To Help Overcrowded Shelter, Generous Woman Pays for Every Adoption Until 2017

Thanks to a special woman, hundreds of dogs will find a forever home during the holiday season.

Kim Pacini-Hauch, a realtor in Sacramento, Calif., decided to give local shelter Front Street Animal Shelter a generous gift: covering the adoption costs of all animals adopted until 2017.

“They are amazing,” Pacini-Hauch tells This Dog’s Life of the shelter. “The work they have done at the shelter is something that should be nationwide.”

Pacini-Hauch approached the shelter on Thursday Nov. 10 asking director Gina Knepp what she could do to help them. “We are overflowing with animals,” Pacini-Hauch says Knepp told her. It was then Pacini-Hauch decided to sponsor an “empty the shelter” program and pay for the adoption fees for the animals — $65 for cats and $85 for dogs.

Image credit Robin Hagy

The following Tuesday, Front Street uploaded a video for the campaign, “Home for the Holidays,” letting people know their adoption fee was covered through the end of December by Pacini-Hauch. The next morning, it had already been viewed more than a million times. It soon spread and to date has been watched more than 11 million times.

https://www.facebook.com/FrontStreetAnimalShelter/videos/1173634509368670/

“I did not think it would be the internet sensation it has become,” says Pacini-Hauch. “It was all from the heart — a heartfelt marketing campaign.”

But it wasn’t just people reacting online to Home for the Holidays. On Wednesday, locals lined up seven hours before the shelter opened to bring home an animal, it was reported. By 11 am, 120 people were in line.

Image credit: FrontStreetAnimalShelter/Facebook

That day Front Street adopted out 50 animals, a record for the shelter, Pacini-Hauch says. Since the campaign has begun, 400 animals have been adopted, and Pacini-Hauch says the goal is 1,000. (For those concerned about the waived fee reducing the value of an animal, the ASPCA conducted a study and found when adoption fees are waived the attachment levels stay the same.)

https://www.facebook.com/FrontStreetAnimalShelter/videos/1177901075608680/

One animal who found a forever home is a German shepherd named Ruby. The dog had been missing from her family for more than a year. That changed with Home for Holidays. Her owners, Zhanna and Val, had been watching the video when they thought they saw Ruby standing in a kennel. The pair rushed down to Front Street to see if it was her – and indeed they had found their Ruby.

Image credit: FrontStreetAnimalShelter/Facebook

A special Chihuahua named Mindy also struck the jackpot. Pacini-Hauch was holding the 5-year-old dog before a TV segment when the little girl wrapped her paws around the realtor. Pacini-Hauch knew right then she wasn’t giving the dog back, and now Mindy is at home with her two other pups, getting the love she deserves.

Mindy. Image credit: Kim Pacini-Hauch/Facebook

If things continue how they are, the shelter may reach its goal. Not only has local media outlets picked up on the story but so has national and international publications. This week, Pacini-Hauch says major networks are coming to the shelter and The Ellen Show has also been in touch with them.

And while she is thrilled about the success of the campaign for Front Street, she is even more excited that it has shined a light on the issue of shelter animals.

Image credit: FrontStreetAnimalShelter/Facebook

“It has helped people not want to buy a puppy, realizing there are so many animals that need to be saved,” she says. “It has heightened awareness and brought a feel-good movement to a very bad, dark situation.”

She is hoping this sort of initiative will become a national movement, with other communities stepping forward to help their local shelter (one already has). It not only brings joy to the animals but also to the person.

“My heart is so full,” says Pacini-Hauch. “I have never been happier than I am now.”