Heartland Humane Society offers reduced fees for furry friends

While most people will be spending their Valentine’s Day with their significant others, the Heartland Humane Society in Yankton is offering an alternative way to spend the holiday: with a new, furry friend.

Over the course of Valentine’s Day week and weekend, Heartland is offering multiple promotions in order to get people interested in adopting an animal.

The promotions extend to Vermillion, too — any donation made to Heartland Humane Society through Feb. 12 at Nook ‘n Cranny will get customers 20 percent off an item in the store. And 15 percent of any purchase made on Feb. 13 at Nook ‘n Cranny goes back to the nonprofit.

As part of the humane society’s “14 Days of Love” campaign, all cats are available for a $15 adoption fee and selected dogs for $75.

They’re also participating in a cupcake delivery service in which each purchased pack will cover the vaccination of one shelter animal. Half a dozen cupcakes are $25 and will be delivered on Feb. 14 and 15. They must be ordered by Feb. 10 and be delivered in Clay County.

Shelly Husby, policy and data analyst in the USD Financial Aid office, is making the cupcakes for the Vermillion area.

“A couple of my friends are a part of the Heartland Humane Society and they approached me on making the cupcakes,” Husby said. “I’m an animal lover and I love being able to help such an amazing organization.”

Husby said she sees many benefits in the promotions going on.

“It’s nice having a facility that is so close that helps so many animals,” Husby said. “The fund-raising will help vaccinate and help cover veterinary visits for the animals at Heartland. It’s just a really great organization and they are getting a great benefit out of the promotions.”

Kerry Hacecky, Heartland Humane Society executive director, said the promotions offer a unique way to reach out to the community.

“It’s a fun way for Heartland to get involved in the holiday season, whether it be Valentine’s Day or Halloween or Christmas,” she said. “We like to do adoption promotion during that time. I think it’s a fun time for couples to come together and decide to do something fun together, rather than purchasing gifts and instead look at adoption.”

About the nonprofit

A USD graduate, Hacecky said she got involved with the Heartland Humane Society after she found her passion for nonprofits.

“When I looked at coming back to South Dakota, I looked at a variety of nonprofits and found Heartland. I’m a farm girl and I love animals,” she said. “It was a good way to work nonprofit and be a part of the community. I also really like that it was only nonprofit serving Yankton and Vermillion because it allowed me to keep my ties to both towns.  It was a great way to stay involved in both communities and stay in South Dakota.”

Heartland takes in animals from the surrounding seven counties, 98 percent of which are cats and dogs, though they do take smaller animals, Hacecky said. Half of those animals are surrendered by their owners, she added.

“I think a lot of times people think they can take on the responsibility of an animal but find out that it is a lot more financial commitment and time commitment than they can handle,” Hacecky said. “So they do the right thing by surrendering it then by [not] throwing them out on the streets. There is no reason for us not to take an animal, we will work with you to figure something out.”

Hacecky said that intake of animals usually spikes during January due to people returning animals that were given as gifts. The months of April, August, September and October also see spikes because those are popular times for animals to have liters.

Intake is often much easier to predict than adoption amounts, Hacecky said. This January, for example, was the busiest it’s ever been for cat adoption in the first month of the year.

“Our goal is to make every month this year the busiest its ever been,” Hacecky said. “The cat adoptions were something we were not expecting, but it’s so nice to see so many animals being adopted so fast.”

Heartland is budgeted and prepared to take 360 animals this year, Hacekcy said. The most they’ve ever taken in a year is 330.
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About 100 to 300 animals are turned away each year, she said.

However, by the end of their new building’s renovation in 2018 or 2019, Heartland will be able to take in 650 to 800 animals a year .

“Our whole goal with the new building this year is to get out of having to turn away animals,” Hacecky said. “The goal is to increase the number a bit each year, so hopefully next year we can take in 400 animals.”

While Heartland’s main goal is to find animals permanent homes, they also work to keep the community involved in their mission.

“For us that means the variety of things we do outside of just trying to help the animals and outside of the fund-raisers,” Hacecky said. “It really is just taking the animals to colleges and elementary schools and talking to kids about pet safety. We take the pets to the nursing home and bring them in for therapy sessions. We also work really closely with Ability Learning Services in Yankton that deals with developmental disabled adults that transport out here and play and visit with the animals.”

Hacecky said the nonprofit’s volunteer schedule is very flexible.

“We offer different volunteer activities as a way to get the community involved in what we are doing,” Hacecky said. “At the volunteering end, you can be trained and certified and have a schedule or you can just pop in whenever you have time.”