Paws for a Cause is a Great Way to Come Together

If you can get seven teenagers to a track at 8 o’clock on a Saturday morning, it must be a good thing…or an important thing…a really fun thing, or all of the above.

It was.

Paws for Cancer held its 13^th annual walk to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s fight against the dread disease, and it created a new opportunity for special people to come together to support an important cause.

Katie organized Team Lula for a second year, and Valerie, coordinator for South Aiken High’s Serteens, saw a chance to include the Aiken County Animal Shelter’s adoptable dogs in the event. 

Delighted to fund the cause, FOTAS, and the  Serteens, joined Team Lula with 4 dogs and a wagon-load of puppies!

Mary Lou, a FOTAS founder, has been working with Serteens from the beginning, and loves it.  “They are so responsible, so polite, and fun, and they are so good with the dog,” she said, “I've known a couple of these kids since they were freshman and had to be driven to everything, now they drive themselves.  They are so committed.”

She also provided the gardening wagon for the pups.

Susan, a teacher, joined Team Lula.  Susan is super-dedicated to FOTAS and the County Shelter.  She accompanies the Serteens one Saturday a month at the shelter, and then comes many additional Saturdays with her own daughter to volunteer.

County senior Vet Tech, Sandy Larsen, brought the 4 dogs, two small and two large; and 3 puppies, that she had carefully chosen, to participate in the event.  That they were so well-behaved demonstrates the magnificent work that our FOTAS volunteers do with the adoptable dogs.

For example, Sasha, a lab/hound mix came to the shelter as a court case, so scared when she arrived that she just cowered and trembled.  Sasha walked the Odell Weeks track, on her leash, wagging her tail.  She is a beautiful dog who will be featured on channel 12 tomorrow morning at 6:20 am.

Of course, the puppies stole the show.  One of them had so much energy it kept scrambling over the rails of the FOTAS Puppy Wagon. 

Those puppies stole little hearts, and even challenged a Grandma’s devotion when her granddaughter fell in love with the little black fur-ball.  They already had one dog and Grandma knew that puppies, and promises to care for them, mostly do not last.

Big dogs, small dogs, and the puppy wagon all did the mile walk with the Serteens.

 

Also, a Girl Scout troop working on a community service badge was at the event picking up trash.  The busy girls proudly assembled for a small ad-hoc ceremony and presented FOTAS with a $100 donation raised from their cookie drive.  Thank you!

Although no county dogs were adopted that day, we were proud of them, and of our volunteers.  It was a great day in the Aiken Community with our Community Shelter doing its part. 

FOTAS welcomes all help.  We especially need temporary foster homes.

  

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 April 30th thru May 6th 2012  

Dogs taken in: 58

Cats taken in: 34

Dogs adopted: 5

Cats adopted: 7

Dogs euthanized: 48

Cats euthanized: 34

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

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

MOZEY – 5 year old gorgeous female Labrador.   

This special dog is longing for a home. Only $35!

 

BUZZ – 3 yrs. He is a beauty, a purr-fect

 adornment for a window sill for only $20!  

Help Us Win Free Spay/Neuter at Bark to the Park!

There are so many wonderful ways to do A Very Good Thing, but you only have six days left to pick one.  

Friends of the Animal Shelter-Aiken (FOTAS) was founded to help our Aiken County Animal Shelter become a community-centered, community supported facility with programs in which we could all take pride.  We had no idea what a huge project this initiative would become.  With the county, FOTAS is finally stewarding the building of a new shelter.  With our rescue partners and dedicated volunteers, we are expanding adoptions and transfers of our homeless pets.

 

Now, through Pawmetto Lifeline’s Bark to the Park on Saturday, TEAM FOTAS Aiken County can make a huge contribution to the County Spay/Neuter Voucher Program and help us promote  spay/neuter in the most hard to reach areas of the county.

We are counting on your support to achieve one of the top five fundraising spots for area rescues for this event.  There are several ways to help, but whichever one you choose, be certain to note that you are supporting TEAM FOTAS Aiken County:
 

Go to the FOTAS website or to this link: www.supportprojectpet.com/goto/FOTAS 

From there you have the option to:

1.     Join the team ($25/$15 under 12)

2.     Support an individual walker (any amount)

3.     Donate to the team or an individual walker for any amount.

You may write us a check and note that it is for Bark to the Park and we will submit it in your name.  It is tax deductible. If you join the team you can be a “virtual walker” or join us at Finlay Park in Columbia. Just be sure that you make it very clear that you are supporting FOTAS at Bark to the Park.  We want every dollar to count.

Herby Brown, our “new” Dog Rescue Waggin’, will be making his debut at the FOTAS booth.  A 1979 converted Airstream trailer, he has been an amazing collaborative project in the making.  We will have our county dogs available for adoption sporting their new “Adopt Me” vests.

We hope you will come out with your family and your dogs.  The walk and the festival are a blast for dog lovers.  It is barely an hour away.  Directions are available on line or contact FOTAS for more information.

If you do plan to attend, be sure to tell them when you register that you are supporting Team FOTAS Aiken County!  If you are donating, supporting a walker or participating as a virtual walker, be sure to do it as a supporter of Team FOTAS!

Finally, you can help Equine Rescue of Aiken by attending their spectacular spring fundraiser, “Buck the Film,” on Friday, April 13.  There will be a matinee and an evening showing which is accompanied by a party and silent auction. Tickets and information are available on line at  www.aikenequinerescue.com

Have a very good time doing a very good thing: Support Team FOTAS at Bark to the Park and Equine Rescue at Buck the Film.  Happy Easter!  

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

P.S. Come to the Bark to the Park Festival on Sat. APril 14th from 11 to 3 pm $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12 yrs. Place FOTAS on your entrance waiver to show support for the Aiken County Animal Shelter and help us win free spay and neuter vouchers for Aiken County Animals.

Aiken County Animal Shelter:  “By the Numbers”

For the Week of March 26th thru April 1st 2012

Received: 36 dogs and 26 cats

Adoptions:  15 dogs and 9 cats

Euthanized:  45 dogs and 15 cats

Aiken County Animal Shelter Pets of the Week

TRIXIE – 1+ yr. Gets on great with everyone 

and loves to retrieve a ball!

 

ZENA – 3 yrs.  A sweet little gal who loves her window ledge in the sunlight 

 

Save April 13th and 14th for Community Rescue and Improve our Community

How can we improve our community?  Try joining a few hundred fellow citizens at a grand film party on April 13 or at a huge dog festival the following day.

On Friday, 13 April, FOTAS’ rescue partner, Equine Rescue of Aiken, will be hosting two viewings of the Sundance Film Festival’s award-winning documentary, “Buck” at Aiken Center for the Arts.

The film’s subject, Buck Brannaman, is a horse whisperer, said to be the inspiration for the main character in the book, The Horse Whisperer.  "Horses… fill in places we're not capable of filling ourselves,” he says, “They've given people a new hope, a new lease on life…"  That is, if they have the chance.

Spread across 80 acres of rolling hills, Haven Hills Farm is the home of Equine Rescue since 2006, and dedicated to providing a safe haven for horses, and more recently dogs and puppies, who have been victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment.  Once rehabilitated, responsible forever homes are sought for those who are

eligible. The rest live out their days at Haven Hills.

Equine Rescue takes the horses from Aiken City and County animal control.  Often the least adoptable and most expensive cases, according to the philosophy of Equine Rescue, “They still need a chance.” 

So do many of the people who come to the Rescue, like those doing community service,  veterans needing to heal, passionate volunteers, or even the bereft widower who recalls the solace of equus and being useful.

Feed and hay alone cost Equine Rescue nearly $2,300 a week.  Add routine care: vet, dental, farrier, then emergency vet services, meds, fly spray, grooming supplies, halters and lead lines, and there is an opportunity.  We get to give back to the animals that give our Aiken County community so much, our horses.

On April 13^th, the afternoon showing of “Buck” is complimentary, including popcorn, with the opportunity to donate to Equine Rescue.  The evening show will host a party with wine, sumptuous hors d’oeuvres, dessert, and a silent auction, all for $20, and more opportunities to donate to a wonderful program.  Check their website for more info: www.aikenequinerescue.com.

From now until that auspicious Friday, FOTAS will also be recruiting for “Team FOTAS Aiken.” If our team is one of the  “Top 5” rescues participating in Pawmetto Lifeline’s amazing festival, “Bark to the Park,” we can win thousands of dollars in essential  free spay/neuter services for our Aiken County voucher program. 

Bark to the Park is a blast for dog lovers, but if you’d rather not have that much fun you can be

a “virtual” participant and still help us win.  (Click here to join TEAM “FOTASAIKEN COUNTY”)

For those focused on animal welfare, the ways we can improve our community are simple: Rescue to adequate facilities; Adopt to responsible homes; and, Educate the community to prevent the neglect and abuse that often comes from unwanted animals.  The answers are simple to articulate, but costly to implement.  Join us by contributing what you can.

  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 FEBRUARY 2012

Animals Received:  315  

Returned to Owners: 22 (7%)

Adoptions:  50 dogs and 20 cats

Transfers:  68 (7 to SPCA)

Euthanized:  205 (65%)

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

RANGER

2yrs.  60 lbs.  Walks well on a leash and wants to be your new best friend.

MOLLY

1yr.  Gorgeous, purr-fect gal! $20