12/17/2025
We're still smiling and giddy from our annual Open House this past Sunday! Despite the freezing temps, our shelter was warm & cozy with adopters and supporters loving on the adoptable animals in our care. Open House is our day to welcome the F&C community into our building, celebrate the adoptions from this year and years past, give our animals some extra love, and collect necessary donations items for the year ahead. But this year had some extra flare to it, as it was officially our unveiling of the renovations done thanks to Tito's Handmade Vodka!
If you know us, you know we've always been function over flash. Every day we operate on strict budgets for how to responsibly stretch our funds to be able to save as many lives as possible. When we talk about cosmetic building maintenance items, it's often compared as "yes, but that's 4 trays of DHPP vaccines worth of paint there" or "we could cover 7 neuter surgeries instead though". Our white walls serve a purpose to clearly show mess or illness we need to address, and our kennels and climbing zones are stationed for sanitation & cleanliness.
And while it makes for more animals getting the lifesaving care they deserve, our building's been a lovely shade of sterile white & teal, without much pizazz or vibrancy.
This is why Tito's building revitalization grant to us was such an *incredible* opportunity for F&C to have the chance to do what we never get to - have fun with the building and splash some color on these walls! They've always been Vodka for Dog People, but we're honored to have been the first shelter to kickoff their Vodka for Cat People campaign with custom cat toys, interactive martini & orange scratchers, and more enrichment than our cats know what to do with!
Tito's gave us the chance to liven up our space for our staff, animals, and adopters with 5 new murals, new FRP throughout our building (a godsend for a facility with thousands of animals coming through our care each year), new paint, plumbing repairs, ceiling repairs, and shelving every which way that Sam can't shut up about!
So with that, please join us in giving a big Booya Buddies CHEERS to Tito's Handmade Vodka and our vibrant new building!
We can't wait to see how many lives are saved in it in 2026!
