OCALA, FL. (352today) — The Humane Society of Marion County (HSMC) has been awarded a $2,000 grant from Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to save cats and dogs in America’s shelters.
The grant recognizes HSMC’s successful participation in the Best Friends Bring Love Home Challenge, a nationwide initiative designed to increase pet adoptions and help more cats and dogs find loving homes during the holiday season. Through this challenge, HSMC helped 130 dogs and cats find forever families in December 2025.
The Bring Love Home Challenge ran from December 1-31, 2025. Nearly 300 organizations were selected to participate, with 219 reporting their results, leading to an extraordinary 15,279 pets finding homes nationwide in December–including 130 animals adopted from the Humane Society of Marion County.
One of the most memorable adoption stories from the challenge was Keto, a deaf puppy who found his forever home after 149 days at the shelter. Keto first arrived at HSMC at just seven months old–a joyful, energetic pup with a heart full of love. At 44 pounds, he quickly won over staff and volunteers with his gentle nature, playful spirit, and love for other dogs. Despite being deaf, Keto never let his condition slow him down. Instead, it became part of what made him so special. After nearly five months of waiting, Keto’s story took a joyful turn when he was finally adopted into a loving home–a powerful reminder that every animal deserves a chance.
“We spent all of December celebrating the cats and dogs who found homes for the holidays through the Bring Love Home Challenge,” said Austin Burnett, Shelter Operations Manager at the Humane Society of Marion County. “Being awarded this grant from Best Friends means we can keep that incredible momentum going. This challenge and grant will have lasting effects for the pets in our care and for our community.”
As part of the Bring Love Home Challenge, participating organizations implemented data-backed strategies to make adoption and fostering more accessible and welcoming. These efforts included reducing adoption fees, streamlining applications, expanding foster opportunities, offering multilingual support, and removing unnecessary barriers to adoption.
“More pets being adopted and fostered means more lives saved. We’re proud to recognize the Humane Society of Marion County for their commitment to lifesaving,” said Whitney Bollinger, Director of Strategy & Network Operations at Best Friends Animal Society. “Participating in the Bring Love Home Challenge helped get cats and dogs out of shelters and into homes, and we’re excited to see this lifesaving continue with even more pets in Marion County finding the loving homes they deserve.”