INDIANAPOLIS — NBC is teaming up with hundreds of shelters across the country to host Clear the Shelters.
It's a nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign that helps find loving homes for animals in need.
More than 860,000 pets nationwide have found their forever homes since 2015 when Clear the Shelters first started.
Rebecca Stevens, with the Humane Society for Hamilton County, hopes the call for help is heard in her community.
"If I could have my dream come true, there would be a line out the door. We've taken as many as we can, and now, we're in crisis," Stevens said. "We have dogs in every office in the building. They're in every visiting room. They're everywhere we can put the dog, and we are desperate right now — not just for adopters, but for foster homes."
Stevens said the problem escalated to this level because there is only one shelter in Hamilton County.
"We're taking all of the law enforcement animals, animal neglect cases, abuse cases, hoarding cases, we get the hardest to save and place animals imaginable," Stevens said.
Stevens explained how the Clear the Shelters campaign works.
"These animals are priceless — they're not free — they're priceless. What that means is we're going to ask you for a minimum of $1 donation, but we would like for you at the point of adoption, to consider what the value is to you to have this animal in your life and make a donation if you can," Stevens said. "What's interesting by doing that is we've made more money and are able to help more animals."
Stevens said she's grateful for the community's commitment to help.
"We're very fortunate we have over 900 volunteers, and I would say close to 200 of those people are what we call active volunteers. They're definitely there regularly, and those folks are helping us do the laundry and the dishes and walk the dogs and do a little bit of everything," Stevens said. "We would be lost without them, so we're very, very honored that they've chosen to spend their free time with us."
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Roxie Randall, with Indianapolis Animal Care Services, said like Hamilton County, IACS is also way over capacity, with animals lining the hallways.
If you can't adopt, Randall recommends considering fostering.
"When an animal is in a foster home, we learn more about what they're like in that home environment instead of here at the shelter, where it's really loud and busy and stressful for these animals," Randall said.
Randall highlighted how an nationwide event like Clear the Shelters helps locally.
"The national attention really helps us get a lot of adopters into the building, and it also helps bring light to all of the important things that we also need in our shelter besides adopters, like donations," Randall said. "Donations that we routinely need are large and extra-large dog crates, bleach, laundry detergent, and dry adult and dry kitten food."
And if you can't have animals, Randall said there are still many ways to help the the shelters.
"If someone is wanting to come and get hands-on with our animals, we do have volunteer positions open as dog walkers and what we call our 'feline friends.' Those are kind of our cat cuddlers, but they also do more than just that for us for our animals. They're an extra set of eyes to make sure they're doing OK and they're getting everything that they need," Randall said. "We also have positions that are hands-off from the animals. So, if you really like doing laundry and dishes, we can certainly put you to work there in our laundry room. If you like doing like administration or just like filing things of that nature, we've got opportunities there as well. We're really open to anything you have a passion for."
Help Clear the Shelters because every pet deserves a second chance.
"Every single animal — regardless of how old they are, their breed, how adoptable they are — will get a second chance here — it doesn't matter — and that's hard to find," Stevens said. "But it does mean that we need more support. We need more financial support. And some of these animals wait longer because they need special homes. So, this is a plea out to the community."
And now is that time to help out.
All shelters and humane societies, including the Hancock County Humane Society, have different hours and pricing, depending on the county, so just make sure you call ahead or check their website.