Shelter’s Edge

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the fastest time for running a mile hovered just above 4 minutes. And then, in 1954, Roger Bannister famously shattered the 4-minute mile barrier. Within six weeks, John Landy ran it even faster, and today thousands of runners have beaten the 4-minute mile.

History – and The Guinness Book of World Records – are full of stories like this, where seemingly insurmountable limits stand – until they don’t – and then suddenly the very definition of “possible” changes. And so do our expectations. And that is a beautiful thing because expectations are powerful. In fact, the people who study and work with Appreciative Inquiry have accumulated substantial proof of the power of expectations in their own work with human systems as well as from other fields – such as the placebo effect in medicine and the Pygmalion effect in education.

Of my entire career, the most influential moment for me took place on a day back in 1995 at Monadnock Humane Society when we tallied up the day’s adoptions and realized we sent home 14 animals in just one day – nearly three times as many as usual. I know, these are laughable numbers now, but at the time they rocked our world. Our “possible” was redefined. Two years later, in our tired little 1960’s-era, open-admission shelter (which housed animal control and investigations for the entire region), we broke the 80% live release rate barrier (up from 54% in 1992) and by the end of the decade, we were closing in on 90%.

These days, my big influential moments are coming from what shelter staff and volunteers are doing with the ASPCA $100K Challenge. Not the least of which is that last year’s 49 contestants increased lives saved by 8,977 in just three months. But in my opinion, the most significant outcome is that 70% of competing shelters reported breaking at least one – and in many cases several – records! They broke their own records in numbers of lives saved in a single day, in a weekend, in a month or ever in their history. And not just by an animal or two – we’re talking about increases of more than 100% in many instances!

From the blog of Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, ME: "Wow, 254 adoptions/reclaims divided by 14 days = an average of 18 animals adopted or reclaimed every day; that is record-breaking for us here at GAHS!"

Staff and volunteers at these shelters have a whole new set of expectations now. They’ve broken their 4-minute mile, raised their own bar. No doubt they’ve already started mapping out a whole new aggressive plan – like we did way back when at Monadnock – to break into the 90% live release rate range as soon as possible.

What about you? Planning to break some life-saving records at your agency this year? Looking to reset your expectations? Sign up to get inspired by last year’s Challengers in a series of weekly webinars starting February 8. The webinars are free and there’s nothing to lose, except maybe your old definition of “possible.”

Click the title for more info or to register:

• Life Saving Tips for Small Shelters, February 8
  Presented by Greater Androscoggin Humane Society
• Community Engagement: Using Synergy to Save Lives, February 15
  Presented by Humane Society for Greater Savannah
• Strategizing and Energizing to Save Lives, February 22
  Presented by The Humane Society of South Mississippi
• What is High Quality-High Volume Spay/Neuter?, February 23
  Presented by Kathleen Makolinski, DVM, ASPCA

• Municipal Agencies Share Their Life Saving Tips, February 28
  Presented by: City of Independence Animal Services
  Cobb County Animal Control
  Riverside County Animal Services
• Planning for Success: Life Saving Tips from the 2011 $100K Challenge Winner, March 7
  Presented by Austin Pets Alive!
• Increasing Capacity for Spay/Neuter Before Big Events, March 8
  Presented by: Kathleen Makolinski, DVM, ASPCA
  Lesli Groshong, DVM, Humane Society of Boulder Valley (2010 $100K Challenge Winner)
  Carolyn Brown, DVM, ASPCA

All webinars will take place from 3-4pm ET; all sessions will be recorded and archived.

…Winners! You thought I was going to say losers, right? Nay – it’s all about attitude!

Monmouth County SPCA's first adoption!

Last week we announced the official prize winners in the ASPCA $100K Challenge, but there are so many winners from this grueling competition. Of the 42 agencies responding to our post-contest survey, 86% reported trying new programs, 81% saved more lives than they would have without the Challenge, and 70% broke one or more of their adoption records. Meanwhile, the vast majority (73%) of respondents said the Challenge was more – or MUCH more – work than they’d anticipated. And yet, they tackled the contest with gusto. That’s the right attitude!

- From ARL Iowa, Stephanie Filer said, It’s been an exhausting, yet reviving past 9 months and a journey that we are now better for. If even just 1 more life was saved, it would all have been worth it, but for us, it was 206 more than last year…and it will be even more as we move forward with the programs, processes and momentum that we started as a result of being challenged to be and do better!

- At Monmouth County SPCA, Laurie Garrison reported heading into their fourth consecutive record-breaking month for adoptions: The Challenge has inspired us in so many ways to do everything we do better, and that is resulting in more lives saved.

- Our last empty-the-shelter event was a great success and had the most adoptions ever in one day for our facility. It’s amazing to see the different attitude that staff have … In preparation, they were excited but knew it was going to be a lot of work. Throughout the Challenge and in the end, they were able to see the difference they made in so many animals’ and families’ lives – and it was more than worth it! wrote Stacey Price from Kitsap Humane Society.

But the winning attitude didn’t only show up at the end of the Challenge, there were signs all along the way.

- After their round-the-clock adoption event, Mary Jarvis of Washington Animal Rescue League told us, Not ONE of our staff nor our volunteers complained about the weekend. They were all walking on air with the thrill of sending so many animals home – and some of our longest term residents too!!

- Tomorrow we are going to Palm Beach Animal Control to get some cats!!!!, wrote Jo-Anne Roman of Humane Society of Broward County. We have empty cages for the first time in so many summers. It’s working and we are all so happy.

- And then there was this heart-stopping blog post from The Humane Society of South Mississippi: On October 12, 2011 HSSM experienced, for the first time in history, a day when NO healthy, adoptable pets were euthanized. We want 364 more days like October 12, 2011. It can be done. We CAN end pet homelessness. We are already well on our way there.

Awesome HSSM tee!

Not only did Challengers have to contend with all of the normal things that sheltering throws at you, but many faced natural disasters and responded to cruelty cases. And not only did Ventura County Animal Services have to contend with budget cuts, but also the tragic death of their Shelter Manager and friend. Still, staff and volunteers persevered to keep saving more lives.  Monica Nolan writes, When I added in the outstanding transfers, I realized that we met the goal we had put for ourselves – 1,780! The best news is that, not even taking into account the outstanding affidavits, we showed that with a 4% increase in intake, we were able to decrease our euthanasia rate by 11% (dogs) and 10% (cats)! That’s what it’s all about! The Challenge was a “challenge,” but one we learned from, grew tremendously as an organization, and in the end are grateful that we participated in.

And speaking of goals, of all the amazing things that grand-prize winner Austin Pets Alive! staff and volunteers did to save more lives (and there were many), it’s possible that the single most important thing they did was to start out by setting what Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, would call a “big, hairy, audacious goal:” save 2,000 lives in 3 months! In the end, they didn’t quite reach the 2,000 – but it doesn’t matter – they stretched like crazy to get as close to 2,000 as they could and they’re already talking about what’s next!

APA! is hot, hot, hot!

The 49 agencies that finished this year’s ASPCA $100K Challenge adopted or RTO’d an incredible 52,484 cats and dogs in three months this year. That’s an increase of 8,977 more lives saved. And these numbers don’t even count another 6,878 animals transferred to rescue and other agencies for adoption! That’s a total gain of 15,855 – 36%! That’s 15,855 very important wins – all because staff and volunteers tackled the Challenge with the right attitude.

Which brings me to this great quote by Chuck Swindoll: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and this is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you – we are in charge of our own attitudes.

Related links:
ASPCA $100K Challenge
“And the Winners of the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge Are…”
“Put WHY First”

Earlier this week, teams of ASPCA folks hit the road en route to top-secret locations—the cities and towns served by the winners of the ASPCA $100K Challenge. We’d been planning to show up, Ed McMahon-style, to surprise and celebrate the agencies who saved the most lives during our 3-month contest…

- First stop, Gulfport, MS, where we took this video at Humane Society of South Mississippi—second-place finisher and winner of the Southeast region—of a room full of all the animals they’d saved during the Challenge:

“My favorite part was when a community member approached and asked if these were the pictures of all the animals we had saved this year,” said HSSM’s Krystyna Szczechowski. “When I explained that these were JUST those saved in the 3-month Challenge, she burst into overwhelmed tears of joy!”

- 739 animals saved in 3 months, check. An increase of 414 over last year, check. Photo of the folks at Humane Society for Greater Savannah receiving ginormous-sized check for $25K for winning the Community Engagement prize in the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge, check…

“Normally our staff is more reserved, but today everyone was so excited and even crying!” said Guinn Friedman, HSGS director of operations. “This is amazing!”

“Our animal care staff really took the on the majority of the work,” added Guinn. “We could not have made it this far without them! Diedre, Theresa, Whitney, Kate, Lee, Alison, Stephen, Casey, Jerome, Ricky, Mike, Mashanda, Missy, Carol…these people impress me every day!! And an extra thanks to Dr. Sherrie Kinsella, who came in on a random Saturday or Sunday to spay and neuter more animals so we could send them home sooner.”

P.S. Reserved?! Um, this photo of HSGS was taken even before the contest began, guys!!

-And why are these people clapping?

They just found out that Greater Androscoggin Humane Society won the Northeast Region! We bet they’re also expressing appreciation for the incredible team that saved 1,303 animals in 3 months (629 more than the same time last year). “You are the best volunteers in the country,” GAHS Executive Director Steve Dostie thanked those who’d gathered for the announcement.

GAHS operations manager Zach Black also handed out some special awards to staff, like this one to Eve Duplissis for “Best Tag Maker.”

(Oh, and Zach, some staff members want to give YOU a shout-out, too. “Without his dedication, longer-than-long hours and constant support he gave to everyone, we would not have had such an outstanding outcome,” they told us.)

- We were so thrilled to get to meet and talk with the incredible staffs, volunteers and supporters of the winning agencies, and were especially thrilled to hear juicy bits like this from City of Independence Animal Services supervisor Jennifer Polston: “During the Challenge,” said Jennifer, “it was the first time we EVER had a line of people outside the shelter waiting to adopt!” IAS saved 964 animals in 3 months (that includes handsome Lidd, shown here)…

…resulting in the Missouri agency, a self-proclaimed “small, brick-and-mortar, 30-year-old shelter with great spirit and tenacity,” topping the Midwest region.

- Have we mentioned the cakes yet? In addition to the big Ed McMahon check, we brought along cakes decorated with the total number of animals’ lives saved by the agency during the Challenge. “People in Walmart got a kick out of seeing us buying a cake that read 1,403 on it!” reported the ASPCA’s Susan Furukawa, Senior Manager, Online Community, on hand at Ramona Humane Society to celebrate their win of the West region.  “We showed up at 9AM, but Jeff [Sheppard, RHS CEO, shown with cake in question, below, and City councilmember Andrew Kotyuk] said he was there at 5 AM, and had people scouting through the town looking for ASPCA people, just in case!”

We brought pizza with us, too, for a party with staff and supporters, including volunteer extraordinaires Denise and Marsha, who showed up to exercise the dogs and celebrate.

-And now, for the Ed McMahon moment you’ve been waiting for… Balloons (because these guys blew us away, of course)…

…and the big check for $100K to the grand-prize winner, Austin Pets Alive!

How’d they respond? “I can’t even imagine what $100K will do for the animals in the community…I am going to start crying!” said APA! volunteer Shorey Russell. Added volunteer coordinator Sara Livermore, “It’s an amazing reward for all of the blood, sweat and tears. No one gives up at APA!”

Nope—and that includes Starsky, a 2 1/2-week-old bottle baby, with his foster mom and APA! volunteer, Chylan Canterbury… (keep us posted on this little dude, please!)

- And you know what else made our day—the fact that Humane Society of South Mississippi celebrated saving more than 2K animals in 3 months by…saving more lives, of course! They offered fee-waived adoptions all day long!

“And we finished out the day with 50 lucky pets in new homes…just in time for the holidays!” Krystyna told us.

Do these winners rock or what?! Thank you, again, and congratulations on a job well done.

49 shelters, 3 months, 52,484 lives saved—an increase of 8,977 over last year. Wow.

We salute the staffs, volunteers and communities of all the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge contestants—you have inspired us, your colleagues, your communities and animal lovers everywhere.

And leading the pack? Raise your glass, hit “Play” and join us in celebrating the winners of the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge.

Quite simply, guys, you blew it out of the water.

Catch us on Facebook for an afternoon of celebrating the winners, and stay tuned to Shelters’ Edge for a recap of victory parties all around the country.

Related links:
ASPCA $100K Challenge
“Keeping Up with the Contestants: And the Finalists for the Community Engagement Prize Are…”

Sure, pictures are worth 1,000 words. But it’s even better when they’re worth 1,000 bucks! Congrats to the 15 agencies receiving a $1K grant for submitting winning entries in the 2011 ASPCA $100K Photo and Video Contest.

And we just have to extend a BIG thanks to all the Challengers for rallying folks to submit over 500 entries – what a thrill to see 500 furry faces among the tens of thousands of lives saved these past three months of the Challenge.

Here’s a sneak peek at a few winners…

Sometimes a photo really clicks. This boy – chilling with Gerald, his new cat adopted from Cobb County Animal Control in Marietta, GA – is wearing a shirt that says, “No one gets left behind.”

Puppet’s portrait was taken by a Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society volunteer who posts photos and descriptions of PAWS’ animals on Petfinder every week.
Pearl and Skip were adopted together from the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees, NJ. Their new mom had only intended to adopt Pearl, but after she saw this video, she couldn’t resist bringing them both home. Lesson here? Grab a camera and post those movies of your shelter animals!

Just can’t get enough? See the rest of the winners here!

Related Links:
Picture Perfect: 2011 $100K Challenge Photo and Video Contest
$100K Challenge