Dear Friends, 

This has been a great year to be a Furkid! Our 10^th anniversary year brought us more activity, growth, intakes, adoptions, and opportunities than any other year in our history. We have happily saved over 1,000 dogs and cats this year and remain the largest no-kill shelter in Georgia.

Part of the excitement came from our acquisition of SmallDog Rescue & Humane Society at the end of 2011. We are so grateful to our staff and volunteers for integrating our operations into one strong, cohesive organization that serves more animals than either could do alone. Their efforts have increased dog adoptions to the highest rate ever! By September 30, 2012, we surpassed our number of dog adoptions for all of 2011.

On the cat side, it has also been a banner year. In August, a special promotion resulted in 96 cats going to happy families, up 65% from last August. In addition, this Thanksgiving, we gave the gift of life to 40 Death Row kitties from a local shelter.

Special stories for 2012: 

Adoption successes: Ony, the spunky Whippet mix (pictured right), who lived at the shelter for two years, and Buster, who starred onstage as Bruiser the Chihuahua in the Atlanta Lyric Theater musical production of "Legally Blonde". The actress who played Elle Woods adopted Buster before the show finishedits run. At the cat shelter, we said tearful, happy goodbyes to some of our longest residents. Hadrian, an outgoing, elderly, toothless guy, and Sheba Deva, a shy, mature, black cat who had been overlooked since 2007. These lovebirds were adopted together by a great mom. Sadly, we lost Bruiser, our cheerful feline ambassador who “managed” the thrift store but never knew the joy of being adopted. 

Furkids Thrift Store: The staff and volunteers at the thrift store are blowing off the doors in intakes and sales, and increasing revenues every month. The merchandise – literally, from the kitchen sink to designer handbags, jewelry, antiques and children’s clothes – turns over quickly. You never know what treasures you’ll find, and when you shop at the thrift store, you help our cats and dogs in the process. 

Yearly Highlights & Celebrations: 

Some other high points of the year included our 10^th anniversary celebration. The gala, held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, featured commemorative Pete the Cat paintings by artist James Dean and a guest appearance by radio personality, Rick Dees. The event brought out the best in our sponsors and friends. It was a very special night of celebration with over 500 guests in attendance!

Vehicle News: Most of you know Furkids won second place in the Nalley Driven for a Cause Facebook contest. Thank you for voting and helping us round up support from friends and allies all over the country! In the process, we made more than 1,000 new friends on Facebook, and while we didn’t win the first prize vehicle, the Nalley Automotive Group generously awarded us a $10,000 cash donation. The contest inspired a donor to match the prize money and two other donors to give us vehicles. Ultimately, we were able to buy a box truck and a mini van, and now Furkids has four vehicles that help us at our adoption events and thrift store. 

More Adoption Centers: Both SmallDog Rescue and Furkids have had strong relationships with Petco and PetSmart and we’re overjoyed to add the Buckhead PetSmart as our 10^th adoption center! We will close out the year by adding the Smyrna Petco and the Buckhead Petco stores. Furkids manages 12 adoption centers - more than any other shelter in Georgia!

Helping Others: The Southern Hope Humane Society halted its animal rescue and adoptions this year and asked Furkids to absorb their adoptable animals. We are very honored that they chose Furkids to receive their animals and support of equipment and a van.

Our Greatest Asset, Our Volunteers: We are blessed that many of you know the joy and satisfaction that comes from being a Furkids volunteer. We are unique in that we welcome children of all ages, disabled adults, corporate volunteers and so many others to share the grace and emotional fulfillment that comes from spending time with animals. We are so proud that our volunteer program helps socialize our cats and dogs and enriches the humans along the way. We give thanks for the many groups that partner with us and to all of our students who faithfully volunteer with us.

Vision for the Future: We were honored to receive an impactful gift from the Estate of Eugene Rehm - a long-time musician with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who loved animals. Mr. Rehm’s gift has been set aside towards helping us realize our long range vision of creating a peaceful, unique destination, carved out of nature, where visitors can walk dogs along a nature trail, play with cats in their indoor/outdoor home, enjoy tranquility in a memorial garden, and all of our animals can experience sunlight and fresh air.  If you are interested in learning more about our vision, please contact Samantha Shelton ([email protected]).

Thank you to everyone who has helped us accomplish so much this year. But our work is far from done. In 2013, we will focus on increasing volunteers at all adoption centers, realizing more adoptions and saving more animals.  We are hopeful to renovate the 34 year old building that is our dog shelter, hire a week-day kennel tech and expand operations. We also want to build on the success of our thrift store by opening a second location. These are just a few of our goals for the New Year and we need your help to achieve them.

Please consider a one-time gift or monthly donation to help Furkids continue to save 1000s of lives. CLICK HERE!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wonderful New Year! Thank you for your care and friendship that makes our important work possible. 

Samantha Shelton

Founder and Executive Director