Smith County Humane has the opportunity to purchase a facility already set up and ready to shelter animals, but needs $100,000 to get in the building but only a few remaining days to hit the goal of $100,000 needed, so SCH is hosting a EMERGENCY LIVESTREAM TELETHON on Saturday July 16th, starting at 1:00pm and continuing until the donations top or midnight whichever comes first. The telethon will be LIVE on Smith County Insider’s Facebook page.
Smith County Humane will be 20 years old in June, and has been serving the community without a physical
shelter location. Smith County is made up of approx 20,172 residents (2021 Census Population Estimate). The county does not have a shelter and does not currently have animal control services. 2 of our 3 municipalities within the county provide very basic animal control services for dogs, but neither have a shelter facility. They have temporary holding kennels for emergency use. “This county has way too many dumped and abandoned animals to not have a shelter. We do not want to get the call that a dog that was roaming at large that we could not take in has mauled a child to death. We do not want our local farmers’ livestock to become a feast for those dogs that are roaming and starving through no fault of their own. WE HAVE TO DO BETTER than waiting for tragedies to occur, after all we have seen them occur in other areas and we KNOW it can and will eventually happen here”, says President Shenia Pellum.
“Residents have been asking for an animal shelter for years. Every day we receive requests from local residents
to take in a stray that has shown up at their home, or to provide assistance with animals that need to be surrendered because of a housing crisis, or situation where the owners can not keep the animals”, Shenia continues “We often can not help these residents immediately because we have no facility to house the animals. We operate with a few fosters, and it’s especially hard to find a foster for a stray we don’t have a lot of information about. We generally have to request that the finder hold and contain the animal to complete its stray hold. Some residents are willing to help, but some just can’t. We owe it to the community and the animals to have a facility that keeps the animals and the public safe from roaming animals,” says Pellum. We currently have 42 cats with fosters and 9 dogs. We just had 23 cats adopted or transferred to other rescues this past week because we are out of space in foster homes. These numbers do not include the ones that are independent rescuers homes, or at Waggin Tails, a small dog rescue that helps in Smith County. The burden our county animals put on other rescues is tremendous but we are so grateful for their help when spaces open up, which is rare with the ongoing crisis affecting animal welfare organizations and animal control facilities across Tennessee right now. In the past year we have spayed and neutered over 500 animals, over 7000 since we began in 2002.
“We are asking on the community and for donors both near and far to come together and help us do what has been determined at times to be almost impossible, to obtain a shelter location for Smith County. Our overall fundraising goal is $750,000, however our initial goal is $100,000. The initial goal allows for us to get in the facility and begin operations while we are working to meet our overall fundraising goal and expand services. We began raising funds every way we knew how, and have raised a little over $20,000, the numbers are changing with every donation coming in to help. Our time was up today on 7/14/2022 as the owner of the building needed list it publicly on the market. He had offered it to us for below market appraisal since it was going to be used to shelter animals in need, but after months of us trying to get the county to help, and the past month of fundraising and having already purchased another place to move to, he needs to put the building on the market, and we understand that. After announcing today that we would not be getting the shelter because we had not reached The goal, the owner reached out and again gave us a few more days to get there, which is what led to the emergency telethon being hosted this SATURDAY at NOBEL’s in downtown Carthage, TN. This is our Down to Wire last ditch effort to meet the goal we need to get in the building and begin operations. This facility includes 2 Fenced acres with multiple play yards, some turfed yards, almost 10k sq foot of sheltering space inside and comes complete with kennels, drains, and automatic watering system in place. Our county government won’t assist with anything towards this effort at this time, leaving us to do this on our own. We are hopeful that once we Have a facility we can work to come to an agreement with the county, but for now, the only way to do what is Right for our community and the people and animals here, is for us to make it happen on our own with the generous help of animal loving supporters.
Our volunteers stand by ready to assist, and to make this happen, BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP and your generous donations. Whether it’s $1 or $5 or $1 Million, every dollar will MAKE A DIFFERENCE in making this possible.”
People can donate and learn more on our website at smithcountytnhumane.com/shelter or at www.givebutter.com/schshelter. They can Text SCHSHELTER to 53-555. They can donate through our facebook page: www.facebook.com/smithcountyhumaentn They can pledge your future donation or mail your donations to Smith County Humane PO BOX 74 Carthage, TN 37030.
Smith County Humane is a 501(C)3 Nonprofit organization serving Smith County, Tennessee. Founded in June of 2002, the organization will be 20 years old this year. Smith County Humane is dedicated to the general welfare of animals; the prevention of cruelty to animals and animal overpopulation; education concerning humane treatment of animals and responsible pet ownership as well as continued involvement in other animal welfare issues. Official Website www.smithcountytnhumane.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/smithcountyhumanetn
