By: Claire Roberson, Communications Director

Goodbye, Thanksgiving and turkey – Hello, sleigh bells and Season’s Greetings. The holidays are here and there’s one thing on our minds – finding forever homes for the holidays for our shelter animals. At the SPCA Albrecht Center, the shelter is decorated to bring some holiday cheer to the animals and our visitors, but a touch of sadness lingers as we think about the pets that will spend this time of year in the shelter.

Now, don’t worry. During the holidays, staff and volunteers still come into the shelter and feed, water, walk and love each and every soul in our building, but it doesn’t compare to the loving, warm embrace of a family of their own on Christmas Day. If you’re looking to help make a homeless dog’s or cat’s holiday a little jollier, we’d love to have you join us at the SPCA Albrecht Center for some holiday cheer.

For the month of December, the SPCA Albrecht Center is hosting a “Forever Home for the Holidays” campaign, with three ways to give back to our area’s homeless and neglected pet population.

Above all else, our mission is to find forever, loving homes for the animals in our care through adoption. With over 1,300 homeless and neglected animals entering our shelter every year, our goal remains to find adopters for every adoptable soul – over 95% of lives saved through these efforts, and efforts that are only possible thanks to our amazing adopters.

The first way to give back to shelter animals is to open your heart and home to a pet in need and give a shelter pet a loving home just in time for the holidays. Currently, the SPCA Albrecht Center is participating in the BISSELL Pet Foundation’s “Empty the Shelters” Holiday Hope event thru Mon, December 20th with $25 adoption fees on available companions.

Interested adopters must be 18 years or older, present a valid driver’s license and up-to-date vaccination records for current pets, and bring a leash to take home a pup or carrier to take home a kitty. Readers can view all of our adorable, adoptable pets online at: www.LetLoveLive.org/available-pets.

If you’re unable to adopt but are looking for a way to give back this holiday season, you can bless a shelter pet with the gift of comfort through shopping and/or donating. The SPCA Albrecht Center is looking for gift-wrapped donations to place under their Christmas tree for the animals to open on Christmas Day. A list of most-needed items can found on the SPCA’s Amazon Wish List: http://a.co/4CaKDoe. These items can be shipped directly to the SPCA Albrecht Center (please include a note on your donation that it is for the ‘Forever Home for the Holidays’ campaign, so it will be placed under our tree) or delivered to 199 Willow Run Road in Aiken; Monday – Saturday from 11am to 4:30pm.

Interested in making a monetary donation, which turns directly into vet care and supplies for our shelter pets? Visit www.LetLoveLive.org/donate to contribute to the SPCA Albrecht Center. As a nonprofit that receives no government funding and as a separate entity from the ASPCA, you can rest assured that 100% of your contribution goes back to the shelter animals in the ways most needed to give them a comfortable, loving life while in our care.

Whatever way you show your support, every ounce means a better, brighter future for our area’s homeless and neglected pets.

On behalf of all of our staff and the animals in our care, we wish you a Happy Holidays and thank you for your support during the SPCA Albrecht Center’s “Forever Home for the Holidays” campaign.


Claire Roberson has been with the SPCA Albrecht Center as the Communications Director for over five years, working in marketing, grant writing & media correspondence. She attended College of Charleston, where she graduated with a degree in Nonprofit Business & interned with Charleston Animal Society, the leader in the No-Kill South Carolina initiative. She is proud to be working for her hometown’s only nonprofit, no kill animal shelter. Outside of work, Claire enjoys the arts, snuggling with her cat Anakin and pursuing ways to make the world a better place.


The SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare is a private, nonprofit, no kill animal shelter in Aiken, SC. The SPCA also operates a local Thrift Store (“Where Shopping Saves Lives”), a public, affordable Veterinary Care Center & a Dog Park. It is our mission to improve the lives of companion animals by rehoming abused, abandoned, and neglected pets while fighting for their well-being through vigorous legislative efforts, humane education, and by offering affordable veterinary care for all.

WANT TO SUPPORT OUR HOMELESS ANIMALS?