New Ways and Good Reasons to Give to FOTAS for the Holidays

“There is no place like home for the holidays” is our theme for the holiday season this year, borrowed from the popular Christmas song originally performed by Perry Como in 1954.

The greatest joy that comes from working with our Aiken County Animal Shelter is when we place a dog  or cat in just the right forever home.  Our vision is that one day every adoptable animal that comes through the shelter finds itself home for the holidays.  It is possible, likely even, if we continue coming together to address the animal control problems we currently face.

Aggressive spay/neuter policies that incent responsible pet ownership will reduce the numbers coming in; and creating an adequate, humane shelter environment, one that invites community involvement, will assure that as many animals as possible go out healthy to happy homes.

With your help FOTAS can continue its work with Aiken County Government to create that future for County Animal Services, the community it serves, and our homeless pets.  This year we are proud to offer many convenient ways to make a tax-deductible 

donation that will move us ever closer to realizing that vision.

You can always make a donation by mailing a check to our P.O. Box 2207 in Aiken, 29801.  Or you will see our “Home for the Holidays” envelope holders going up at many local businesses.  Pick up a FOTAS holiday remittance envelope and fill in the inside flap.  We will send a card telling the people you designate that a donation has been made in their name.  Here is the latest list of our supporters who have the display:

Aiken Saddlery

Aiken Veterinary Services

Silver Bluff Animal Hospital

Aiken Veterinary Clinic

Aiken Animal Hospital

Southern Equine

Chesterfield Hair Salon

Bone-i-fide Bakery

True Value Hardware

Booklovers Bookstore

TLC Pharmacy

Tractor Supply

Cheveaux Hair Salon

Red Pepper Café

Auto Tech

Visitors Bureau in the Holley Building

Magnolia Café

Tea Garden Gifts

Aiken Antique Mall

Aiken Public Library

Aiken Dry Goods

Boots, Bridles & Britches

Imports Plus

Automotive Work Bench

Ronnie’s Trailer and Hitch

Cold Creek Nurseries

 Wagner Town Hall

West Tire & Oil-Wagner

Tyler Brothers-Wagner

Donations can also be made on our website: www.fotasaiken.org.  Click on “donate” and choose to make a one-time contribution, or you can make monthly payments securely through Paypal.

And finally, as this tax year draws to a close,  those blessed with appreciated stock, who are considering the advantages of donating stock instead of cash, our brokerage account is ready to help with the transaction.  Please contact us at info@fotasaiken.org with any questions.

Of course, if you would prefer to contribute something other than money, the shelter has an ongoing wish list of items that it welcomes.   On the FOTAS website, under About the Shelter, is a list of many items of varied cost, all greatly appreciated by the shelter staff.

There is no place like home for the holidays, or anytime, really.  But for the shelter cats and dogs that have no home, their lives are in our hands.  Let’s not let them down.

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 November 21st thru 27th    

Dogs taken in: 38

Cats taken in: 22

Dogs adopted: 11

Cats adopted: 1

Dogs euthanized: 25

Cats euthanized: 26

What Does Thankful Mean?

Nine dogs were gathered in a large sunlit room on Thanksgiving Day:  Ziggy, a big black Labrador; Zoe Peach, also Lab, yellow and huge; Percy a chubby panda; Pippi, nervous-nellie of poodle extraction; Peedee, a ditch-dog, one blue, one brown eye, and peanut brown coat full of dinks and scars; Rudy, blond shaggy sheepdog; then the babies, three-legged Nemo and Dora the intrepid Beagle, both four months old and rambunctious; and finally, old man Snoopy, one day out of the shelter with dreams of a forever home.

The dogs’ human guardians had taken them for a good run and gone to the Thanksgiving Day Blessing for another special pack of canines with an important job in that very sacred place called Hitchcock Woods. 

Ziggy started it when he gave a big rumbling sigh as he stretched long on the bed and said, “I wonder what it all means, thanks-giving?  Or Blessing?”

Zoe, too lazy to lift her head, her stomach full of breakfast and no treats in the offing, just heaved a big bored sigh, as if to say, “Who cares?”

Eight years earlier, Ziggy, then Zoe, had come as tiny puppies straight from their mothers to the home they now shared.  But the other seven dogs all looked at Ziggy in wonder, then at each other with knowing.

Pippi and Percy were thinking of how they had been left outdoors until their coats matted and bleached in the southern heat holding fleas and filth next to their tormented skin. 

“I give thanks for the groomer, even if she makes me smell funny.  A good roll takes care of that!” Pippi said, she and Percy trying to forget the meaning of neglect. 

“You would have to know what real hunger is,” said Peedee.  He had been found in the road, all eyes, bones and vermin.  The hair had never returned to the places where the ticks had been detached.  He had to learn how to eat like a dog who could count on another meal.

“I remember the way her eyes lit up when she saw me in the shelter cage,” mused Rudy, a dreamy romantic.  “The concrete tormented my bad hips.  Now blessed means a good doctor.”

“Me, too!” cried Nemo.  A birth defect had deprived him of a left foreleg. “I give thanks for being special and blessed with all the help I needed.”  

“I almost died!” squealed Dora, who had been a tiny sick orphan abandoned at the shelter, passed into foster care, then severely injured.  Her battle with pneumonia had lasted more than a month.

Snoopy was quiet.  He had just been brought from the shelter the day before.  He knew the softness of the bed.  The food was plentiful and good.  It was quiet.  He could go out whenever  he needed.  The smell of the Woods still filled his brain. 

“Thanksgiving means being grateful for this home,” he told Ziggy, “And I pray you never lose it.  It is you all who are blessed.”

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 Nov. 14th thru 20th    

Dogs taken in: 58

Cats taken in: 19

Dogs adopted: 12

Cats adopted: 2

Dogs euthanized: 22

Cats euthanized: 18

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week”

SNOW – What a perfect addition to the holidays.  Snow!  Only $20 and he’s yours!

JEWEL – 6 YRS.  A blue-and-brown-eyed special pet who had to be left behind in a move.  Please give her back a loving home.

 

FOTAS at Applebee’s is More than Breakfast

Sometimes bad breaks are the best indicator of how good things truly are. Here’s how FOTAS’  4^th Annual Applebee’s Benefit Breakfast started out.

The dishwasher had broken down the night before and three sinks of tepid water: one detergent, one disinfectant, one rinse, waited for the volunteer who was to assure clean utensils and plates for all 250 breakfasts we hoped to turn out. 

We knew from experience that Applebee’s could not produce coffee in the volume that our patronage required, but when a well-meaning volunteer said that she had a “big” coffee urn, no one thought to clarify what she meant by “big.”  For a family of four, her urn was big.

We had a new manager running the show who had done exactly one of these events before.  He was congenial as he poured batter on the grill, making up breakfast plates with an easy confidence: scoop of scrambled eggs, two strips of bacon, and two generous pancakes.  He even told the volunteer who knew we would get slammed at about 8:45 to relax and enjoy herself, like he had everything under control.

Applebee’s provided the food, facilities, and 2.5 people who worked the restaurant business for a living, and they don’t normally serve breakfast.  Of the 15 FOTAS volunteers who showed up to set up tables, scoop butter, make coffee, pour syrup, bus tables, take tickets, sell tickets, sell hats, shirts and really cool bumper stickers that  read, “My Dog Digs Aiken,” serve hundreds of breakfasts, and wash the dishes, one was a restaurant professional.  Thank God.

The dishwasher repair guy showed up and got the machine working.  The young manager learned to take help where it was offered.  When the crowd arrived, the customers learned to yield to the big picture as they waited, and waited, and waited for what is, in all honesty a mediocre breakfast as breakfasts go, but the genesis for such a grand, special occasion.

We estimated that between 200 and 250 people would come out.  We served 285 breakfasts that morning.  By 10 o’clock we were out of food.  It was fantastic.

We owe a debt of gratitude to every single person who bought our tickets, came and waited to eat, who helped to plan and execute the event, who promoted it as something worth supporting, and to Applebee’s, who have opened their kitchen and their restaurant to us for four years and helped us build a following.

This year, we want to give special recognition to two of our hunt clubs, Aiken Hounds and Why Worry Hounds.  Saturday morning hunts have their own rituals and customs, and these clubs modified theirs to come out in support of the FOTAS breakfast.

The group from Philanthropic Educational Opportunities (P.E.O.) sought us out to reserve their usual long table and they kept their members cycling through all morning.

We mobilized our Aiken community around a cause, made the best use of resources, and addressed the need.  Let’s apply this gift to our County Shelter.

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 Nov. 7th thru 13th    

Dogs taken in: 71

Cats taken in: 18

Dogs adopted: 16

Cats adopted: 3

Dogs euthanized: 36

Cats euthanized: 8

Aiken County Shelter “Pets of the Week” 

SNOOPY

HEFTY