mix, another  loving dog longing for a home