Like most organizations, FOTAS and the Aiken County Animal Shelter (ACAS) have felt the negative impact of the 2020 pandemic. We had to suspend our big fundraising events this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. The annual FOTAS Playing Fore the Pets golf outing and Woofstock Doggie Derby Day are scheduled to carry on in 2021, but it hurt having to cancel them in 2020. With the pandemic causing such chaos, every dollar you donate is more important than ever and greatly appreciated.

Where your donations go
All FOTAS donations go directly to programs that help save the homeless pets at the ACAS.
Your donations pay for:
• Specialized surgery and physical rehab for adoptable dogs and cats who arrive abused, injured or sick

• Medical treatments such as those for heartworm positive dogs

• Medical equipment and facility improvements at the shelter

• Transports of shelter pets who are not locally adopted. to rescues in the northeast Without these transports, our shelter would be overcrowded and at risk of having to euthanize adoptable pets.

• Fenced-in play yards for incoming dogs

• Flea and tick treatment, leashes, toys collars, beds for the shelter animals

• Spay/neuter for community cats and pets whose owners need financial assistance

• Humane runners to get pet dogs of chains

• Food for community pets in need

• Adoption fees for active military and veterans

We are thankful to the Aiken community
The shelter took in more than 4,000 abandoned, neglected and abused animals last year and continues to receive high numbers of homeless pets in 2020.

But thanks to your donations, the euthanasia rate at the ACA has dropped from 71% in 2013 to less than 5% in 2019. To put it another way, the save rate at the shelter is 95%, a complete turnaround from where we were when we started out 10 years ago. In fact, every adoptable animal has been saved over the last three years.

How to donate to the homeless pets at the county shelter
To donate to FOTAS, please go to our website, FOTASAiken.org. We are a volunteer-based organization and a registered 501c3 public charity and all donations are tax deductible. FOTAS is a recipient of the Secretary of State of South Carolina Angel Award – one of ten, out of 14,000 organizations, recognized as representing the most efficient and effective charities in SC.

Thanksgiving is a time to reach out. We give thanks to our community – volunteers, donors, adopters, the county council, and county staff – as we head into GivingTuesday to continue our life-saving programs.

Their lives are in our hands.

— By Bob Gordon, FOTAS Communications Director

I met Ernie, a retired mechanical engineer, in the early days. Ernie and I didn’t understand the magnitude of our undertaking when we began a campaign to help the animals. FOTAS was formed in 2009, and Ernie was one if its original volunteers. Ernie loves cats. His former cat, Murphey Brown, and his current cat, Murphy Wolf (adopted from Aiken County Animal Shelter), were and are his best friends and the apples of his eye. Ernie swears each cat is (and was) the most intelligent cat he’s ever met and could outsmart any dog.

Ernie was instrumental in the construction of the first FOTAS project at the Aiken County Animal Shelter—a place to house adoptable cats. He designed, organized and lead the efforts to build the much-needed Cat House. (By the way, Ernie hated it when we referred to the facility as the Cat House because it is a euphemism for a brothel. That gave everyone, including the cats, a big laugh).

The unique design of the Cat House provides for both indoor and outdoor space for the cats, which allows them to move about freely among multiple play and perch areas. Volunteers and prospective adopters have a place to visit and sit with the cats in a more natural environment, which is a win/win for everyone.

When the shelter moved to the new facility in 2014, the Cat House was moved as well. Last year FOTAS refurbished and updated the Cat House, and today it is still a wonderful, unique, and successful adoption facility for the cats.

Fifteen years ago, Ernie met Linda Soyars when she was walking her dog outside his home. They became intimate friends and enjoyed a loving relationship until she recently passed away. Linda shared Ernie’s passion for animals and became a cherished FOTAS volunteer herself. She was a special, kind person who will be missed by all of us.

In memory of Linda, Ernie has built another house in her honor, this time an exquisite, handmade bird house to be displayed as an indoor decorative piece. Ernie wants to sell this extraordinary, beautifully crafted Birdhouse and donate the proceeds of the sale to FOTAS. (Please call the FOTAS Hotline, (803) 514-4313, if interested.)

Ernie is not done developing building plans for FOTAS. Just shy of his 92nd birthday, he is assisting FOTAS with the conceptual drawings for two much-needed meet and greet adoption rooms and an indoor training area at the shelter. Stay posted for coming updates!

Behind the scenes Ernie has dedicated countless volunteer hours to FOTAS. Thank you, Ernie. We also remember Linda and her devotion to shelter animals. Volunteers are the lifeline of FOTAS. They make it possible to help so many animals in need at the shelter, and we are deeply grateful to them all.

Their lives are in our hands.

— By Jennifer Miller, FOTAS President

All of that has changed in the past 11 years. With the opening of the new shelter in 2014, the FOTAS/county partnership solidified and blossomed. FOTAS volunteers are an integral part of the shelter’s operations (it is estimated that FOTAS volunteers provide the equivalent of ten full-time positions). FOTAS donations supplement the shelter’s budget and programs and provide supplies such as leashes, toys, flea and tick prevention, and medicine for heartworm positive dogs. FOTAS has created a network of transfer partners in other parts of the country (where kennels are empty because everyone fixes their pets) where we send dogs (and pay the incurred transport costs) who could not find homes locally. The transfer program saves thousands of animals every year.

We also attack the problem of overpopulation of homeless pets. FOTAS supplements the county’s spay/neuter financial assistance program for county residents who need it, as well as funds to support the TNR (Trap Neuter Return) program to address the problems of community cats. We hire a mobile spay/neuter van to go to hot-spot areas around the county (the FIDO Fix-a-Pet program) to provide free spay/neuter surgeries for citizens who need financial assistance.

Our Home-to-Home program allows folks who can no longer care for their pets to use the power of our social media to find loving homes without subjecting their beloved pets to the trauma of surrender to the shelter (it’s been a huge success during the COVID crisis!) FOTAS works with Animal Control to provide dog houses and humane runners for dogs who are tethered to chains, as well as dog food and other supplies to help folks in a bind.

FOTAS also helps with the improvement of the physical facilities at the shelter. In addition to funding the medical wellness and isolation pod for animals with curable infectious ailments, plans are currently underway for a building that will house two, much needed adoption rooms and a training area.

In 2017, FOTAS was one of ten (out of 14,000) charitable organizations to be awarded the Angel Award by the Secretary of State, which recognizes the most efficient and effective nonprofits in the state. Plus, for the second year in a row, FOTAS and our signature event, Woofstock, received the Aiken Standard Choice Best of Aiken Award.

We have managed to do all of this with only one paid staff member and an army of volunteers. Has it worked? You bet it has. For the past two years, FOTAS and the county achieved their goal of not having to euthanize any adoptable pet.

None of this would have been possible without you, the generous Aiken community, who have donated your time and money and welcomed shelter animals into your hearts and homes.

Thank you and God Bless. Stay safe.

–By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice President

South Aiken Baptist students bring toys at Christmas
South Aiken Baptist Christian invited Shelter Manager Bobby Arthurs and I to bring dogs to their school in early December and speak to students about pet responsibility. We were later surprised by one of their teachers and her grandchildren who visited our shelter with many items to donate.

Aiken Elementary makes cat toys and organizes donation drive
Paula Simmons is a fabulous volunteer at the shelter. A retired teacher from Aiken County Public Schools, she has been instrumental in helping form a Junior FOTAS Club at the school. In December, Paula and I took adoptable hound mix JD to visit the students and they made toys for the shelter felines and organized a holiday donation drive for FOTAS.

Horse Creek Academy collect goodies for homeless pets
Horse Creek Academy Kindergarten teacher Jennifer Kelley adopted a dog, Cooper, from the ACAS three years ago. Since then, she has organized a kindergarten supply drive for FOTAS. All the kindergarten teachers allow me to come into their classrooms, meet their students and talk to them about the shelter. The children spend time with one of our shelter dogs before forming a line and walking the supplies out to the FOTAS van.

North Augusta High School delivers astounding amount of donations Students at North Augusta High School also collected items for shelter pets during this holiday season. We were overwhelmed by the amount of donations we received! Thank you to Amanda Jones and her amazing students for all their support!

Tall Pines Junior FOTAS team reads to ACAS dogs
Our Tall Pines Junior FOTAS Club is always busy collecting donations, helping with events and educating our community about spay/neuter, heartworm prevention and pet responsibility. Last month, the students read to shelter dogs. The dogs, stressed in their kennels, relaxed at the sound of the students’ voices. In January, these same kids are helping us make videos and public service announcements about our programs.

Kennedy Middle School adds FOTAS to mini course schedule
We are looking forward to our third year of being a part of the mini courses at Kennedy Middle School. In March, we meet once a week with students, discussing key animal advocacy topics. Vet techs, animal control officers and adoption staff will speak to students about working with homeless animals in our community.

We are grateful for the schools and educators who support the shelter and allow us to speak to their students about our programs. If you are involved with a school in Aiken County and would like us to come and speak to students about pet responsibility, please call us at (803) 514-4313 or send an email to info@fotasaiken.org.

Educating our young people is the only way we will ever solve our pet overpopulation problem and reduce animal neglect. Their voices are powerful and can influence so many!

— By Kathy Jacobs, FOTAS Programs Coordinator

It’s the time of year when the spirit of Christmas thrives. It’s a time of gratitude for our family and friends. It’s a time to rejoice our faith. It’s a time for love.

It is also the time to express your love through charitable giving, and if your mailbox is anything like mine, it’s filled with requests from worthy local charities for year-end contributions. They all do good works, so how do you decide?

If you’re an animal lover and you want your hard-earned dollars to make a real and measurable difference, then FOTAS, the private partner of the Aiken County Animal Shelter, is the right choice for your charitable urges. Here’s why:

• FOTAS, working with the county shelter, saves more animals any other 501(c)(3) organization in the CSRA through its innovative and aggressive adoption and transfer programs. Last year, 4507 animals were saved, and this year we anticipate that every adoptable animal that ends up in the shelter will be saved.

• FOTAS funds more spay/neuter pet surgeries for folks in financial need than any other 501(c)(3) organization in the CSRA.

• FOTAS funds more TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) surgeries for community cats than any other 501(c)(3) organization in the CSRA.

• FOTAS saves more heartworm positive (HWP) dogs than any other 501(c)(3) organization in the CSRA.

• FOTAS recruits and trains an army of foster families and volunteers to help the shelter with all of its activities and needs.

• FOTAS supplements adoption fees for active military personnel and veterans.

• FOTAS helps county animal control take dogs off the chain by funding humane runners for distribution to county residents.

• FOTAS also funds the costs of flea medication, toys, leashes, and pet food supplements, as well as subsidizing equipment and extraordinary medical needs.

FOTAS is 100% supported by private donations, so your generosity is critical to our continued success. Plus, you can rest assured that every dollar you donate will be put to good use. FOTAS was one of ten (out of thousands!) South Carolina charities to receive the Secretary of State’s “Angel” award, which recognizes the state’s most efficient and effective charities.

But, you ask, have all those private donations to FOTAS really made a difference?

You bet they have. In 2009, the year that FOTAS was created, only 5% of the animals consigned to the shelter made it out alive. In 2018 and 2019, every adoptable animal passing through the shelter was (and will be) saved—that’s well over 95%

That’s huge.

As exciting as our success has been, there is still so much to do, particularly since the county’s intake numbers remain dishearteningly high (4,500-5,000 animals/year). We greatly appreciate your generosity and hope you will continue to support us.

Please send your much-needed donations to FOTAS, PO Box 2207, Aiken SC 29802.

Their lives are in our hands

PS: Join us for our Homes for the Holidays adoption special this Saturday, December 7th!

— By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice-President

BY THE NUMBERS
Saturday, Dec. 7, FOTAS is holding a “Homes for the Holidays” adoption event at the Aiken County Animal Shelter from 11:00 to 4:30. It will feature adoption specials, refreshments and special guest, Santa Claus. All adopters will receive a gift and a complimentary photo with Santa and their new pet.

PETS OF THE WEEK

JD: Hound mix, male, 5 years old, white & brown, 69 pounds – $35

REMI: Domestic Shorthair cat, male, 1 year old, brown Tabby, 8 pounds – $10

With his birthday on the horizon, Alex asked his mom, Lori, if instead of getting presents this year, could he ask for money to go to the shelter dogs? And could he have a birthday party, where his friends could be asked to donate to FOTAS instead of bringing traditional party gifts? Oh, and could he personally deliver the donation to the shelter, so they could visit the animals?

“Of course, I said, ‘Yes,’” Lori said. “I was incredibly proud of him. Alex has never been materialistic, so this was the perfect way for him to celebrate his birthday.”

But for Alex, it was not enough. He told his aunt about what he was doing, and she helped him to take the mission to another level by setting up a temporary fundraising page on Facebook. In just weeks, Alex’s Facebook page and birthday party combined to raised $425 for FOTAS and the shelter dogs.

Alex has always loved animals “because they’re great company, unpredictable and fun,” and his family has three pets adopted from the ACAS – Bailee, a one-year-old Chihuahua mix, and kitten siblings Melania and Mingus. But what sparked his interest in animal advocacy was overhearing his mom talk about FOTAS.

Lori teaches fifth grade at Tall Pines STEM Academy and the school started a Junior FOTAS club this year with the assistance of FOTAS Programs Coordinator Kathy Jacobs. The students in Junior FOTAS meet after school to learn about different aspects of the ACAS and FOTAS. For their first meeting, Kathy brought a heartworm positive dog who was up for adoption and explained how heartworms are treated and how the “Have a Heart, Save a Heart” program saved about 200 dogs last year.

“Alex overheard me talking about the Junior FOTAS meetings, and his idea snowballed from there,” Lori said.

But what really motivates a boy to work so hard to make that idea come to fruition and miss the chance to be showered with gifts on his birthday? Is it the joy of giving? Is it to impress his family and friends?

“Well, I do feel very good about doing it,” Alex said. “But you can’t donate for any of those reasons. You have to do it with your whole heart. Not because someone tells you…it has to because you want to do it.”

Their lives are in our hands

by Bob Gordon, FOTAS Director of Communications

By the Numbers

Feb. 7 to 14: Find “the One” Valentine’s Special: Dogs & puppies $14, cats & kittens $0

Pets of the Week

PRINCESS
Mixed breed, female, 5 years old, brown and white, 55 pounds – $14 (through Feb. 14)

BARTON
Domestic Shorthair, male, 2 months old, dark gray, 1.6 pounds – $0 (through Feb. 14)