I came across this wonderful news article in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Mike Arms and Iams Home 4 the Holidays. It includes two wonderful adoption stories to warm you up on a cold day (I’m a little misty eyed!). Check it out:
‘Home 4 the Holidays’ is a touching pet tale By Steve Dale TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES 11/01/2008 Funny how times change. In the late 1990s, the shelter community greatly wrote off Mike Arms, president and CEO of the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., as either crazy or, at best, eccentric. Arms wanted to begin a campaign to adopt out pets during the holiday season. To say there was resistance is an understatement. Back then, the conventional thinking was that people who adopt around the holidays are making impulsive purchases, and more likely would return the animals for a not-so-happy New Year. “I had a hunch that was more urban myth than fact,” Arms says.
Arms commissioned a study of the matter. The data demonstrated that people who adopt around the holidays are, in fact, less likely to return the pets. With the ammunition he needed, Arms enlisted the Iams pet food company for support and in 1999 he was off and running with the first Iams Home 4 the Holidays adoption drive. In all, 14 Southern California shelters participated, leading to the adoption of an impressive 2,563 animals.
That was then. This is now. During last year’s campaign, which began in October and continued through Christmas, over 2,700 animal welfare organizations participated (some even outside the U.S.), adopting 491,000 pets into permanent homes. Since 1999, an astounding total of over 2 million animals have been given a second chance through Iams Home 4 the Holidays, now the largest pet adoption campaign in the world. (More)
As I was wondering the net shortly before the end of my workday, today, I came across this really wonderful adoption story on the Pet Connection blog. Christie’s story sounds just like our dog PSA for Home 4 the Holidays. Now I’m all mushy and teary-eyed! I love this stuff!
There’s something about shelter dogs By Christie Keith October 28, 2008 One of the wonderful things about being a columnist is being free to write about the things you love. In my case, I’ve taken the opportunity, as pet columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle’s SFGate.com, to write about the great love of my life, my dog Colleen, a chow mix I adopted from the Peninsula Humane Society when she was around two years old.
They brought her into the get-acquainted room, where I was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She marched over to me, put her paws in the circle of my legs, planted her chin on my shoulder, and said, “Take me home.” I swear, I heard her say it… (more)
In the past 30 days, Iams Home 4 the Holidays has helped to get 216,633 pets adopted!!! THAT’S OVER 7,000 PETS A DAY!!! OMIGOSH!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!! Peace on Earth and good home to pets!!
On Thursday October 9, 2008, the employees of P&G Pet Care (AKA The Iams Company) took a day away from the office and went to Urbana, Ohio to rehab the local PAWS Animal Shelter.
Here’s a list of what they did while I was stuck minding the office:
Built a new cattery
Painted the ceilings in the cattery, storage area and kennel
Cleaned and painted a storage closet and filled it with 1,500-pounds of Iams food as well as P&G products
Cleaned and painted the dog kennel
Paid for a professional floor to be installed inside and out
Cleaned the heating system so the animals will have heat
Purchased a new washer, dryer, computer, dog beds, dog bowls, and cat trees
Painted a mural in the new bonding room
Brought in new, updated animal artwork for the main office
Cleaned the propane tank, installed a new mailbox, put together a new storage unit and office furniture
Adopted a kitten and a Great Dane!
Daisy and her new mom, Laura
My friend and teammate Laura found a new addition to her family named Daisy.
The goal for all of this was to increase adoptions through the shelter by making the adoption experience more enjoyable and inviting to potential adopters. And to also provide a clean healthy environment for the shelter animals to live in.
[NOTE: edited 11/4/08 to provide link to updated video]
