Helen Woodward Animal Center (‘HWAC’ or ‘the Center’) is an animal center located in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Located on 12 acres, the Center provides a variety of services that benefit the community through educational and therapeutic programs for people, and humane care and adoption for animals.
Helen Woodward Animal Center’s passionate belief that animals help people and people help animals through trust, unconditional love, and respect creates a legacy of caring. Sharing this philosophy with others, the Center inspires and teaches, locally and globally, the importance of the animal-human bond.
The Center was established in 1972 as the San Dieguito Animal Care and Education Center[1] with its primary focus on pet adoption and on-site humane education. It was renamed in honor of its founder, Helen Woodward, in 1986. Since its inception, services have grown to include an equine hospital, small animal hospital, boarding facility, animal-assisted therapy outreach, therapeutic horseback riding for the disabled and AniMeals food for pets of the homebound.[2] Education services have expanded to off-site presentations and outreaches.
The Center also provides three-day workshops and conferences through The Business of Saving Lives International Conference. The conference provides tips and techniques on managing pet adoptions, public relations, fundraising, humane education, accounting, marketing, human resources and volunteers.[3] Participants have attended from 33 states and 17 locations outside the United States including Argentina, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Ireland, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Mexico and Romania.[4]
Michael (‘Mike’) Arms has been CEO and President of Helen Woodward Animal Center since 1999.[5] In October 2007, the Center had to evacuate over 400 animals from their property in the Witch Creek Fire.[6]
In 2013, Mike Arms created an international awareness campaign to remember all animals who never found new homes after landing in shelters.[7] The campaign was called Remember Me Thursday and occurs annually on the fourth Thursday of September.
In May 2014, the center had to evacuate animals from their center during the Bernardo Fire.[8] In 2017, the center created the Pets Without Walls program to help the pets of homeless community members. That same year the President and CEO, Mike Arms, was the subject of controversy for taking home a salary of $354,492,[9] compared to the median salary of CEOs of similar sized charities of $148,659.[10] The organization also provided Mike Arms with a home loan amounting to $400,000, as well as paying his membership dues at the University Club in Symphony Towers.[11]
In January 2018, the center began construction on a new adoptions building. The new adoptions building opened to the public on July 17, 2019.
Helen Woodward Animal Center holds an annual fundraising event for surfing dogs and surfing people called the Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon[12] at Dog Beach, in Del Mar, California.[13] This event helps raise awareness and money for animals while promoting responsible pet ownership.[14] The Center also publishes a quarterly newsletter called "The Companion."[15]
In 2020, Helen Woodward Animal Center introduced a program called AniMeals Relief to offer a two week supply of dog and/or cat food for individuals that have been laid off due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As of June 2020, the program provided more than 42,000 lbs of food to more than 3,000 families in need within San Diego County.
In 2022, Helen Woodward Animal Center pledged $50,000 to the Ukrainian animal welfare efforts with a heartfelt plea to local animal-lovers to match the pledge. Center friends like Academy Award winning actress Diane Keaton and social media-famous kitten Smush shared Helen Woodward Animal Center’s campaign on social media with millions of followers and the donations began coming in an inspiring show of support. In a remarkedly short period of time, the animal-loving community had donated over $350,000, including the Center’s original gift.[16]
In July 2022, Helen Woodward Animal Center obtained a seat at the table among the world’s most influential non-governmental organizations when awarded special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the UNITED NATIONS (ECOSOC). In December 2022 and January 2024, President/CEO Mike Arms addressed the Council on the importance of advocating for the humane treatment of animals and discovering ways to benefit the community through educational and therapeutic programs for people, while involving animals.
Some celebrities that support the Center are: Kristen Bell,[17] Tippi Hedren, Ryan Newman and his wife, Krissie.[18]
Helen Woodward Animal Center has been featured on Fox’s “All Star Dog Rescue Celebration” (2015) and Hallmark Channel’s “American Rescue Dog Show” (2018, 2019, 2020) and People’s Celebrity Match Maker (2021, 2022).
Remember Me Thursday®, honored every fourth Thursday in September, aims to unite individuals and pet adoption organizations around the world to be an unstoppable, integrated voice for orphan pets in need of forever homes.
In the previous six years of the campaign, over 190 countries supported the movement with hundreds of thousands of individuals and more than 700 separate animal welfare organizations around the globe holding candle-lighting ceremonies of their own, spreading the message on social media, visiting the Remember Me Thursday website, or lighting a virtual candle.
Mike Arms, on why he created Remember Me Thursday, “My heart breaks for those beautiful people working in animal welfare who are forced to take the lives of the pets they love. I believe lighting a candle for the orphan pets will be a way for people to let the world know how much they love them, and the awareness can help in increasing adoptions and decreasing euthanasia.”
In 1999, Helen Woodward Animal Center created the Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption campaign including 14 animal shelters in San Diego County, California. The goal of the drive was to reduce euthanasia by encouraging families to adopt a pet rather than purchase a pet from a puppy mill or backyard breeder. During the first campaign, the participating shelters adopted 2,563 orphaned pets.[19] In 2000, the campaign expanded to 5 states, and then expanded both nationally and internationally over the next 13 years. Some Home 4 the Holidays spokespersons include Hilary Swank,[20] Diane Keaton and the canine movie star, Benji.[21] In 2009, the Home 4 the Holidays campaign included participants from more than 3,900 animal organizations in 17 countries, and was featured on the television series The Doctors on October 23, 2009.[22] In 2013, The Blue Buffalo pet food company became the Home 4 the Holidays pet food sponsor.