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(Local schools are encouraged to form their own Junior FOTAS Club like the one at Tall Pines Stem Academy, pictured.)
Ten years ago, the situation and the conditions at the Aiken County Animal Shelter were abysmal. The shelter took in thousands of animals every year and only had the support and capacity to save 9% of them—the remaining 91% were euthanized. In the decade since 2009, the numbers have more than reversed with the shelter finding homes for 94% of the adoptable, healthy, and treatable pets. What changed?
“If anyone had told me then that I would get involved in the animal shelter and in an organization like Friends of the Animal Shelter (FOTAS), I would have told them that they were crazy,” said Jennifer Miller, a founder of FOTAS and current president. “But we couldn’t do it without the community. We definitely did not do it, and could not do it, on our own.” FOTAS started small with a pancake breakfast where they began to raise money to purchase supplies for
the shelter. The movement gained momentum throughout the year as they recruited volunteers to walk the dogs, help the shelter staff, and to foster litters of puppies.
FOTAS volunteers were soon lobbying the county government for the funds to build the new, modern shelter that was better equipped to meet the needs of the animals in the shelter’s care.
Everywhere that you look today, you can see the collaboration and effort that has accumulated over the last decade thanks to the 300+ FOTAS volunteers and the support of our Aiken community.
FOTAS is a recipient of the S.C. Secretary of State Angel Award – one of ten organizations recognized each year representing the most efficient & effective charities soliciting in S.C. FOTAS’ future goal for the shelter is that it should be a resource for pets, not a destination.
You can easily get in involved with FOTAS! See page 30 for more about the mission of FOTAS and how you can actively volunteer with them starting today.
333 Wire Road
803.514.4313 fotasaiken.org