Felines for Frontliners
In collaboration with Clear the Shelters, Friends of Strays is waiving adoption fees on cats and kittens for our community’s essential workers for the entire month of August. Felines for Frontliners will be a part of the sixth annual Clear the Shelters effort, a nationwide pet adoption campaign hosted by NBC and Telemundo. Spanning the entire month, anyone who has been working in an essential service role during the COVID-19 pandemic can adopt a cat or kitten from Friends of Strays at no cost.
To qualify for a fee-waived adoption, one must work in a field deemed essential by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This includes, but is not limited to, healthcare professionals, grocery store employees, restaurant workers, law-enforcement officers, utility technicians, gas-station clerks, and educators. The DHS’s full list of essential workers can be viewed here.
In an effort to limit the foot traffic in our facility and keep our staff, adopters, and community safe, Friends of Strays is administering adoptions by appointment only. Those interested in adopting can view our available animals as well as fill out an online application on our website. Once an application is submitted, please allow our adoptions staff up to 48 hours to contact you to set up an appointment. Appointments are available Wednesday-Friday from 11:00-6:00 and weekends from 10:00-5:00.
All adoptable animals are spayed or neutered, microchipped, and up to date on vaccines. Normal fees for adopting a cat or kitten range from $25-$100. All dogs and puppies will still have their regular adoption fees for the month of August.
“Felines for Frontliners is one small way we can show our gratitude to those in our community who have stepped up to help us through this pandemic thus far,” says Friends of Strays CEO, Dara Eckart. “Our hope is that in addition to bringing awareness to pet adoption and finding loving forever homes for many of our homeless cats, this campaign will bring some joy to those who are at the forefront of this fight. These are unprecedented times and we’re all in this together.”
Since 2015, the Clear the Shelters campaign, powered by NBC and Telemundo owned stations, has helped over 400,000 pets find forever homes. Instead of a one-day adoption drive as done previously, this year Clear the Shelters will be a month-long campaign in light of COVID-19.
