The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is felt everywhere.
As humans adapt, so do the shelter cats and dogs waiting for their forever homes.
Editors’ Note: Pacific Community Foundation (PCF) board member Elizabeth Flanders recently checked in with Sandy Clancy, Board President of the South Pacific County Humane Society in Long Beach, WA. Elizabeth wanted to get a sense of how the shelter was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
EF: How is the Covid pandemic impacting the shelter?
SC: There are so many ways we’ve been impacted by the pandemic over the last ten months! Public access to the shelter, staffing and fundraising have all been altered in some significant way.
First, we limit the number of people in the shelter at any time - including employees, volunteers and visitors, so folks can’t just stop by and meet the cats and dogs. Normally, we would receive many donations from those visitors.
Our staff and volunteers are our most precious resource and of course they’ve been impacted during the pandemic. Some of our elderly volunteers have health issues or live with someone who does so they needed to stop their volunteer activities. With fewer volunteers we’ve had to ask those who were left to contribute more hours.
On the financial side, we had to cancel our main fundraising events – the Beach Pets Bash dinner and silent auction, garage sale, golf tournament and Santa pics as well as one of our favorite community events – the Blessing of the Animals. So our finances have taken a hit.
EF: How are you managing to maintain services at the shelter?
SC: It certainly has been a struggle at times to keep our doors open and to provide services to the animals in our charge. We had to think creatively and adapt our efforts quickly to try to try to deal with the financial and personnel challenges we are experiencing. Our goal is to find forever homes for our shelter residents – even during a pandemic – so we work toward that goal.
We improved our online presence. We realized that we could redirect much of our adoption activities to our website –beachpets.com. Thanks to the assistance from Keleigh Schwartz at beachdog.com, our redesigned website is better able to support our services.
Potential adopters can view our cats and dogs online and then submit an online application. The applications are screened and then appointments are scheduled for potential adopters to meet their selected animal(s). Thankfully, adopters have been cooperative with this new process and we are tracking very closely this year to our 2019 number of adoptions.
Potential volunteers can look through volunteer opportunities at the shelter, read the on-line Volunteer Handbook and submit a volunteer application. Our Volunteer Coordinator contacts each person to discuss their area of interest and then connects them with a Volunteer Trainer. We are pleased to have several new volunteers join the organization during these pandemic months.
EF: What does a day look like at the shelter now?
SC: Through the pandemic our staff and volunteers continue to provide excellent care and comfort to our cats and dogs – that has not changed. Everyone at the shelter works hard to maximize the impact of our limited resources – more than ever during this pandemic.
The shelter is open from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Tuesday through Saturday. Before we open, pens, phones, keyboards, clipboards and doorknobs are rigorously disinfected.
Visitors to the shelter are greeted by masked staff/volunteers at our clearly marked “walk-up window.” Adoption “meet and greet” visits between animals and adopters are scheduled one hour apart. Before potential adopters enter the shelter for their appointment, their temperature is taken and once inside hand washing is required. All other services such as low-cost spay/neuter vouchers, pet food program and cash/in-kind donations are handled by staff/volunteers through our walk-up window as well.
EF: What does the shelter need now?
SC: Honestly, the biggest challenge the pandemic has created for the shelter is the loss of income from our canceled fundraising events. We are fortunate to have such a giving community. We have many faithful supporters and words cannot express how appreciative we are of them.
Adoption and other fees only cover about 30 percent of our operating costs, so individual donations are essential to maintaining our operations.
Cash Donations / Annual Support: There are several ways to make cash donations:
Donate supplies: In-kind donations of dog and cat food, paper products and cleaning supplies are a big part of maintaining our operations. We have some wonderful people who sew or quilt out there that make beautiful blankets for the cats and dogs. Donations can be dropped at the shelter during open hours. Our website has details of the supplies needed at the shelter: https://beachpets.com/long-beach-wa-shelter/our-supplies-wishlists/.
Volunteer! Our operation survives because of our volunteers. Whether it’s walking a dog, cuddling a cat, answering phones, doing laundry or helping with fundraising events. Go to our website to submit a volunteer application: https://beachpets.com/volunteer/.
Give while you shop online: AmazonSmile, IGive and Fred Meyer have give back programs. Enrollment is generally simple and it’s a great way to make special gifts to help our shelter animals. Visit our website for details: https://beachpets.com/long-beach-wa-shelter/shop-for-yourself-and-give-back/.
EF: We all love shelter success stories, can you share a recent one with us?
SC: Of course! I’ll talk about Finn. Finn is a cuddle bug and playful pit bull mix.
Finn came to the shelter when he was 10 months old. He required emergency surgery for a very serious intestinal blockage and time was of the essence. Thanks to the wonderful veterinarians at Oceanside Animal Clinic, Finn’s surgery was successful and he made a full recovery.
Finding the right home for dogs like Finn can sometimes be difficult and take time. Finn’s first adoption in August did not last and he was returned to the shelter. Our shelter manager and dog walkers kept working with Finn on basic commands and leash walking while promoting him to potential adopters. On October 24th Finn found his forever home.
Here’s the family update on Finn:
Hello all!
I just wanted to send an update on Finn.
Tomorrow will be seven weeks with us. Our first four weeks were lots of work. He was into everything! I couldn't carry laundry through the house without him jumping on me and grabbing whatever piece he could get ahold of. My daughter had to stop wearing dresses because Finn would grab them. My left shoulder needs a month-long vacation from walking him.
Nearly every day we thought that we'd bitten off more than we could chew and considered returning him due to his excessive need for monitoring and training.
I began weekly virtual video training right away. We worked on impulse control activities like: sitting and waiting to go through doorways. Sit and wait after his food was in his dish on the floor until I release him to go eat. Throwing treats on the floor and having to wait to go get them. Every time he'd get naughty I'd go get him and 'sit, stay' until he stops going for the rug, bed, etc.
Thank you so much for working with the dogs on sit and down. Finn knew what to do with those commands and that was a start. He is a smart boy and a quick learn on 'drills' which was causing me great frustration in him disobeying in so many other areas.
Here we are today...He's a bit over excited when we get home, but now he grabs his toy rather than our shoes. He waits to go through the front door slowly (most of the time). He's starting to have one to two loose leash morning walks a week. My daughter tried wearing dresses again this week and he has completely ignored them! He has taken up residence on two of our kitchen chairs because he just likes to be where we are.
He's a wonderful cuddler and has improved so much and is settled into our daily routines. Much of his mischief has subsided.
Thank you for saving his life and giving us an opportunity to be his family!
EF: Thanks so much Sandy, for your update on the shelter during these challenging times and for the progress report on Finn! The foundation is delighted to be able to partner with the shelter on fundraising campaigns to help cats and dogs find their forever homes.
SC: Thanks Elizabeth and thanks to the foundation for your collaboration!
Editor’s note: Beginning in Spring 2020, Pacific Community Foundation included South Pacific County Humane Society in our Critical Needs Campaign. We are happy to report that numerous generous donations to this campaign helped the shelter to continue operating. The Critical Needs Campaign is still underway as the pandemic continues, and will stay active until our community is able to open up once again.
Until December 31, 2020, donations are being accepted for the South Pacific County Humane Society and several other local non-profits in our Holiday 2020 Grants Catalog, https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list/grant For those planning year end giving, here is your opportunity to help make a difference in our community.
The shelter also has an enduring fund for donations, the Peninsula Pets Fund, at Pacific Community Foundation; the link for donations is: https://spccf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=1159
