$100K Challenge

The ASPCA is on the ground today in cities across the country to celebrate with the winners of the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge and deliver some mighty big checks.

The $100K Challenge is our annual, three-month-long shelter contest to come up with new ways to get more homeless cats and dogs into loving homes. And get them into homes they did! In total, this year’s 50 contestants saved a whopping 56,232 animals’ lives.

But who took home the grand prize of 100,000 big ones? Well, people, Texas did it again. The grand prize winner of the 2012 $100K Challenge is the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services! The Central Texas shelter saved more than 4,054 animals in three months—that’s 1,384 more animals than it saved during the same three-month period in 2011. Amazing work—congratulations, San Antonio!

For a full list of winners, including second place and the Community Engagement Award recipient, please visit the $100K Challenge blog.

Want to help save more animals in your community? Encourage your local shelter to apply for the 2013 Challenge! Applications open on January 3, 2013. Stay tuned to ASPCA.org for details.

The $100K Challenge is just one of many programs through which the ASPCA advocates for animals in need across the country. Help us continue to improve the lives of homeless pets.

Voting has now closed!

This summer we put out a call for submissions for photos that best represented the soul of the $100K Challenge, our national shelter competition to save more animals’ lives. Anyone who adopted, fostered, volunteered, or reclaimed an animal at a participating shelter during the months of August, September, or October 2012 was eligible to enter, and we received some amazing submissions!

It was tough, but we narrowed down the entries to 40 finalists, eight in each Challenge division, and now it’s your turn to choose the winners. The photo with the most votes in each region will win a $2,000 grant for its shelter. You can vote once per day in each region, but get clicking—the deadline to vote is November 14 at 11:59 P.M. EST.

And be sure to stay tuned to our blog, where we’ll announce the winners on November 15!

Broward County Animal Care and Adoption Center (Florida), Central Brevard Humane Society (Florida), Humane Society of Charlotte (North Carolina), Oconee County Humane Society (South Carolina), Portsmouth Humane Society (Virginia), Young Williams Animal Center (Tennessee)

View the contestants!

Ashtabula County Animal Protective League (Ohio), City of Bloomington Animal Care and Control (Indiana), Great Plains SPCA (Kansas), Humane Society of Greater Dayton (Ohio), SICSA (Ohio)

View the contestants!

BARC Animal Shelter & Adoptions (Texas), Denton Animal Shelter Foundation (Texas), Humane Society of Southern Arizona (Arizona)

View the contestants!

Animal Outreach of the Mother Lode (California), Canyon County Animal Shelter (Idaho), Escondido Humane Society (California), Humane Society of Central Washington (Washington), Kern County Animal Control (California), Nevada Humane Society (Nevada)

View the contestants!

Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (Maryland), Bangor Humane Society (Maine), Eleventh Hour Rescue (New Jersey), Humane League of Lancaster County (Pennsylvania), Last Chance Ranch (Pennsylvania), Talbot Humane (Maryland)

View the contestants!

The results are in! Just as we hit the midway mark of the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge, we are thrilled to report that participating shelters helped save nearly 20,000 animals’ lives during the month of August. The shelters achieved this staggering feat by adopting out or reuniting animals with their pet parents. We couldn’t be more impressed or pleased that 19,114 cats and dogs found forever homes in just 30 days—that’s a combined increase of nearly 5,000 lives saved over the same month in 2011!

Our contestants approached this year’s Challenge with creativity, which led to happy animals and pet parents all around. These shelters kicked off August with special events drawing adopters of all ages and pet preferences. From games and food giveaways to adoption fee-waived specials, each shelter utilized innovative ideas to match tons of furry best friends with loving adopters. We think this strong start in August is a sure sign of good things to come as these shelters keep on truckin’ toward the finish line at the end of October.

We’d like to congratulate the shelters in each region that saved the most additional cats and dogs by the end of the first month of the Challenge: Canyon County Animal Shelter (Caldwell, ID) in the West region, City of San Antonio Animal Care Services in the South Central region, Toledo Area Humane Society in the North Central region, The Humane Society of Charlotte in the Southeast region and Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Center (BARCS) in the Northeast region. These participants will each receive a $5,000 Fast Start grant for working so hard to pull ahead of the competition. Congrats!

Click here to see the full leaderboard with complete month one results for all participants.

But the fun is just beginning. With a month and a half left to go, our contestants have plenty of time to buckle down, get creative, and find even more ways to find more loving forever homes for animals in need. You can follow all their triumphs on the $100K Challenge website.

It is here, people! August 1 is the official kickoff of the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge, when shelters across the country will engage in a friendly, three-month competition to save more animals’ lives.

What can you do to help? Well, get out and adopt, of course!

This weekend, the 50 shelter contestants are pulling out all the stops to get the party started right. From all-night adoption parties to special promotions (hello, free cats!), these events are sure to get the public pumped up to adopt a pet and help their local shelters find more pets more homes.

The animals are counting on you!

For a full list of festivities near you, please visit our 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge events page!

And don’t forget to follow @ASPCALive as we bring you all the minute-by-minute kick-off action this weekend. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #100KChallenge and help your favorite shelter find homes for even more animals!