PACC’s $100K Challenge
Pima Animal Care Center’s $100K Challenge events includes community adoptions and puppy cuddles. Photo courtesy: Pima Animal Care Center
If you are considering adding a furry friend to your family, doing so before the end of the summer can help Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) win a huge chunk of cash.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is in its fifth and final year of their annual $100K Challenge and PACC is in the running for the grand prize of (no big surprise here) $100,000. Fifty shelters from across the country were selected from hundreds of applications to compete for a total prize pool of $600,000 by rescuing more animals in the months of June, July and August than they did in the previous year during the same three-month period.
PACC sees an average of about 24,000 animals come through its facility on Silverbell Road each year with between 600 to 900 dogs and cats on site at any given time. Last summer between June and August, PACC’s Development Director Karen Hollish says that the shelter was able to save a total of 3,046 animals, meaning that in order to win the grand prize they will need to find homes for well over 1000 animals each month this summer.
To help make this happen, in addition to their regular monthly adoption event on site, Hollish says that PACC will be running adoption specials and events at their facility throughout the competition. Some of these events include a community dog walk and cat cuddle on Friday, July 4, which will be coupled with a freedom week adoption special; a Community Art Fiesta on Saturday, July 19 featuring more than 40 pieces of art in a silent auction; a Family Fun Fiesta on Saturday, August 2; regular “Free Cat Fridays,” with all of it culminating in a Cat’s Pajamas Countdown Party at the end of August, during which the shelter will remain open for 36 hours straight for that final push to meet their goal. And, says Hollish, all of PACC’s animals “come fully-loaded,” meaning that they are “spayed or neutered, micro-chipped, vaccinated, and up to date on all of their shots” before you take them home, not to mention the free vet visit you are entitled to afterwards.
Though they are excited about their opportunity to compete in the $100K Challenge’s last gasp, Hollish says that if PACC had it their way they probably would have chosen another three-month block in which to hold the contest. “Tucson’s a snowbird community,” says Hollish, “so we really need our locals to come out and help us this summer. As a fundraising director, I wouldn’t normally have an art auction in July.” But, she says, things being what they are, they’ve pushed much of their calendar forward so as to remain competitive with the other shelters in their division.
Recent additions to PACC’s budget to the tune of about $400,000 are also helping the facility to beat last year’s numbers, having provided the facility with a climate-controlled outdoor tent to house additional adoptees as well as their first on-site vet (no one wants to take a sick puppy home, after all). Though it is outside the scope of the challenge, PACC will also see a measure on the November ballot which could provide them the funding they need to build a state-of-the-art $22 million medical facility, though they are having to put that thought on the back burner for at least the next few months.
Not in the market for another mouth to feed? Adopting an animal isn’t the only way you can help PACC make headway in the challenge — Hollish says that the ASPCA is actually monitoring and giving out awards for community engagement as well for sheer number of lives saved, so visiting PACC’s Facebook page and sharing their posts, leaving comments, and Tweeting with the hashtag “#100kChallenge” or “#100kSaved” will all help the cause in one form or another.
What do you say, Tucson? Are you up to the challenge? Then throw a dog a bone and bring home a new buddy.
The ASPCA’s $100K Challenge runs through August. More info at webcms.pima.gov/government/pima_animal_care_center or by calling (520) 243-5900. Pima Animal Care Center is located at 4000 N. Silverbell Rd.
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