Joye Law Firm Attorneys Jeff Gerardi, Matt Jackson, and Ken Harrell pose with Kay Hyman, Senior Director of Community Engagement, at the 139th Annual Meeting of the Charleston Animal Society

On Tuesday, April 2, Joye Law Firm Attorneys Matt Jackson, Jeff Gerardi, and Ken Harrell attended the 139th Annual Meeting of the Charleston Animal Society at the Riviera Theatre in downtown Charleston. Jeff and his wife Tara (a member of the Board of the Animal Society) were co-sponsors of the event, which featured guest speaker Senator Tim Scott.

The meeting serves as a celebration of what the animal society has accomplished and where they intend to be in the future, with continued hard work and dedication.

In 2012, the CAS placed 6,750 animals in homes. 11,000 animals were spayed or neutered last year.

Last year, the “live release rate” of animals brought in by the CAS was 74%, one of the highest rates of any similar facility in the country. This is up from a rate of 35% in 2007.

The goal set at the meeting this Tuesday was a bold one: to reach 100% live release rate by 2015.

This requires the help of not just the board members, but of the entire community. The CAS is sending out a call, a request for three things from the members in the community:

  1. The Gift of Time: Volunteers are always needed and appreciated.
  2. The Gift of Money: CAS takes in 90% of the local area’s animals. Only 25% of their funding, however, comes from the government. No donation is too small, and every bit helps.
  3. The Gift of your Home: Foster homes for recovering animals waiting for placement in their forever home are always needed.

The Joye Law Firm has long been a supporter of the Charleston Animal Society. We have served as a sponsor of numerous C.A.S. events and we received the organization’s “corporate partner of the year” award in 2009. Recently, JLF agreed to donate up to $2,500 to the C.A.S. injured animals’ fund by donating $5 for every new “like” on our Facebook page within a set period of time. (At last count, we were up to $2,365 on this initiative.)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated… the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.” — Mahatma Gandhi