Everyone needs a best friend, and there’s a partnership afoot to introduce a whole lot of people to their new best friends.

Saturday, the Betsy Bailey Nelson Animal Control Facility, in partnership with Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers Realty’s Homes for Dogs (and other critters) venture, will host Adoption Day at the shelter. It’s a follow up to a March 30 event at Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers.

“This is going to be a pretty big event at the shelter,” co-organizer Marty Smythe said.

Smythe is bringing the nationwide Homes for Dogs campaign to the local level with help from Animal Control Officer Sally Midyette, and expanding the concept to include a variety of organizations and animals.

“We added the ‘and other critters,’ because that’s just fair,” Smythe said.

Saturday’s event will have both people and pet food, gift basket raffles, giveaways, face painting, a paw print art creation station, a “Smooch da Pooch” kissing booth, a dog washing station, guessing games, a name suggestion jar for adoptable shelter animals, an appearance by Bubbles the Clown and more.

While there will be plenty of fun to be had, the purpose of the event is to spotlight the many animals at the shelter and in other places in the community that are in need of good, loving homes and to spotlight services provided for animals and the community such as feral cat colony control and care, financial assistance for spaying and neutering, low-cost rabies vaccination clinics, and many other helpful programs community-wide, according to a press release. Organizations represented Saturday will include the Humane Society of Beaufort County, Freedom For Friends, Paws and Love, Inc, Feline Outreach Rescue (downtown spay/ neuter), Yahweh’s Heart Feline Rescue, Washington Dog Park, Critter Cuts, ENC Shelter Cats and others — each working for the good of animals in the county.

“People are blind, or just unaware of the issues we have with pet overpopulation and how that affects our community and community health,” Smythe said. “A lot of these (organizations) just go about their business pretty quietly. I think it’s something that the public needs to know: that there are a lot of people out there doing good things in the community, and they do need our support.”

Homes for Dogs (and other critters) Adoption Day will take place at the shelter Saturday, rain or shine, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Money raised at the event will be divided between the groups represented.
The Betsy Bailey Nelson Animal Control Facility is located at 3931 U.S. Highway 264 East, Washington.