The little animal shelter located on Union Mills Road in Troy has seen a very action-packed year. With the stray animal sheltering negotiations with the county Board of Supervisors keeping the Fluvanna SPCA in local headlines, the word had gotten out about what the dedicated staff does for the four-legged members of our community.  This, along with other publicity for the organization, has helped the FSPCA go way over its recent fundraising goal of $65,000 for the 2010-11 campaign season, which ended on Sept. 30.

Current Board of Directors President (since June), Kristin Minnis, who has served as a board member for FSPCA since 2009 and whose main focus has been fundraising, “could not be happier” about the results of the highly successful effort. The shelter raised a total of $78,398, which according to the group’s newsletter, Paw Prints, exceeded their goal by 20 percent.

Minnis is pleased with how the community has responded to calls for help for donations to the shelter. The FSPCA is very dependent on the kindness of others not only for the day-to-day operations, but also for the sometimes very expensive vet bills that are incurred by many incoming animals. An example of this is Raleigh, an American Staffordshire terrier that was suffering from a serious skin infection. When he was surrendered by his owner, who felt that it was in the best interest of the dog to give him up, he was in a dangerous medical situation. The caring of the community helping with donations saved the animal’s life and gave Raleigh a chance at a new life with a family.

Minnis also wanted to let people know that the shelter has a wide variety of wonderful companion animals available for adoption, including cats and several different breeds of dogs, not just hounds and pit bulls, many of them just looking for that second chance. The FSPCA prides itself on a comprehensive matching process, according to Minnis, that matches the right animal with the right family to create a happy situation for both furry friend and humans.

Minnis and the staff of the FSPCA are looking mostly for people power for the shelter. Currently, they are in need of volunteers to do shelter maintenance, grant writing, cat socialization, dog walkers and any other skills that help a group like this function. The shelter is also in need for short term (about three to four weeks) dog foster families to house and care for canine charges while the county resurfaces the shelter’s floors to meet the state veterinarian requirements.

New fundraising projects are in the works for the FSPCA. Besides the new campaign for 2011-12—the goal is $100,000—there will be the Twelve Strays of Christmas. This fundraiser involves a donation given in honor of someone or a pet. In return, the FSPCA will send that person a Christmas card with their donation mentioned and the person or animal being honored. In April 2012, there will be another 5K race to benefit the shelter. The race this year was very successful with 80 runners registered.

Minnis wants to thank everyone in Fluvanna that has given their support, financial and otherwise, to the FSPCA. The Fluvanna County SPCA is at 5239 Union Mills Road, Troy. To donate money or time to the shelter, call (434) 591-0123, or email .