After Woman Sponsors Adoption Fees At A Sacramento Shelter, More Than A Thousand Animals Find Forever Homes

The Front Street Animal Shelter has always held a special place in realtor Kim Pacini-Hauch’s heart. In 1984, she adopted a dog named Teddy from the facility.

At first, the terrier was scared of everything. But Teddy thrived with Kim’s love and care, and soon he found an endearing hobby — “singing” along to Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I Love You.

Since then, Kim has always helped Front Street in whatever way she can. Sometimes she donated money, and other times she led fundraisers to cover the cost of necessities such as doggy cots.

Years later, the real estate agent drove to the Sacramento shelter to meet with then-director Gina Knepp. Kim had no concrete ideas about how she could help for the holidays, but when Gina mentioned how many animals they had, a plan began to form.

Around 300 dogs and cats were staying at Front Street, with 700 more residing in various foster homes. The sheer number of animals needing forever families astonished Kim, who then vowed to help Gina adopt them all out.

And that’s how the “Home for the Pawlidays” program came about. Kim sponsored all the adoption fees from mid-November to the 31st of December — an admirable initiative given that the cost of adopting dogs ranged from $80 to $100, while that of cats was $65.

To promote the project, Front Street posted a short video on its Facebook page featuring Kim and some of the canines and felines looking for homes. Less than one day later, the clip racked up a whopping two million views.

And people didn’t just watch the video, either. The next morning, there was a long queue outside the Sacramento shelter.

There were hundreds of animal lovers waiting to adopt the dog of their dreams. One man was there as early as 2:30 a.m.; he’d set his eyes on one particular chihuahua, and he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Some individuals were worried that adopters who paid nothing would feel less responsible toward their dog or cat. Fortunately, research suggests that there’s no relationship between the amount of money a fur parent paid and how much they love their pet.

Also, Front Street emphasized that the same stringent screening process they’d always implemented was still in place. In fact, one couple named Susan and Stormiblu decided to adopt their senior foster dog, Daisy, after learning about Home for the Pawlidays.

It wasn’t because they couldn’t afford the fees, they said. When Susan and Stormiblu saw that Front Street was quickly running out of adoptable dogs because of the initiative, they realized that they didn’t want to let the 14-year-old pooch go.

Kim herself fell in love with a Front Street chihuahua named Mindy and ended up adopting her. By the end of the program, a total of 1,097 shelter animals went to new homes. You can watch the Home for the Pawlidays promotional video below:

Source: Front Street Animal Shelter – City of Sacramento on Facebook