by Amy Abern, Best Friends Animal Society
Helen Woodward Animal Center
When setting a goal, shoot for the stars. That’s would explain 2006 IAMS Home 4 the Holidays project, a plan to find families for at least 350,000 orphaned pets currently living in rescues and shelters in and beyond the United States. The time frame: now through Jan. 6. That roughly translates into 522 adoptions per day.
Maybe in a perfect world, right? Last year, IH4TH completed 328,777 adoptions through more than 1,900 participation shelters and rescues. One of those animals, a cat in Florida named Lucky Chai, weighed in as the one-millionth adoption since the program began in 1999.
That first year, the program produced modest success with 2,563 animals adopted from 19 participating organizations. The following year, 130 shelters in five states enrolled in the program to secure 20,000 adoptions. By 2003, 1,360 shelters and rescues had joined the fun resulting in 261,839 adoptions.
So just how did this little grass roots project turn into an internationally acclaimed program? Teamwork, momentum, enthusiasm.
HISTORY
The idea for project came from the president of San Diego-based Helen Woodward Animal Center, Mike Arms. He met with HWAC Spokesperson John Van Sante and Operations Manager Rita Truderung; the three pounded out a plan to adopt out as many animals as possible during the holidays ---- not just at Helen Woodward, but every shelter in the area.
This required partnerships. No problem. The group forwarded their idea to several animal rescue organizations in the area, and 18 jumped on board.
“When you have so many organizations working together as a united front, you can’t be ignored by the media,” said John. “And it worked. All the shelters got great publicity.”
On the occasion people didn’t find their perfect companion animal at the first shelter visited, the on-site employees and volunteers would direct the adopters to other shelters. John had learned that only a small percentage of adopted animals came from shelters or rescues during the holiday season --- most came from back yard breeders and puppy mills. By disseminating information to other organizations, potential individuals and families would find their perfect companion in another shelter.
“One dog adopted out of a shelter is one dog less living in a shelter. Our goal is to match the needs of the pet with the desires of the family,” explained John. “If someone comes in here and we don’t have the right pets --- if we then just tell people we can’t help them, then we might as well draw a map to the nearest mall or puppy mill.”
When Iams pet food company got wind of the project, they joined in a partnership with Helen Woodward Animal Center: Every animal adopted during the IH4TH, would receive a sample of Iams’ food. That way, the newest member of the family could enjoy a holiday meal, too. Kris Parlett, Iams External Relations and Association Manager, said the partnership was “a natural.”
“We had worked with Mike Arms before; he’s been a friend of Iams for a long time,” said Kris. “When he came up with this idea --- and he’s always coming up with great ideas --- we said let’s run with it.”
Since then, IH4TH has taken off like catnip in a feline sanctuary. According to Mike, it’s just a natural progression taking place.
“When anything is good, it becomes contagious,” noted Mike. “When other facilities started hearing that Home 4 the Holidays participating facilities doubled their adoptions through the program, more and more shelters wanted the same things for their animals.”
JUST ASK DIANE
The more the word spread, the more organizations signed. And those numbers generated greater publicity. And that publicity reached Diane Keaton.
In 2001, she visited Helen Woodward Animal Center. During a tour of the grounds, Mike asked her if she wouldn’t mind serving as spokesperson for the program. She said yes. And since then, the celebrated actress has done her part to spread the word about IH4TH.
“She told me the only reason she never got involved before was because no on had asked her before,” said Mike. “I’m really glad I thought to ask her.”
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AGREE: IH4TH WORKS
The Kankakee County Animal Control and Adoption Center in Illinois has participated in IH4TH for the past couple of years. Last year, the organization had adopted out 95 animals during the two-month program. Center Director Julie Boudreau said participating in IH4TH worked to the organization’s advantage.
“It just helped us set better goals and gave us something more to focus on,” she said. “I think when the community sees you’re doing something in conjunction with a program like this, the community responds better. And if this gets their attention, hopefully, they’ll stop long enough for their hearts to get attached and to take a cat or a dog home.”
Julie has one request for the IH4TH home team: “I want to tell them they need to send Diane Keaton to visit our shelter,” she said.
The Jasper County Animal Rescue League and Humane Society in Iowa also experienced success with the program. Director Kristina Smith said that each year they’ve adopted out an average of 50 cats and dogs during the program.
“It’s really something,” she said. “We had reporters coming to us from neighboring counties to find out about Home 4 the Holidays because there weren’t shelters in their area participating. We are looking to partner with a new shelter just now in its forming stages.”
One of her pet projects for this year’s project is to encourage people to come and volunteer at the rescue league, visit with the animals and bring a toy with them. “It’s a good way to begin educating people on the joy of having an animal in their lives,” said Kristina.
NOT SIGNED UP YET? IT’S EASY
The only requirements for organizations to partner with IH4TH include a huge desire to find forever homes for shelter animals and a little time for simple accounting. Registration forms are available online at www.home4theholidays.org. Once you’ve filled in the required information which includes a guesstimate of how many lucky animals your organization hopes to adopt out during the program, you’re in. Then about once a week until the program ends, each organization submits the number of successful adoptions completed.
Each organization will be linked to the IH4TH website, may be included in IH4TH promotional materials and press releases and will automatically be enrolled for the following year’s event. They will also have access to the IH4TH “How To” guide, a downloadable 40+ page document on ways to promote the organization, fund-raising ideas, sample letters to send to government officials, samples of press releases to send to the media and more.
“Take the mom-and-pop shelter in North Dakota,” said John. “They’re working three jobs to provide care and medical attention for the animals until they can find them a home. They don’t have time to write a news release or to put together an adoption event or go to the city council or county board to get them to declare December as Home 4 the Holidays month. We’ve included all the information on how to get these things done in the guide.”
GETTING A LATE START --- IT’S NEVER TOO LATE
Maybe you’re thinking it’s too late in the game to get your organization involved. Wrong. But start now. According to Mike, one of the easiest ways to launch your organization’s participation in IH4TH is to partner with local government officials.
“The best thing organizations can do to get involved if they’re reading about this for the first time is go to your local politicians and let them know about the program,” suggested Mike. “First of all, where there are politicians there will always be media and they’ll pick up on your work. And if you suggest to your city council to declare a certain day ‘Adoption Day’ or maybe even to declare December ‘Adoption Month,’ I think you’ll find 99.9 percent of the time the politicians are happy to get involved.”
To learn more about participating in Iams Home 4 the Holidays, please log onto
http://www.home4theholidays.org or call 858-756-4117 Ext. 302.
Helen Woodward Animal Center
6461 El Apajo Road Rancho
Santa Fe, CA 92067
Center Hours: 11 am to 6 pm. 7 days a week
http://www.animalcenter.org/