$100K Challenge

Tallahassee-Leon Community Animal Service Center saved more than 1,000 animals during the $100K Challenge.

We are very excited to announce that Tallahassee-Leon Community Animal Service Center (TLCASC) in Tallahassee, FL, a municipal agency that cares for 11,000 animals annually, has won the ASPCA Community Engagement Award and a $25,000 grant! The award is part of the $100K Challenge, a national contest designed to inspire animal shelters across the country to save more lives.

The ASPCA selected TLCASC for the Community Engagement Award because of its creative and comprehensive “Reach for the Stars” communications campaign, which recruited dozens of local officials and celebrities to act as “agents” for animals in need of new homes. The campaign included an all-night adopt-a-thon and celebrity-themed video segments.

During the Challenge, TLCASC was everywhere from local fairs to college campuses, and kept the community in-the-know with fun blog posts from Daisy, canine reporter, who shared individual animal successes as well as exciting milestones. Together, staff, volunteers and the TLCASC community saved 1,288 animals from August 1 through October 31—an increase of 335 lives saved over the same time period in 2009.

Congratulations to the staff and volunteers of TLCASC, and thank you for creating such an amazing model of community engagement to save more lives!

Want to see all of TLCASC’s incredible community outreach? Visit the $100K Challenge blog! Next week, we're hitting the road to celebrate with Tallahassee, so stay tuned for reports from sunny Florida. And don’t forget to check out aspca.org/blog tomorrow when we’ll reveal the grand prize winner of the ASPCA $100K Challenge!

So you’ve heard us crooning week after week about the incredible work of our $100K Challenge contestants—those shelters that are coming up with innovative ways to motivate their communities and save more animals’ lives. At stake? Oh, just a cool $100K for the shelter that saves the most animals.

So far, our Challengers are kicking some serious butt, but we know they aren’t doing it alone. Without the public adopting cats and dogs in record numbers, the Challenge wouldn’t be such a smashing success. Which is why we want to hear from you—the public!

Have you adopted or fostered an animal from one of our contestant shelters during the months of the Challenge? Did you volunteer for one of our Challengers? Or perhaps you were reunited with your pet at a Challenge shelter? If so, we want to hear your story! Submit a photo and brief overview of your experience, and you could help your local shelter win a $1,000 grant.

An ASPCA jury will select 20 finalists based on the quality of the photo submissions and how well the stories demonstrate the Challenge’s mission to save lives. The public will vote for six grand prize winners, and the participating shelters of those six winners will each win a $1,000 prize! The six winning entrants will receive a snazzy ASPCA water bottle, and the 20 finalists will take home a prized ASPCA t-shirt. Anyone who has adopted, fostered, volunteered, or reclaimed an animal at a Challenge shelter during the months of August, September, or October 2010 is eligible to enter. So submit today! The deadline for entries is November 14 at midnight EST, and winners will be announced on ASPCA.org by December 7.

Not sure if your local shelter is participating in the $100K Challenge? Check out our full list of contestants! Then share the contest with your friends and neighbors by posting the link on Facebook or Twitter.