Pope County Humane Society Receives $5,000 Grant from Best Friends Animal Society

31 dogs and cats  Saved in June During the ‘Bring Love Home’ Campaign

August 30th, 2024 (Glenwood, MN) — Pope County Humane Society, a non-profit animal shelter in Glenwood, received a grant in the amount of $5,000 from Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. The grant was awarded after Pope County Humane Society successfully completed the ‘Bring Love Home’ Challenge and will be used to continue helping homeless cats and dogs in and around Pope County.

“This grant challenge helped us reflect on our adoption process, make meaningful changes, and increase our animal adoptions and intakes. The bonus was receiving $5,000 to put back into our organization’s efforts in helping as many animals as we can,” -Shauney Gloege, Board of Directors President. 

Throughout June, Best Friends hosted the first-ever ‘Bring Love Home’ Challenge with the goal of breaking down barriers to pet adoption at shelters around the country. Participating shelters and rescue groups hosted adoption and foster events throughout the month and tried out new operational practices in an effort to increase pet lifesaving in their communities. Pope County Humane Society changed their adoption application to make it much easier to fill out, they changed shelter software that makes collecting, reviewing, and contacting potential adopters easier, they hosted a couple of adoption events and offered on-site adoptions, and they listed stray animals on our adoption websites for “pre-adoption” so we could find adopters sooner incase an animal wasn’t claimed.

The Results:

June 2024 Adoptions: 31(7 dogs and 24 cats)

June 2023 Adoptions: 12 (4 dogs and 8 cats)

2024 intakes through July: 143 (30 dogs and 113 cats)

Total 2023 intakes: 149 (58 dogs and 91 cats)

2024 Adoptions through July: 106

Total 2023 Adoptions: 147

“We are on track to have a record year of intakes and adoptions and we couldn’t be happier to be able to help more animals”  Zoë Johnson, Operations Manager.

“The way our shelter and rescue partners stepped up to ‘Bring Love Home’ is inspiring,” said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. “We’re proud to award these grants to participating organizations so they can continue making it easier for people in their communities to help homeless dogs and cats.”

About Pope County Humane Society. Pope County Humane Society is a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter located in Glenwood, Minnesota that helps homeless cats and dogs get medical care and find new homes. They take in animal surrenders, stray animals, and also provide community services such as low cost microchipping, and rehoming and lost/found animal resources. They have many volunteer opportunities, a foster program, a thrift shop, and host many events throughout the year to raise money to help animals in need. Please reach out at pchspets@gmail.com if you are interested in getting involved with Pope County Humane Society. 

About Best Friends Animal Society. Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters and make the country no-kill in 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to 415,000 last year. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 4,800 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.