Lynchburg Humane Society: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

The Kia Pet Adoption Grant enabled the Lynchburg Humane Society to sponsor adoption fees for our hardest-to-place and senior pets. We are so grateful to the Petfinder Foundation for this opportunity. The $4,000 grant was used to sponsor more than 20 dogs' adoption fees and help get them out of our shelter and into loving homes. The grant thereby made room in our shelter for 20 more dogs. Thank you, Kia America, for being such a conscientious corporate citizen.

How many pets did this grant help?

40

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

Tank is a beautiful German shepherd who was with us for quite some time. Tank was brought to us in the summer of 2021 after his only friend and owner passed away.

Coming to the shelter can be a shocking and life-altering experience for a dog who has never known anything but his own backyard. Some dogs adjust in a few days, some take a few months. But Tank took nearly a year to even leave his kennel.

So many of our staff felt drawn to Tank, but he refused to form connections with us for a long time. We never gave up on him and tried everything we could think of to help him feel more comfortable.

Everything changed after Tank finally chose someone to trust. He was making progress with a few staff members after they worked tirelessly to make him comfortable in the shelter environment, but it was one staff member in particular who tipped the scales.

Once they formed a bond, Tank could make more friends, and overcome many obstacles! Tank turned into a sweet, attention-seeking, fetch-playing, normal dog after we were so worried he never would! Following this roaring success, we were finally able to make Tank available for adoption and ready to meet his new person!

Not long after, a sweet lady came in asking about Tank and began meet-and-greets with him. We couldn’t have imagined a better fit if we had hand-picked her ourselves. They became friends almost instantly and our hearts were at ease knowing Tank would finally have a loving home that would give him all the opportunities he’d never had before.

What we once weren’t sure was possible finally came to fruition, all because of our amazing and committed staff. And of course our wonderful friend, Tank’s new mom!

We were grateful to have received the Kia Pet Adoption Grant, which we immediately applied to Tank’s adoption fee. We couldn’t have thought of a more deserving pair to reap the benefits of this amazing grant. Thank you so much to Kia America and the Petfinder Foundation for sponsoring Tank’s adoption fee!