Best Friends Animal Society

Home is more than four walls and a roof 🏡 It is a place where we should feel safe and loved 🧡 Everyone deserves a home — and that includes pets in shelters 😸🐶    Shelter and rescue workers like you are working hard to find homes for every pet, but the reality is that today, not every dog and cat gets to experience the love and comfort of home. 💔     All we need is just 6% more people to choose to adopt versus purchase their pets to close the national lifesaving gap and #SaveThemAll! 🧡   Help us #BringLoveHome for pets across our nation - share and get your community involved in lifesaving! 🧡🐾 Visit bestfriends.org/home to learn more.

If you’re looking for something to celebrate amid multiple historic hurricanes, then please join us in celebrating the ❗️132❗️shelters and rescues that have raised their hands to offer support to organizations impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. And that number is climbing every day 💫 We know that staff and volunteers at organizations impacted by Hurricane Helene or Milton, must feel so overwhelmed and worried about the pets in your care and the people in your community. One thing we hope they never feel, though, is alone. That's why the Best Friends Emergency Response team is offering $3,000 grants to Best Friends Network Partners ready to step up and help evacuate animals from affected shelters. This funding will cover essential costs like rental vans, crates, and accommodations—so logistics won’t stand in the way of saving lives. Can Your Organization Help? • Agree to take a minimum of 10 dogs or 20 cats • Be prepared to drive to the designated shelter post-storm • Fill out the participation form by TODAY October 11: https://lnkd.in/e837fmbc P.S. Have you already participated and been awarded a grant? THANK YOU! But please know that doesn’t disqualify you. There’s another $3,000 grant in it for you if you’d like to help out again!

October 10 is World Mental Health Day. This year, it falls on a day marked by some of the most overwhelming stress, fear, and struggle that many of us in this field have ever experienced. In a community where many are already carrying a burden of compassion fatigue or burnout, the impact of an event like Hurricane Milton or Helene can feel crushing. It's heavy. And it's okay for us to acknowledge that heaviness together. We can also find hope, when we look at the strength of our community. Together, we can support each other, share resources, and create a network of care, and that is exactly what has been happening all over the country in the wake of Helene and ahead of Milton. Hundreds of pets have been transported so far as a result of shelters and rescues supporting each other, and that's just pets that Best Friends has a record of! Post a note of encouragement below to those doing lifesaving work in this disaster and tag them in the comments below.

Was your shelter in the path of Hurricane Milton? If your organization was affected and you’re not sure where to start, Best Friends Emergency Response team has an action plan for what to do after your shelter was directly impacted by a disaster: https://lnkd.in/eSe5U7sM 

As the nation braces for what the impact of Hurricane Milton will be, our thoughts are with the people and animals of central Florida in the coming days. Our teams of staff and volunteers are working to pair organizations in areas affected by Helene or Milton with shelters and rescues in unaffected areas that can help. The Best Friends Emergency Response Team is offering $3,000 in grants to organizations that can help. How You Can Help: • Agree to take a minimum of 10 dogs or 20 cats. • Be prepared to drive to the designated shelter post-storm. • Fill out the participation form by October 11: https://brnw.ch/21wNCso

🚨 Urgent Help Needed for Shelters: https://brnw.ch/21wNzWx If you're in an area unaffected by recent or upcoming hurricanes, your shelter and rescue colleagues need your support now ❤️🩹 The Best Friends Emergency Response team is offering $3,000 grants to Best Friends Network Partners ready to step up and help evacuate animals from affected shelters. This funding will cover essential costs like rental vans, crates, and accommodations—so logistics won’t stand in the way of saving lives. How You Can Help: ✔️Agree to take a minimum of 10 dogs or 20 cats. ✔️Be prepared to drive to the designated shelter post-storm. ✔️Fill out the participation form by October 11: https://brnw.ch/21wNzWx Time is of the essence! Let’s work together to ensure these animals are safe and cared for. For questions, reach out to emergencyresponse@bestfriends.org.

As most of you know by now, Hurricane Helene has caused massive devastation throughout the Southeast. Our Emergency Response team here at Best Friends has been working around the clock to connect with animal welfare partners in affected areas to see how we can support them. And we need your help! If you're in an unaffected area and you can help shelters and their pets who have been impacted by the disaster, please fill out this form: https://lnkd.in/e837fmbc If you can help with any of the following, you can make a big impact: ✅ Animal placement via transport ✅ Transport team with a vehicle ✅ Transport vehicle only ✅ Transport staff only ✅ Overnight hub

🎧 Mental health Best Friends Podcast episode roundup 🎧 Anyone who has worked or volunteered in the animal welfare field for any amount of time knows what a toll it can take on you mentally and emotionally. If you're a podcast listener, check out these episodes of the Best Friends Podcast that focus on mental health, resilience, and compassion fatigue. ❤️🩹 Compassionate Badassery: https://lnkd.in/gyGCDvXd ❤️🩹 Cultivating Resilience: https://lnkd.in/gZ_4bZ4p ❤️🩹 Emotional Intelligence: https://lnkd.in/gsZDrUF8 ❤️🩹 Managing Our Mental Health: https://lnkd.in/gF7UFEuf

📌 Animal Welfare Professionals & Volunteers 📌 Start Fundraising Now: Your Formula for Year-End Asks Need more funds, but too busy saving lives to figure out how? Fundraising can be easier than you think! This webinar will guide you through creating impactful direct mail, email, and social media campaigns that resonate with your supporters. We’ll share the formula for a winning appeal, including the timeline and key pieces for maximum impact on each channel. Whether you’re gearing up for year-end fundraising already, or brand new to it, you can gain practical tips to start using TODAY. We’ll show you how to get started, or keep going, and bring in more funds for your lifesaving work! Our expert panelists include Whitney Zoghby, Executive Director at Paws4ever; Michelle Dosson, Best Friends’ Pacific Regional Director; and Sarah Goldberg, Best Friends’ Philanthropy Advisor. These experts will provide pro-tips from their own experiences to help you strengthen your fundraising efforts and further your mission. Register now and join live on Tuesday, October 22 at 5pm ET: https://bit.ly/3XS64xH

Working in any shelter has an impact on your mental health. Even at a no-kill shelter, you will be faced with loss. Leadership at no-kill shelter Cincinnati Animal CARE recognizes this and has found a way to bring their team along through lifesaving and euthanasia decisions, allowing them to become part of the process. In this breakout session from the 2024 Best Friends National Conference, Cincinnati Animal CARE Director of Lifesaving Operations Meaghan Colville explains the supportive and respectful culture that has helped focus the team on lifesaving rather than criticizing and fighting. By being transparent with their team about their values, philosophy, and intervention strategies, and by acknowledging the grieving process, Cincinnati Animal CARE has helped protect their team from greater compassion fatigue and burnout. Learn how they do it: https://lnkd.in/eYqVgKSh