The Animal Welfare Association of Voorhees was one of 50 animal shelters to compete in the ASPCA Rachael Ray $100k Challenge throughout the months of June, July and August. Over the three months, the AWA saved 881 dogs and cats.
“The challenge was a remarkable event, and while many of our staff and volunteers are exhausted, we are very pleased to have saved 881 dogs and cats over the past three months. This is an increase of 95 adoptions compared to the same three months in 2013,” said Maya Richmond, executive director of the AWA.
The $100K Challenge is a national competition to inspire animal shelters, and those who support them, to go above and beyond to increase pet adoption, reunite lost pets with their families and save more animals’ lives.
Across the country, 50 shelters were chosen to compete to break their own records saving the lives of animals. Each competing shelter was to save more dogs, cats, puppies and kittens than it did during the same three months of the previous year. The shelters were split into five divisions with 10 shelters in each. AWA was chosen to be a part of division 2.
“The adoption challenge is about how you engage your community to promote and save more lives by engaging your community and employees to know more about pet adoption and spread the word,” Richmond said.
For the competition, the AWA chose a theme it called “Once Upon a Shelter” to promote the idea that it wants families and pets to all be happy and healthy with fairytale endings. The staff decorated the shelter using princess and prince themes such as creating castles and dressing up like royalty.
For adult cats in particular, because they aren’t adopted much during the summer, they used the words “Reigning Cats” to help promote their adoption.
“Adult cats sit for a very, very long time this time of year. We had to do a little twist to get the cats out so we used ‘Reigning Cats.’ About 300 adult cats were adopted, which can be very, very hard. We just wanted to make sure that the cats find good homes,” Richmond said.
Because it doesn’t have much marketing money, the AWA had to think of creative ways to spread the word. It utilized grassroots marketing, flyers, community events and social media. It also asked sponsors and businesses such as Petco and Petsmart to get involved.
The shelter held a 12-hour adopt-a-thon for the first weekend where the goal was to get 50 animals adopted, but it surpassed that. It also targeted specific towns around the area and tapped into people it knows in the community to get and give out extra bonus discounting.
“We sent these business cards for a free adoption to some people we know in the community. Pretty much saying, ‘we trust you and what you are doing.’ With no adoption fee, they came in, or at least thought about going. That was useful,” Richmond said. “We wanted to get word of mouth going in a very positive way.”
The winners of the grand prize and the smaller prizes won’t be chosen until Oct. 7. Unfortunately, the AWA had a goal to save 1,200 pets over the three months, but it didn’t quite reach that goal so it won’t be winning the grand prize. It also still qualifies for the smaller prizes such as the Community Engagement or Best in Division awards.
But, for Richmond, this competition wasn’t all about winning the money. It was about getting everyone, the staff, volunteers and community, together to help save lives.
“Sometimes, you get stuck in a rut, and this challenge pushes you into more creativity. It helps give us an opportunity to come up with great ideas, like greeting customers in princess costumes,” Richmond said. “If people aren’t coming through the doors, you need to change something if you are interested in saving lives.”
The AWA isn’t stopping with just this competition, of course. It is doing a pirate-themed adoption in mid-September to kick off the fall. Then in October, it is going to do fundraisers that will lead to holiday adoption events in the winter.
The Animal Welfare Association is a private, nonprofit organization that operates the oldest and largest low-cost spay/neuter clinic, adoption center and no-kill animal shelter in South Jersey. Started in 1948, it has been around for 66 years and the clinic has been around since 1973. Through a variety of innovative programs, it strives to ensure that animal companionship is accessible to all and make sure the pets are safe. In 2013, more than 16,000 pets were served through AWA programming. For more information and list of events, visit its website at www.awanj.org.
