My name is Holly Smith. I am Fundraising Chair for Focus on Cumberland County Animal Shelter (FOCCAS). I am in the process of collecting donations for our live & silent auction coming up this summer. July 6, 2019  will be our fourth annual Bark Whine & Dine. If your business would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it. With your donation you will receive a letter for a tax deduction as well as recognition at our event. There will be approximately 250 people attending this year. The event will be located in Crossville, TN. Listed below you will find out more about our organization as well as what our goals are.

FOCCAS is a grass roots group of concerned citizens and animal lovers; who are donating their time, resources, love, sweat, & talent determined to get a proper new animal shelter built. As determined as we are, we cannot do this alone we need monetary help. Our goal is to build a new shelter, one that is safe, clean and comfortable for these animals while they wait for their forever homes. FOCCAS is a 501(c)(3) not for profit charity.

From the time we were requesting donations this time last year a lot has changed. We have went from a new shelter being our long time goal and keeping the current one running and maintained to the new shelter being really close in our future. I would like to thank the ones who have helped us along the way and the ones who will help us in the future. We have raised $450,000 as of this date. We are still a long ways away from our goal of $500,000. We need your help.

Cumberland County Animal Shelter is located on the old city dump at the end of East Lane. The shelter itself was once the maintenance building that doubled as a gas chamber for the dog pound. The dump was closed in 1982 by the EPA, but the dog pound remained. Eventually it became the Cumberland County Animal Shelter. So much has changed since those days. We are an open admissions facility with high intake and a low euthanization rate of only 3% in 2016. Our shelter director and the small staff are doing everything right. The Cumberland County Animal Shelter has no reason to remain hidden out of public view. It’s time for our community to close the book on our sad and violent history of the dog pound.

We are also helping the shelter with needed repairs and improvements to make things better for the animals and staff while we are working to build a new shelter. The funds raised here may help with part 2 of our mission, while we continue to raise funds for our main mission. Plans for our new shelter have been professionally drawn up and donated by the local Vietnam

Veterans Chapter 1015. We are so grateful for them for doing that for us; you can help make their plans a reality! WE NEED STORAGE - This is where we have our puppy and small animal runs, but as you can see we do not have proper storage for the supplies we have. Also the fans you see here is our air conditioning system. It gets hot, humid here in the summer making for a very uncomfortable work environment for our 4 employees and horrible conditions for our animals. In the winter our heating is done by space heaters and tarps to try to keep the wind, rain and snow out.The shelter currently has 4 employees, Director, Andrea Henshaw and one other full time and 2 part-time employees. They rely heavily on volunteers and other rescue organizations in our area just to accomplish the day to day operations. Even with these horrible conditions they have managed to bring the euthanasia rate down from close to 90% to about 3%. That is dedication and determination!

The cats should have an area separate from the dogs to be housed. The dogs barking keep our poor kitties nervous. Structural problems aren't repaired, they are patched. Funding has not been available and now they are beyond repairing.

All these dogs and cats want is to be loved, and to have a safe, warm place to call home, we need to be protecting them. In return for food and water and a safe, warm environment they will reward you with their undying devotion! Please help us in our quest to meet those needs.

Holly Smith

Fundraising Chair

2312 Highland Lane

Crossville, TN 38555 609-315-2799

hollylsmith2003@gmail.com