Colleton County Animal Services has received a $5,000 grant from Best Friends Animal Society in recognition of its efforts to increase pet adoptions. The grant follows the organization’s participation in the Bring Love Home Challenge, a national initiative led by Best Friends Animal Society to help more cats and dogs find homes during December.
The Bring Love Home Challenge took place from December 1 to 31, 2025. Nearly 300 organizations were chosen to participate, with 219 reporting their results. Across these groups, 15,279 pets found homes in December. Colleton County Animal Services reported that 82 dogs and cats were adopted from its shelter during this period.
One notable adoption story was that of Sebastian, an adult Rottweiler who had been at the shelter for over a year. After declining mentally while at the shelter, a plea was made to the community for help. Through the Adoption Ambassador program piloted as part of the challenge, Sebastian’s foster caregiver used social media to promote him. In December, Sebastian was adopted by a family experienced with his breed who lived three states away.
Laura Clark, Director of Colleton County Animal Services, said: “We spent all of December celebrating the cats and dogs who got to be in a home for the holidays thanks to our participation in the Bring Love Home Challenge. Being awarded this grant from Best Friends means we can keep that incredible momentum going! This challenge, and grant, will have lasting effects for the pets in our care, and for our community.”
Organizations participating in the challenge implemented various strategies based on data-driven best practices to make adoption and fostering more accessible. These included lowering adoption fees, simplifying applications, removing home checks, providing multilingual support for adopters and fosters, among other measures.
Whitney Bollinger, Director of Strategy & Network Operations at Best Friends Animal Society stated: “More pets being adopted and fostered means more lives saved. We’re proud to recognize Colleton County Animal Services for their commitment to lifesaving. Participating in the Bring Love Home Challenge got cats and dogs out of shelters and into homes in December, and we are excited to see this lifesaving continue with even more pets in Colleton County finding the loving homes they deserve!“
Colleton County Animal Services provides animal welfare services including affordable spay/neuter options and educational events for residents of Colleton County—a rural area located in southeastern South Carolina.
Best Friends Animal Society is a national animal welfare organization founded in 1984 that partners with thousands of shelters across America with a mission focused on saving animals’ lives through increased adoptions and no-kill initiatives.
For more information about Colleton County Animal Services or ways to volunteer or adopt pets visit colletoncounty.org/animal-services or follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ColletonCountyAnimalServices or Instagram @colletoncountyanimalshelter.
