photo by flickr user spotreporting
Between noon today, April 5, 2012, and midnight on April 16, voting is open for the ASPCA Rachael Ray Challenge. The animal services agency with the most votes goes to the next level of competition with the ultimate prize being $100,000.
There are 102 contestants from across the United States. The contest focuses on returning lost pets to their families and adopting animals to new families. In the initial phase, shelters will depend on community support through online voting to make it into the top 50 contestants. Once the top 50 is identified, there will be a three month adoption effort to increase their numbers over the same three months in 2011.
The shelter that adopts out the most additional pets over their last year's numbers will receive $100,000. The second place shelter will get $25,000. The Community Engagement Award, coming with a $25,000 check, is given to the shelter that goes the best job in rallying the community towards the effort. The contest has five geographic divisions, and top shelters in each of the divisions (excluding the grand prize winning divisions) that saved the greatest number of lives will win $20,000. An additional $50,000 is up for grabs, $10,000 each for the five shelters that have the greatest percentage increase over last year. The shelter in each of the divisions that adopt out the greatest number of pets in the first month will get a $5,000 quick-start grant. And last, each shelter adopting out 300 of more pets over the designated three month time-frame will receive $5000. This was a lengthy way of telling you there is a LOT of moola up for grabs that would be a significant impact for the Horry County Animal Care Center.
For more information about the current adoption statistic for othe Horry County Animal Care Center, see this report by WPDE. You can also visit their site or connect with them on Facebook for the latest news.
You can vote online once per day. You'll have to enter your email address and confirm it from an email sent to it by the ASPCA. I already did it and it takes about 32 seconds. Get clicking!!
