AWL To Hold ‘Empty The Shelters’ Event Starting Thursday
April 29, 2025 at 6:53 p.m.
PIERCETON – Starting Thursday and going through May 15, the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County is reducing the adoption fees for adult dogs and cats and kittens sponsored through the Bissell Pet Foundation’s spring Empty the Shelters event.
Tonya Blanchard, AWL executive director, said during the event the fees for adult dogs and cats and kittens will be lowered to $70 and the Bissell Pet Foundation will pick up the rest of what the fee would normally have been. Applications are still required and the person’s picture will be posted to social media. Nothing about the adoption process will change except the adoption fee.
Brooke Lyon, adoption specialist with the AWL, said AWL has participated in Empty the Shelters through the Bissell Pet Foundation quarterly for a number of years. The foundation is a national nonprofit that’s dedicated to end pet homelessness, so the foundation reaches out to different shelters for the events.
There are over 380 animal shelters participating in the spring Empty the Shelters event across 43 states and Blanchard said AWL is happy to be proud of that group.
During the Empty the Shelter events, Lyon said more people come out and adopt dogs and cats because the adoption fee is lowered a little bit. She noted not everyone can always afford the higher adoption fee, but as long as they pass the same adoption requirement as people normally would, they can take dogs or cats home with them.
Blanchard said they participated in the event in December and had 48 pets find homes.
There are about 65 dogs at the shelter and about 220 cats housed at the shelter and being fostered.
Blanchard said AWL has heard it summarized before, by adopting a person isn’t just saving one life, they’re saving two by clearing space in the shelter for another animal to come in. There is a current waiting list of four people to bring in cats into the shelter.
Blanchard said she thinks every family deserves to have a pet in the home and events like Empty the Shelters gives them a chance to do so by reducing the adoption fee.
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PIERCETON – Starting Thursday and going through May 15, the Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County is reducing the adoption fees for adult dogs and cats and kittens sponsored through the Bissell Pet Foundation’s spring Empty the Shelters event.
Tonya Blanchard, AWL executive director, said during the event the fees for adult dogs and cats and kittens will be lowered to $70 and the Bissell Pet Foundation will pick up the rest of what the fee would normally have been. Applications are still required and the person’s picture will be posted to social media. Nothing about the adoption process will change except the adoption fee.
Brooke Lyon, adoption specialist with the AWL, said AWL has participated in Empty the Shelters through the Bissell Pet Foundation quarterly for a number of years. The foundation is a national nonprofit that’s dedicated to end pet homelessness, so the foundation reaches out to different shelters for the events.
There are over 380 animal shelters participating in the spring Empty the Shelters event across 43 states and Blanchard said AWL is happy to be proud of that group.
During the Empty the Shelter events, Lyon said more people come out and adopt dogs and cats because the adoption fee is lowered a little bit. She noted not everyone can always afford the higher adoption fee, but as long as they pass the same adoption requirement as people normally would, they can take dogs or cats home with them.
Blanchard said they participated in the event in December and had 48 pets find homes.
There are about 65 dogs at the shelter and about 220 cats housed at the shelter and being fostered.
Blanchard said AWL has heard it summarized before, by adopting a person isn’t just saving one life, they’re saving two by clearing space in the shelter for another animal to come in. There is a current waiting list of four people to bring in cats into the shelter.
Blanchard said she thinks every family deserves to have a pet in the home and events like Empty the Shelters gives them a chance to do so by reducing the adoption fee.