Shelter’s Edge

What would you do if you had an extra $1K to spend at your agency? Last year, 44 competing agencies in the 2010 ASPCA $100K Challenge got to find out when they were awarded $1,000 grants for their participation in the contest—part of a total of $173,000 in grants given to the contestants to save and enrich animals’ lives. Here’s how some of them spent their money.

McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center, Chattanooga, TN
Playtime for the animals at McKamey! The Tennessee agency used the $1K to improve their enrichment program. They bought Kongs for both dogs and cats, and a variety of enrichment toys and cat scratch pads. And this is way smart: they got an enrichment scheduling board for staff use.

Thanks to the grant, it even looks—and smells!—better over at McKamey: “We implemented additional scents and remodeled the Purr Porch, adding many pieces of porch furniture from IKEA,” the folks at McKamey told us. They also opened up the Zen Puppy Room, where the relaxing album “Through a Dog’s Ear” plays on one of the new CD players they purchased to serenade the animals. “It has been an amazing difference,” they said.

Animal Resource Center, Montgomery County, OH
The folks at ARC used their $1K to strengthen an existing program —”Snip, Tip & Chip,” dedicated to providing spay / neuter and ID for community cats in conjunction with the cities of Vandalia and Huber Heights. Part of the funds went toward the purchase of 15 humane live traps.

SPCA, Inc., Lakeland, FL
These grants were given to save lives, and it doesn’t get any more immediately life-saving than the surgeries SPCA, Inc. performed on eight animals through the agency’s Guardian Angel Program. So, just what does $1K buy? Three amputations, two umbilical hernia repairs and three heartworm treatments. A second chance for these eight animals? Priceless.

Did your agency receive a grant through the ASPCA $100K Challenge last year? Tell us how you used the funds in the comment box.

Related Links:
ASPCA $100K Challenge
2011 Challenge Prizes

Tags: $100K Challenge, Behavior & Enrichment, Saving Lives

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