When Brandon Dively started college at Auburn University he was just a freshman from Wausau, Wisconsin, with a soft spot for animals. As Dively donated countless hours to helping the animals at the Lee County Humane Society that soft spot quickly grew into a passion.
Three years later, Dively, now a junior in marketing, used that passion to start his own campaign to aid in the adoption of adult dogs called 20-for-20.
“When I first came down to Auburn, helping out the humane society was kind of my escape from school, pledgeship and all that kind of stuff,” Dively said. “Just by going to the humane society once or twice a week I started finding myself building a strong connection with the animals and the staff there.”
The idea for the 20-for-20 campaign came to be when Dively decided he wanted to rescue 20 dogs for his 20th birthday. The goal was to raise enough money to pay the $105 adoption fee for 20 adult dogs, ultimately giving 20 people the gift of a new furry friend. Dively set up a page on GoFundMe.com in July and has currently raised over $3,000, which is enough to cover about 24-30 dogs.
“Over the summer I was back at home, and I knew the humane society was getting a lot of traffic,” Dively said. “The adoption fees were being cut next to nothing and I did not think it was fair to the humane society and the other dogs that needed that money from the adoption fees so I decided I needed to find a way to help them out.”
Since 20-for-20 was such a success the humane society will be hosting an event next weekend called Clear the Kennels. All of the dogs currently held at the Lee County Humane Society will be available for adoption. The event will provide people the chance to adopt a dog for free thanks to Dively’s campaign, but will require potential owners to go through the same adoption process as the Lee County Humane Society to ensure the dogs go to a loving home.
“Brandon is a very responsible, very well-rounded young man and he has brought a lot of enthusiasm to the shelter and even the public as a whole,” said TJ McCullough, shelter manager. “What he has done with 20-for-20 and helping the adult dogs has been truly amazing because the adult dogs are the least adopted.”
Dively said his future plans include starting a blog that will share the stories and pictures of dogs that need homes. He said he hopes this will help them be noticed and will increase dog adoption rates. Dively is also looking for other organizations that might be interesting in his campaign and said he was open to starting GoFundMe pages for other organizations needing help with dog adoptions as well.
“I definitely see the potential to make a bigger impact then we have already,” Dively said.
Dively’s big dream is to open up his own shelter.
“I would like to open up a ranchstyle dog rescue shelter, specifically focusing on pregnant dogs,” Dively said. “A shelter is no place for pregnant dogs or their puppies. People come in looking for puppies but they do not want to take on all the responsibilities, of pet ownership The goals is to raise the puppies until they are 3-4 months old while teaching them some of the basic training skills which will hopefully make them more appealing to adopters.”
Learn more about 20-for-20 by visiting www.gofundme.com/ytwjrg.
The Lee County Humane Society’s vision is to be a leading advocate for companion animals in the community, according to the humane society’s website.
The humane society envisions a future where animals are valued and every adoptable pet has a home, according to their website.
Learn more about Lee County Humane Society, visit www.leecountyhumane.org.
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