“You Buy Dinner, I’ll Drive…” A food drive for Lancaster County (SC) Animal Control…our most successful to date!

Lancaster County (SC) Animal Shelter

VALENTINE’S DAY INSPIRATION!

In early February 2014, we saw a post on Facebook by a group of advocates helping Lancaster County (SC) Animal Shelter that noted the shelter was running short on food. Our founder has made several trips to this shelter over the years as part of her involvement in Australian Shepherd rescue and so was quite familiar with their huge intake numbers but also with their rescue-friendlinesss! Fabulous McGrady and Friends Foundation knew that lack of food would hinder the Animal Control Officers’ efforts to give any shelter residents more time so we called asking if we could help. Mr Joel Hinson, Lead ACO at LCAS, noted that their main needs were dry dog food (they had a good supply of cat food at that moment) as well as gently-used clean towels & blankets. In an effort to avoid stomach upset from constant food changes for the shelter dogs, he asked that we bring only Purina and/or Pedigree foods.

As Valentine’s Day was right around the corner, we wanted to play off that for our food drive! FMFF is blessed to have fantastic and devoted Board of Director (BOD) members, one of which is Ms Harriet May. Harriet quickly created the “You’ll Buy Dinner, I’ll Drive…” Campaign for Lancaster County (SC) Animal Control with an eye-catching poster to go with the fabulous tag line!

Poster designed by Ms Harriet May

WE GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS!

This campaign was truly our most successful to date! That was due to several factors:

Harriet May with some of the food donations at her birthday party along with family dog Monty and personal dog Ninja

Harriet May, BOD member, graciously asked that, in lieu of personal gifts for her birthday party, attendees bring food for Fabulous

Robin Kline, Owner Barks, Bones, and Biscuits Bakery

McGrady and Friends Foundation! Next, we received an invitation from Barks, Bones and Biscuits Bakery not only to attend their new storefront’s Grand Opening but also to make it into the kick-off of a donation drive for FMFF! This wonderful opportunity resulted in 103.5 pounds of dry dog food being collected. We should also note that Ms Robin Kline, BBBB owner, made a VERY special effort to collect both dog food and monetary donation for us at a large AKC Dog Trial event that she was attending during our supply drive. We cannot thank her enough!

Donation Station at Barks, Bones and Biscuits Bakery!

Even more awesome is the fact that Ms Kline is allowing FMFF to continue to maintain a “Donation Station” at Barks, Bones & Biscuits as we are ALWAYS collecting donations of food and new/gently-used clean pet-related goods as there is NEVER a shortage of rural animal shelters in need!

Our FIRST “Donation Station” was hosted by UberDog Training of Charlotte NC!

We also want to thank our long-time friends at UberDog Training! They were kind enough to allow our founder to come speak to their group about our activities and rural animal shelter needs at their annual Holiday Party in January 2014! They played host to a “Donation Station” during the month of January 2014. Their clients have been most gracious and we are looking forward to continuing to work with UDT in the future. Please check them out for your dog training needs.

Thank you, Miss Sue C! EVERY bag of food counts!

Individual donors stepped up to buy a bag or two of dog food for us. Trust us when we say NO donation is too small—ever! A single 16.5 lb bag of food multiplied by 10 people donating one is 165 lbs of food. Just imagine 100 people doing that—-1650 lb of food. It’s just like dollars…EVERY single one counts! We would like to thank The Shay Family for donating in memory of their sweet beloved, recently deceased dog as well as Miss Cathy A. We also had an anonymous monetary donor thanks to our friends at Barks Bones and Biscuits Bakery’s collection efforts at the AKC Dog Trial here in Charlotte.

Thanks so much, Target-Wesley Chapel, for the loading help!

Thanks to monetary donations collected at and shopping bag sales during Southern Women’s Show-Charlotte and other events, we were able to purchase an additional 700-lbs of food at our local Target who had a great deal going on for Purina Dog Chow! We cannot thank the staff at Target-Wesley Chapel enough as, not only did they get us a pallet for loading inside the store, but 2 of their staffers essentially loaded the back of our truck! That’s quite a task that they did with a smile and while telling us about their awesome Lab rescued from the woods!

We opted to fill up the truck solely with FOOD and forego bringing any gently-used towels or blankets. The reason? Without FOOD, the Animal Control Officers couldn’t give shelter residents much, if any, (much less MORE) time to find reputable rescues or adopters! Quite literally, food saves lives!

We always like to arrive with a FULL truck!

MORE FOOD in the back of the truck cab!

With the help of many friends and members of the community, Fabulous McGrady and Friends Foundation was able to deliver….drumroll please….

1404.8 pounds of dry dog food

THANK YOU for your support!!!!

As LCAS has continuing needs, please read below for how YOU can help!

HOW YOU CAN HELP LCAS:

CONTACT:

Lancaster County (SC) Animal Shelter , Joel Hinson- Director

animal@lancastercountysc.net

1369 Lynwood Drive (IMPORTANT: you will find places that have the address listed as “Kennel Lane” but that will take you to a totally different location. Use THIS address for mailing purposes and in your GPS).

PO Box 1809

Lancaster, SC 29721

803-286-8103 Phone

803-286-7907 Fax

DONATE: you can contact Mr Joel Hinson, Shelter Director, directly about their immediate needs. However, they can ALWAYS use more dry dog food (Pedigree/Purina brands only for reasons noted above). They can also use gently-used or new CLEAN towels and blankets. As their kennel runs are “indoor/outdoor”, there is no need for insulated dog houses at the shelter; however, they will accept them and distribute them to private citizens in need of them. All shelters are different and have different needs and restrictions so it’s best to call and verify that an item that you wish to donate can be used there (ie, toys, plastic bowls cannot often be used in rural shelters but can be used in some rural private humane societies ). They are currently fine on water bowls and pails.