With Broken A/C Amid The Tennessee Heat, Nashville Humane Association Turns To Community For Support

It’s not just humans who are feeling the recent heatwave through the South. Up in Nashville, Tennessee, a whole host of shelter pets felt it too when, earlier this week, the air conditioning system at the Nashville Humane Association went out. The broken A/C happened the morning of Tuesday, July 16—just two days after the weather in Middle Tennessee hit a whopping 100 degrees for the first time this year.

Staff immediately jumped into action to keep all of their special residents safe and, thankfully, saw the local community immediately fill the urgent request to foster pets in cooler environments. In a graphic on Instagram on Tuesday—in which the organization reported over 150 messages, calls, and emails to support the need—NHA stated: “Thanks to our community, we’ve gotten our dogs and cats a cool place to rest until our AC is fixed. We currently do not need additional fosters, but will post again if we do. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!”

The team followed up with another post on Wednesday to recognize the volunteerism from Nashville that allowed them to continue other programming, saying, “During a week like this, we expected additional resources and staffing to be low. But because of the way we were able to lean on you, we were also able to give back to our community as previously planned! Our weekly food bank was able to go on as scheduled, providing supplemental food to pet-loving families in our community. We served 40+ individuals and their pets who needed a helping hand during financial hardship while most importantly, keeping families together.”

The air conditioning system will not be fixed until later this week, meaning that the association is relying on friends and neighbors to keep shelter pets cool and happy in what has already proven to be a hot July for Tennessee.

However, there are still a few ways Southerners can help. Thankfully, foster needs have been filled, but the shelter has many cats and dogs that need permanent homes. You can learn more about NHA’s adoption processes and mission here. The humane association also has regular volunteer and foster needs—volunteerism that directly contributes to the shelter’s 99% save rate.

Finally, if you’re a little far from Nashville, you can support these sweet animals by purchasing items off of the organization’s wishlist, including blankets, treats, dog food, kennels, and more that make a stay at NHA feel like home for furry friends.

There’s nothing like a little Southern hospitality to support our neighbors in need—whether they have two legs or four.