The Association Blog

“People Line Up Before the Doors Open—It’s Exciting and Energizing”

Every year, more than 1,000 organizations nationwide unite for Clear the Shelters, a powerful, month-long adoption campaign sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition. The goal? To reduce crowding, deepen community engagement, and help pets find loving homes.

If your organization has not yet participated in Clear the Shelters, here’s some inspiration from your colleagues in the field. To get a closer look at the experience, we spoke with Shannon Wells, Executive Director of Lawrence Humane Society, who shares how Clear the Shelters energizes her team, brings the community closer, and makes a lasting difference for the animals in their care.

The Association: Clear the Shelters has helped more than a million pets find loving homes since 2015. What impact have you seen in your community from participating in this campaign?
Shannon Wells: The impact has been multifaceted. Our community really rallies behind it—they expect us to participate, and it gives them a chance to be part of something big. Our partner, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, is the lead sponsor of Clear The Shelters, and their headquarters is local to us. That makes our community feel special…like they own a piece of the program and its success. The national marketing helps us immensely, and people actually line up before the doors open. It’s exciting and energizing. 

We’re also in a very animal-loving community—it’s part of our identity. So an event like this gives people a meaningful way to connect with that passion on a local level. It also makes pet ownership more accessible. Since our adoptions are fee-waived, people can redirect those funds toward vet visits, supplies, and other startup costs. That’s been a powerful way to ensure that more people in our community—regardless of income—can experience the joy of pet companionship. 

From the shelter’s perspective, the timing couldn’t be better. We’re often at peak capacity during the campaign, and this event provides much-needed relief by helping animals find loving homes quickly and responsibly. 

The Association: Can you share a memorable success story from a past Clear the Shelters event that really stuck with you?
Shannon Wells: When we’re planning for the event, we place animals in tiers, because we adopt out far more pets than we have room for under normal circumstances. We rely heavily on foster homes, and we manage which animals go onto the adoption floor based on how they might handle a high-energy environment. Some of the more stressed or fearful animals are held back until later in the day, or sometimes not moved up right away. 

There was one year when someone came in and couldn’t find the dog they’d seen online. It turned out to be Roxy, one of our more shy, fearful dogs. We’d been working with her and felt she was ready for adoption, but we were hesitant about placing her in such a fast-paced setting. We could see how much this person genuinely wanted to connect with her, so we paused everything and brought Roxy up for a meet-and-greet. It ended up being the perfect match. That family has stayed in touch over the years. They’ve since moved into a house with a yard, and a lot of their family goals revolve around the care of that pet.   

It’s a story that really sticks with me, especially when people make assumptions that fee-waived events don’t attract committed adopters. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, they got a fee-waived adoption, but that’s not a reflection of their capacity to care for the animal. Roxy is thriving, and they’ve even come back to adopt a sister for her. We couldn’t be happier. 

Additionally, Hill’s Pet Nutrition is one of our most important partners here at the shelter.  I have a lot of respect for their decisions to be involved and support pet adoption, but I’m even more impressed they invest beyond pet adoption – in The Association, for example, to support the growth and development of animal welfare leaders, too. 

The Association: We hear you’ve got a fun way of engaging staff during the event. Can you share more in case other organizations want to try it, too?
Shannon Wells: Every year during Clear the Shelters, we have staff do a poll of who is going to cry first coming into the shelter because we see animals that have been waiting a long time finally get homes. 

As Wells shared in her experiences at Lawrence Humane, the impact of Clear the Shelters goes far beyond adoption numbers. As Jim Tedford, The Association’s CEO, explains: “Hill’s Pet Nutrition has been championing this adoption promotion for several years, transforming how shelters engage with their communities.”

If you’re looking to boost adoptions, increase visibility, and be part of a national movement that celebrates your lifesaving work—this is the campaign to say “yes” to. Participation is voluntary and open to all animal shelters and rescue organizations, no matter your location, philosophy, or affiliation with Hill’s.

Photo: Clear the Shelter 2024 at Lawrence Humane Society