The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia’s Clear the Shelter event from this past weekend saw over 100 animals get adopted and go to their forever homes.
According to Julie Edwards, Executive Director for the HSNEGA, the shelter held 116 animals at the start of the event. Today there are less than ten left and HSNEGA staff are working to find them foster homes.
“We were just overwhelmed with the response from the community,” said Edwards. “Our shelter is empty, but our hearts are really full.”
Edwards said 29 animals were adopted on the first day of the event on Thursday. A record-breaking number of 41 animals were adopted on Friday and 35 animals went to a home on Saturday.
Edwards said the idea for the Clear the Shelter event came about just last week, when staff made the decision to close the shelter to the public for a few weeks due to COVID-19 concerns. HSNEGA staff wanted as many animals as possible to go to a home before closing, so pulled on inspiration from other shelters across the country who have hosted similar events.
But despite the high hopes staff had for the event, Edwards said she was still shocked at how many people came out to adopt.
“Lots of folks came from all over. We had families, singles, senior citizens, young adults, people from Hall County [and] we had people that came from the other side of Atlanta!” said Edwards.
Adoptions during the event were by appointment only to comply with social distancing standards. HSNEGA staff wore masks and gloves and consistently sanitized adoption areas.
Now that the shelter is closed for a few weeks and has so many open spaces, Edwards said that staff will deep clean and then look to take in animals from other local shelters. Staff will also continue to feed, medicate and spend time with any rescues who may remain or come into the shelter.
“I always say when you adopt you don’t just save one life, you save two because you save the life of a pet that you adopted, but you also open up a space for us to bring in another animal and give it a chance,” said Edwards.
