For the first time in our thirty-nine year history, every kennel in the small-dog wing sat empty at closing time — and the staff stood in the hallway and cried about it.
Our summer campaign, "Home for the Pawlidays in July," sent 96 animals home over thirty-one days. That is 31 more than our previous best month, and it means roughly one out of every six animals who passed through our doors this year found their family in a single summer.
What made the difference
Three things, mostly. We waived adoption fees for every animal over the age of two, underwritten by a matching gift from a longtime donor who asked to stay anonymous. We extended our hours to 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays, which turned out to be exactly when working families could actually visit. And our volunteers ran a relentless, joyful social media campaign that our communications team is still recovering from.
The fee waiver deserves special mention. Adoption fees are the most common reason people walk away from a pet they have already fallen in love with, and adult animals are the hardest to place. Removing that one barrier moved 61 adult animals in a month.
We keep learning the same lesson: the animals were never the problem. The barriers were. Take away a fee, add two hours to a Thursday, and suddenly a hundred families can say yes. — Maria Delgado, Executive Director
What happens next
Empty kennels do not stay empty. Within nine days we had taken in 27 animals from the overwhelmed county shelter down the road — dogs who would have had nowhere else to go. That is the entire point of clearing space, and it is why campaigns like this one matter well beyond the numbers on a spreadsheet.
We are already planning a repeat for the winter holidays. If you would like to help underwrite the next round of waived fees, we would love to hear from you — every $95 covers one adult dog going home.