Huntington County Humane Society: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

This grant helped us adopt out 16 dogs and 20 cats at no cost to our community! We utilized the funds for harder-to-place dogs, such as those who required no children and/or no other pets in the home, and we utilized it for all of our adult cats!

Once we made the advertisement that the Petfinder Foundation had generously given us this grant, we had over eight cat adoptions and two dog adoptions that same weekend, which was HUGE for us!

How many pets did this grant help?

36

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

One story in particular stands out the most for us. We had a corgi-dor (a corgi/Labrador mix) by the name of Jack come to us (first photo). Jack had lived with an elderly couple who could no longer provide care for him due to their age and health conditions, and so they brought him to us to help them rehome him to a new family. After Jack was neutered, he was placed up for adoption.

Later that week, a middle-aged woman came to the shelter to look around to see what animals we had available for adoption. After talking with her, we learned that she was in the process of adopting an 8-year-old boy by the name of … JACK!

She shared with us that the adoption process had been really long and stressful for the both of them, but she wanted to find a way to both bond with and show her soon-to-be-adopted son that adoption is truly a beautiful thing.

We were very moved by her story, so we told her about the Petfinder Foundation/Kia grant that we had been given and we told her that whatever animal she chose, she would be able to adopt for free.

She went home and brought Jack with her that next day. They started by looking at cats, but once Jack (the kiddo) met Jack (the dog), it was LOVE at first sight for the both of them. It moved us and his mom to tears how well they hit it off and just how meant-to-be it was that Jack, the kid, got to be a part of Jack, the dog’s, adoption and give him a forever family.

They ended up becoming members at our dog park and they pop into the shelter every couple of weeks to give us updates and bring Jack to visit!