Category: Helen Woodward

Bring ‘Em Home for the Holidays

This week is the kick off for Iams Home 4 the Holidays (IH4TH). IH4TH is a joint effort between Helen Woodward Animal Center and Iams with a goal to find homes for 1.5 million orphaned animals between now and January 3rd, 2012. This might sound impossible but for the past 12 years, this collaboration has resulted in over 5.7 million families adopting an animal from a shelter, rescue or adoption center.   Last year alone, 1,125,667 animals were adopted.  This is not small potatoes.  This is saving lives. 
The man behind the magic is Mike Arms, President of Helen Woodward Animal Center in San Diego, CA.  Mike founded the IH4TH in 1999 with 14 shelters in the San Diego area who together adopted 2,563 animals who all went home with Iams food.  Today, there are over 3700 organizations globally that are participating in this adoption drive to save lives.  The success of this program is credited to the thousands of volunteers and  workers who dedicate their time to find homes for millions of animals. 
This week I attended the employee kick off event at P&G Pet Care that included a wonderful video presented by Mr. Arms which was dedicated to the canine heroes of 9/11.  A fact I didn’t know is that over half of the search and rescue dogs used during that tragedy were adopted from shelters.  In addition, the first annual Mike Arms/Iams  ‘Hero’ Award was presented to the Austin Humane Society for their efforts in coordinating disaster relief for displaced animals during the recent Texas wildfires.  This award is given by “Iams to a person or animal organization that exemplifies the commitment and passion for the lives of orphaned animals similar to what Mike Arms has been doing for so many years.”  Frances Jonon from the Austin Humane Society graciously accepted the plaque and the $5000 award for their organization. 
Mike Arms, Frances Jonon and Michel Brousset (Iams)

Another partner in this years effort is the Ryan Newman Foundation.  Nascar driver Ryan and his wife Krissie are avid supporters of spay/neuter and animal adoption.  They were supposed to attend the kick off event but Ryan was a bit busy with his driving schedule.  (I’m not a Nascar fan but it would have been cool to meet them!)   They did have a great video of them sharing their support of IH4TH with one of their many adopted dogs hanging out with them in the kitchen of their North Carolina home. 

You don’t have to adopt an animal to participate in IH4TH as there are several other ways you can become involved.  You can volunteer at your local shelter, give a donation (food or money) to your local shelter,  “Like” Iams on Facebook to donate food, “Share” Iams Facebook with friends and family, and/or buy a bag of specially marked Iams who then donates food to a shelter.  Saving all these animals is a community effort.  The workers and volunteers at animal adoption organizations cannot do it alone.  They need our help to support and care for these animals and help find them loving homes.  Your efforts will be saving lives by reducing euthanasia of orphans.  What better holiday gift to yourself than knowing you made a difference in a creature’s life!

Let the adoptions begin!!

For more information: 
Iams Facebook page–Get up to date information, adoption announcements, and holiday cards
Iams Home 4 The Holidays–Learn more about how you can help the effort
Helen Woodward Home 4 The Holidays
Adopt Your Next Pet!–Browse through and see all the orphans waiting for their forever home

Helen’s Vision

During a recent visit to southern California, we spent some time at Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe just north of San Diego. HWAC is a not for profit animal adoption center that was started in 1972 by a woman (Helen) who had a vision. This is not your typical animal shelter in the low rent district, euthanizing animals, and a depressing place to visit. Quite the opposite actually. The center is located in the most expensive community in the United States, has a pet boarding facility, an equine and small animal veterinary clinic, educational programs, children’s summer camp, a therapeutic riding program and does 3000 adoptions a year. Wow! Of course, none of that is possible without its committed volunteers and staff who run the center like a well oiled machine.

The success of the center stems from its involvement in the community and how it is managed verses a typical animal control facility. President Mike Arms has been in the shelter business for over 30 years. Notice, I said business. He runs the center and makes decisions using successful business and marketing principles, not emotion which is often how these types of organizations are managed. Of course the emotion is there wanting to save animals and keep them from being killed but he has proven time and again that shrewd decisions based on business is how it is done. Mr. Arms shares these principles and teaches them to shelter organizations around the world with the goal of saving the lives of animals and adopting them into their forever family.
The center is located on 12 acres surrounded by Jenny Craig’s horse ranch and multi million dollar homes. The buildings are older and serve the purpose but currently the center is undergoing construction. They are building a new veterinary hospital and administration offices which will later be followed by new adoption and boarding facilities. Once completed, the center will be a state of the art facility continuing to serve and improve the lives and welfare of animals in the community. We talked to several employees during our visit and it is obvious that they all serve the vision of founder Helen Woodward to “make the world a better place for people and animals”.

Be sure when you adopt an animal visit your local shelter and save a life. If you have extra time, volunteer and make the difference in the lives of orphaned animals-help save lives and find them their families. To learn more about Helen Woodward Animal Center visit http://www.animalcenter.org/.