From the Director

From the Executive Director of FCNMHP:

Northeast Florida had a great weekend for the animals and made huge strides towards becoming a no-kill community!

A run down of the adoption event:  

• 950 total adoptions - more than 96% of all pets available found homes
• This was the largest event PetSmart Charities has ever participated in, by number of visitors or number of adoptions! It is also the largest pet adoption event ever in the nation!
• 10,000+ attendees, not counting an additional 500+ volunteers and team members, participated in the event
• Each morning there was a crowd waiting to get in, numbering several hundred Friday and Saturday
• Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services found homes for all their dogs and all but three of their cats (the cats were absorbed by Lucky Cat Adoptions and FCNMHP)
• Clay County Animal Control went home completely empty, adopting all their pets
• Jacksonville Humane Society went home with only one dog and three cats
• All of the pets from the FCNMHP Adoption Center found homes

 This event will decrease killing in local shelters for several months.

In addition to this huge adoption event, the FCNMHP Pet Food Bank distribution was Saturday, handing out 26,000 pounds of pet food to needy First Coast families. The FCNMHP spay/neuter clinic performed 100 surgeries each day Friday and Saturday (as they do 6 days a week) and our low-cost veterinary clinic, combined with the Jacksonville Humane Society veterinary clinic, saw more than 100 pets for medical assistance. There were also teams of staff members at each shelter/adoption center deep cleaning empty kennels.

 WE ARE MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Every department in our organization had to step up to make this happen and there was never a doubt in my mind that they would!

The cooperation that was shown among all the shelters, rescues and groups is unheard of anywhere in else in the country. The teams of Jacksonville Humane Society, Jacksonville Animal Care & Protective Services and FCNMHP worked seamlessly and as one team.

Volunteers and staff from all groups were amazing and leaped to assist the event in any way possible without regard to which group they were with. In addition to staff and volunteers, other resources were shared as well. Crates were treated as the event's resources and shared where needed, supplies were shared with no issues, and fun and great success was had by all!

We have created an army of those that care about animal issues and this army will not rest until victory is achieved!

Without the help of our sponsor and supporters we would not have achieved these goals. Special recognition to PetSmart Charities and Best Friends Animal Society for all their support in making a difference in Northeast Florida.

Rick DuCharme 

Founder/Executive Director

First Coast No More Homeless Pets

Help us make Jacksonville a no-kill community!

  

Pictures from the event:

http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1503241&CategoryID=14633