20 tri-county groups take part in first Empty the Shelters Day

YOUNGSTOWN

There are 630 animals stuck in shelters in the tri-county area, according to Jason Cooke, former board president of Animal Charity Humane Society.

“That’s a sad number to me,” he said.

Cooke learned about how animal shelters in both Texas and Arizona banded together in August this year to host “Empty the Shelters Day” to get all their shelter pets adopted. More than 2,000 pets were adopted in each of those events.

Cooke said he was inspired by those groups’ efforts.

“This has never been done in the Valley,” he said. “All shelters have an adoption day, but there’s never been a day for all the shelters to get together on this. I thought that this area has a lot of shelters. So why not host an Empty the Shelters Day?”

For the past few months, Cooke began promoting Empty the Shelters Day, which he scheduled for Saturday, for Mahoning County animal shelters, humane societies, sanctuaries, pounds and animal rescues. But after several Trumbull and Columbiana County shelters reached out to him, he expanded the awareness day to the tri-County region.

Twenty Valley organizations participated in Cooke’s Empty the Shelters Day by either offering promotions, fundraisers or more awareness Saturday.

Read more about the day in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.