My Nonprofit Reviews

We never thought to ask if there was any help for unwanted abandoned animals when in 1998 we relocated to rural McCormick County. Soon after moving to McCormick I went for a walk in the woods and in passing met a man who told me to be careful as there were packs of wild dogs that roamed the woods. Seriously? In our day and age to have packs of wild dogs in a populated area? I didn't believe it! Then one day I saw it. How could that be?! Shortly after that I was leaving town when I saw a little dog in the road and cars going around it. The tiny puppy was injured and it was only a matter of time before he'd be hit because it was obvious he couldn't move. I was going on a trip so I couldn't keep it and after unsuccessfully trying to find it's owner I stopped at a nearby store to ask if they could help. The clerk called the police. An officer came and took "Taco" (yes by that time I'd already named him) in his big hands and I asked where he would be taking him. He said, "I'm going to shoot him". OMG! THAT was NOT going to happen! So I quickly took Taco out of his hand and straight to the vet. That's when I knew if we were going to continue to live here then something had to be done. I was not alone in that thought. After much research a "no-kill" effort was organized, recognized as a SC charity, attained the 501C3 and the rest is history. Better known now as HSMC with 20+ years in action this self-supporting entirely volunteer organization is doing all it possibly can to curb the flood of unwanted and abandoned animals within the county while trying as well to raise enough funds to do so. It's a small army of volunteers that are truly a very special breed of folks as they are the most dedicated, giving and selfless people around. They perform mini miracles many times over and ask for no recognition for their kind acts. They are always in need of money yet grants are hard to come by especially for a small effort such as is this. It seems that the majority of grants go to the larger cities. Over the years they've had many fundraising efforts yet it's always a challenge to stay afloat. Although I am limited in my volunteer efforts with this organization we are so very grateful for those who do.So often people don't realize the service these volunteers do for the county either. Thanks to the spay/neuter program and rescue efforts there are no longer packs of wild dogs roaming the woods, rarely are there ever animals seen running along the highway where they could cause an accident, and for the greater part animals abandoned in a neighborhood are no longer a threat to the children that play there. In all innocence folks see an incredibly friendly animal and they don't realize it could have rabies...yet HSMC has had two rescues of rabid dogs. So you don't have to be a lover of animals to not recognize the service provided to have a safer community. Unfortunately that is something many, as did we when we lived in a city where animal control was a given, take for granted. As pictured my husband and I have been blessed by HSMC rescues of two beautiful cats and in the past 16 years there has not been a single day that our furry babies haven't made us laugh and brought so much joy in to our retired lives. In our experience these rescues just bring their own love with them and it's a blessing hard to measure.

Can you can imagine living in an area where your entire county has no animal control, no shelter, no help what so ever for abandoned or unwanted animals?That is McCormick County, a very poor area of South Carolina. And so enters the 100% ALL volunteer, no-kill effort called the Humane Society of McCormick County, Inc. These volunteers are fully responsible for not only helping these animals but also raising all the money needed to care for them! They are remarkable!!! They receive not one single penny from city, county or state yet in 16 years of effort they have managed to only recently move the cats and dogs from outside pens to a cat and a dog shelter they've built in the past two years. They have not lost site of what no-kill is as their spay/neuter program remains a priority and they managed to alter apx 500 animals just last year. It's an on going process and this organization, it's volunteers and its leadership could be used as a standard for other no-kill efforts. They are truly selfless going out in rain, snow,utterly ugly conditions to tend to these animals, they'll drop social commitments to help an animal in distress, and they literally plan their lives around the needs of this organization. There truly are no words to adequately express the good they do for the county and its animals.

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Can you imagine living in a county where there is no animal control or shelter for abandoned & unwanted animals for the entire county in which you live? When we retired to McCormick County 13 years ago it never occured to us to ask about such things but we soon learned that for anyone who truly cared about animals it would be a shock to find those things for which we took for granted where we'd lived previously did not exist for us any longer. Over the years I have found the people who work for this effort are some of the smartest most caring individuals I've ever had the pleasure of volunteering with bar none! They are not ego-centered in any way and exhibit such a concern for animals that they have for the greater part spent much of their free time focused upon the development and growth of caring for animals in a pro-active way (meaning through thier low cost spay/neuter program thus stopping the flow of unwanted animals at its source) as well as hands on. They aggressively pursue ways to raise funding for their expenses as they get not a penny from city county or state. It's a constant battle but they are determined to fulfill their dream of ending the needless suffering animals endure when abandoned. Watching this group work is like watching a colony of ants! All hardworking, focused, and determined to make it work.

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