Furry February Fundraiser: The Home Builders Association partners with the Grand Strand Humane Society to raise much-needed funds for the local shelter

By Ashley Daniels

The Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association is partnering up with the Grand Strand Humane Society (GSHS) at the 46th annual Home Show for a Pet Project event that raises vital funds for this beloved local animal shelter. The annual silent auction and pet adoption has been a repeated success since 1994.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the partnership with the Home Builders Association,” says Jess Wnuk, executive director at the Grand Strand Humane Society. “This event is by far one of our most successful every year – not just for fundraising purposes, but also for adoptions. It raises upwards of $30,000 per year for the organization, and those funds are so critical to help with medical expenses for the animals we receive.”

Wnuk explains that, because the GSHS is an open admission shelter, they accept all animals from their jurisdiction, including cruelty and medical cases or animals that have been hit by car or badly abused, which require surgeries and those costs add up. So, fundraisers like this are critical to continue offering the lifesaving care those animals need. The Home Show fundraiser is also crucial because of the pet adoptions, as the GSHS has been struggling with overpopulation for quite a long time.

“We have been adopting out over 30 animals at recent home shows,” says Wnuk. “Most of the shelters and rescues in our area are constantly over capacity, so getting out in the community into new venues to showcase our animals is really critical. The home show is such a great place for us to do that because there are so many great members of our community coming through. Every year we adopt to some of the vendors that are there as well, which is always fun. They fall in love with the animals that they see while they’re there at the show.”

Wnuk says she is also thankful to community members willing to open up their homes to bolster the growth of the shelter’s foster program.

“We’ve had a lot more members of the community step up to foster animals for both long and short terms and emergency situations,” she says. “We recently had a really bad cold snap and some of our kennels are outdoors only, so we reached out to the community to send animals into foster care, and in a matter of 36 hours, we sent 67 dogs out to foster, so that was huge. And some of those animals ended up getting adopted by their foster families or friends of the foster family, or neighbors. Growing our foster program has been a focus for us and it’s something that we want to continue in 2026.”

Also on the wish list for 2026 the GSHS beyond the Pet Project event, according to Wnuk, are continued monetary donations that go toward medical expenses, pet food donations, and linen donations. 

“We’re always in need of linens, so if you’re cleaning out your linen closet and aren’t going to use any towels, sheets, washcloth, blankets, anything like that, we’re grateful for it at the shelter. All of our animals get something to snuggle with every day, so as you can imagine, with 100 dogs and 200 cats, we go through quite a lot of linens.”

The Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association Home Show (springshow.hgba.com) takes place at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center February 20-22. For more information on its Pet Project event, visit Facebook.com/HGHBACharityPetProject/, and for more information on the Grand Strand Humane Society, visit Grandstrandhumanesociety.com.