The holidays are a busy time for animal admissions for shelters, many owners decide to surrender their pets instead of finding accommodations, such as finding a pet sitter while traveling. Shelters like McKamey and Humane Education Society witness an increase in faces behind bars while experiencing a decrease in available volunteers and staff. The community has proven to step up and help for the past four years – one by one families invite a homeless pet into their home through adoption or short-term foster care, alleviating a full shelter. 

McKamey and HES are offering discounted adoptions for 12 hours on Friday. From 12 p.m. until midnight through their Holiday All-Nighter Event presented by Off Leash K9 Trainers, the shelters hope to find homes for 120 animals. Last year McKamey found homes for exactly 100 animals during the Holiday All Nighter Adoption Event.

Jamie McAloon, executive director at McKamey Animal Center, said, “We are joining forces with Humane Educational Society to reach our goal this year. In the past, hosting the same adoption specials on the same day as HES has increased adoptions for both shelters.”

Adoptions will be discounted to $12 for kittens and cats and $24 for dogs (excludes ambassadors). All adoptions include spay/neuter, microchip, and up-to-date vaccinations.

Families who are unable to adopt but would still like to have an impact on homeless animals should consider fostering for 10 days. McKamey and HES’s Home for the Holidays Program provides shelter animals with a family during Christmas and New Year’s, instead of spending the holidays in a cage. The one-on-one attention in a home can be life-changing for animals, and the humans benefit from the company too, said officials.

“Shelters can be lonely, scary place even for the most well-adjusted dog or cat; it’s a shelter and not a home," said Ms. McAloon. "Human interaction in a home has been proven to increase the animal’s likelihood of adoption.”

Anyone with a passion for helping animals is invited to volunteer to be a foster partner, no previous experience necessary. McKamey and HES are asking foster partners to open their homes for 10 days from Dec. 22-Jan. 2. 

For more information about the Holiday All-Nighter Adoption event on Friday or the Home for the Holiday’s Foster Program, visit mckameyanimalcenter.org or heschatt.org.

McKamey is at 4500 N Access Road and Humane Educational Society is at 212 N Highland Park Ave.