The Paw Prints Chronicle
A Letter From the President
In 2008, I moved to the area to coach at the University of Virginia. I adopted my first shelter kitten and named her Kirby, after my all-time favorite baseball player. Little did I know that one “gateway kitty” would eventually lead me to heading up an animal welfare organization. Kirby was energetic, and she constantly wanted to play, so I decided to foster two more kittens for the CASPCA.
As often happens, one of them, Gizmo, became a foster failure. I was hooked. Dr. Jessica Ligon at LVH recommended I contact the Nelson SPCA, which was just down the road from my new home. She mentioned they were seeking new board members and connected me with the indomitable Bette Grahame, who had been leading the charge within the organization for over 30 years.
I was so fortunate to be able to learn from her about the history of the organization, how it currently functioned, and to start forming ideas for the future. For 7 years, I ran the spay and neuter program, going from pen-and-paper registration forms and cash/check payments to online forms and payments, which has allowed us to double and sometimes triple the number of animals receiving surgery through our pet and TNR programs while spending far less time processing customers.
When Deena Hambsch decided to depart the board presidency early this year, she suggested to the group that I would be a suitable replacement. I agreed to take the reins only if remaining board members were 100% committed to taking on more responsibilities, given my busy work life.
We are forming an absolute Dream Team, inclusive of incredibly talented & dedicated board members, a new shelter manager, new dog/cat leads, and devoted employees, who have been instrumental in keeping the shelter functioning at a high level through tough times in animal welfare. All of us continue to learn best practices in shelter administration on all levels.
In 2025, Nelson SPCA will focus on deepening connection with our local community & businesses, which we began working on with the 20th Anniversary Bash. We will also launch a new capital campaign and recruit more board members and volunteers. We can’t wait to show you what we’re doing next for the animals – we’d love to have you join us!
Sincerely,
Heidi Freitager, President
News, Notes, and Appreciations
This year Nelson SPCA reached a huge milestone —our shelter’s 20th Anniversary! We celebrated in style at the incomparable Blue Toad Cidery with sponsors, volunteers, staff and shelter supporters. A huge thank you to all who made the inaugural Anniversary Bash spectacular! We look forward to hosting this fun-filled event for many years to come.
We are thrilled to introduce our digital redesign, which includes our new logo and re-imagined website at nelsonspca.org! Along with these modernizations, we have officially shortened our name to Nelson SPCA—a small change that reflects our evolving identity.
These achievements are possible because of tremendous community support Thanks to generous donations and partnerships with local businesses, and unwavering gifts of time and talent from our steadfast volunteers, our community continues to demonstrate how deeply it cares for our animals by supporting Nelson SPCA’s lifesaving mission.
Finally, we can’t say it often enough. We are grateful to the heartbeat of Almost Home, Rose Farris, our invincible Shelter Manager. as well as our amazing staff! Marissa Shaner and Erin Ezzyk lead our incredible cat and dog staff. New shelter personnel Kaylee White, Madison Booysen, Perla Barrios-Vega, Monique Bolden, Cole Johnson and McKenzie Powell join Tammy Goolsby, Holly Martin, Sigrid Mirabella and Gerri Simpson in ensuring every animal receives the very best care, attention and love.
Thank You to the Amazing Sponsors of our
20th Anniversary Bash!
Presenting Sponsor
The Capshaw Family
Fur-Ever Companion Sponsors
Scarpa
CKE Consulting
Party Paws Sponsors
S.L. Williamson
Peace of Mind Property Management
Old Point National Bank
Linda Phillips
Capler Homes
Almost Home Sponsors
Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery
Camp Merricks
Freitager Fastpitch
Creation Appreciation
Life of the Pawty
Taylor Dragum-Allstate
Skyline Veterinary
House Calls
Mike and Toby Zakin
Marcie Cetani
Mountain Life of VA
Three Ridges Consulting
Carolyn Frith
In Recognition of Denise Merricks from
Clients of Camp Merricks
Laura Battle
Blue ridge grocery iga
A Letter from the Secretary
Three years ago, I joined the board of Nelson SPCA. Initially, I fell in love with the dogs but soon thereafter I was charmed by the shelter’s “can-do” attitude. The post-pandemic years have been especially challenging for animal shelters nationwide, who continue to grapple with an overwhelming number of homeless cats and dogs. Nelson SPCA is no different. A 2023 survey of 400 shelters revealed that over 50% of them have seen an increase in euthanasia rates. For larger, municipal-run shelters, that number jumps to 70%.
It is a simple but alarming statistic: the intake of animals has exceeded the outturn rate by 4%. With 3.3 million cats and 3.2 million dogs entering shelters in 2023 alone, this small percentage gap translates to hundreds of thousands of additional animals with neither a home nor a spot in a shelter. When people face challenging times, their pets feel it first. Financial hardship affects both human and pet care. Housing instability often means pets lose their homes. Lack of funds often translates into pets not receiving proper medical care, including spaying and neutering.
Through this Nelson SPCA has worked tirelessly. Our shelter is always full, and there are always animals in need of support. Shelter Manager Rose Fariss has done amazing work. Rose has leveraged a combination of patience, perseverance, and personal connections to move 72 cats and 27 dogs into partner shelters with high adoption rates to make space at Almost Home available. These shelters face a constant barrage of requests from rural organizations and have not been able to take in as many transferred animals as they once did, so it takes a tremendous amount of effort to foster these relationships. These transports are critical to our ability to help save more of Nelson County’s cats and dogs.
As I embark on my international adventure, I will miss this tenacious little shelter and the incredibly generous community standing behind it.
— Andrew Cotter, outgoing board Secretary