This Tuesday, November 28th, is Giving Tuesday, which kicks off the annual Christmas-giving season with a world-wide celebration of selfless generosity. If you are charitably inclined, how do you decide which of the many worthy local charities are worthy of your generosity?
If you’re an animal lover (and I know you are) and you want your hard-earned dollars to make a difference, then FOTAS, the private partner of the Aiken County Animal Shelter, is an excellent choice for your charitable urges. Here’s why.
- FOTAS, working with the county shelter, saves more animals than any other 501(c)(3) organization in the CSRA. Period. Full stop. For the past FIVE years, every adoptable animal at the shelter was saved, and FOTAS has kicked into overdrive to do the same this year.
- FOTAS AND AIKEN COUNTY fund more spay/neuter pet surgeries for folks in financial need than any other charitable organization in the CSRA.
- FOTAS AND AIKEN COUNTY fund more TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) surgeries for community cats than any other charitable organization in the CSRA.
- FOTAS saves more heartworm positive (HWP) dogs than any other charitable organization in the CSRA.
- 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 GIVES OUT MORE PET FOOD TO AIKEN COUNTY PET OWNERS IN NEED THAN ANY OTHER CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION IN THE CSRA. This critical assistance makes it possible for folks to feed (and, thus, keep) their animals in hard times.
- FOTAS also funds the costs of flea medication, toys, leashes, and pet food supplements, as well as subsidizing equipment and extraordinary medical needs at the shelter.
FOTAS is 100% supported by private donations, and we need your help now more than ever. The shelter, like all public shelters post-Covid, is overwhelmed with shockingly high intake. More people are abandoning their animals than adopting new ones. Here in Aiken County, the problem is compounded by an explosion in population growth (I’m sure you’ve seen all those housing developments springing up all over the county!), and a severe shortage of veterinarians and low-cost spay/neuter services. This means more and more animals are joining the ranks of the unwanted and the homeless—a heartbreaking tragedy after so many years of progress.
But, you ask, have all those private donations to FOTAS really made a difference
Absolutely! An incredible difference! In 2009 (the year that FOTAS was created) 95% of the animals consigned to the shelter were euthanized. Today that number has been turned on its head. From 2018 through this year, 2023, every adoptable animal at the shelter was (and will be) saved. That’s over a 90% save rate.
Our success is your success: FOTAS’ ability to save so those thousands and thousands of shelter animals is the direct result of your generosity. From our hearts to yours, thank you and God bless.
Please send your much-appreciated donations to FOTAS, PO Box 2207, Aiken SC 29802, or go to fotasaiken.org to make your donation online. By the way, when you donate to FOTAS, you can be certain that 90% or more of every dollar of your donation will go to our life-saving programs.
Their lives are in our hands.
By Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice-President
