SHELTER STORIES

2021 Tails from the WCRAS

The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter had another great year of life saving. Overall, the shelter took in almost 7,000 dogs, cats, parakeets, guinea pigs, lizards, rabbits, mice, hens, and roosters. Most of these were, of course, dogs and cats—2,819 and 3,872 respectively—taken in as of mid-December.

Despite having to close for eight days in February, this year has been another filled with many successes.

The positive outcomes—pets returned to their homes, adopted, or transferred to other agencies or areas of the country—are just as impressive. There were 1,426 dogs and 2,674 cats adopted into loving new homes, plus 825 pets were reunited with their families. Thanks to a new part-time employee spending much of her time posting to lost and found pet pages on social media, WCRAS celebrated an increase of almost 20 percent in reunions... that’s an awful lot of tail wags, slobbery kisses, purrs, and kitty biscuits happening all over Williamson County, Central Texas, and other parts of the state.

VOLUNTEER THANKS

The off-site team, a group of volunteers helps tackle kitten season each year by coordinating the placement of the hundreds of kittens, plus cats, in need of homes into off-site partner stores for adoption. This task is a logistical feat that takes a lot of communication and organization. This year, so far, the off-site team has been responsible for 389 cats and kittens finding forever homes. WCRAS is also grateful to partner stores and their off-site cat adoption team for their dedication.

The transport program is just as vital to the dogs’ positive outcomes as off-site is to the cats. Many areas of the country have few adoptable dogs, so our donation-based transport program sends dogs to those areas for adoption. The program has been a huge success, helping 438 dogs begin exciting new adventures.

FOSTER FRIENDS

The foster program is an essential ingredient to the shelter's life-saving mission. Fosters provide extra space to house dogs and cats who come to the shelter.

Fosters, as individuals, step up and make it possible for us to continue to meet the needs of each and every animal when:

the facility is over capacity puppies or kittens are on the way or in need of a safe place to grow and learn dogs or cats need to heal from an illness or injury.

In 2021, the community took in an incredible 2,394 foster pets—even a duck and a lizard!

Every year the community steps up to support the efforts of the WCRAS staff, volunteers, and fosters. Adoptions, donations, social media shares and comments, volunteering and fostering add up to another year of life-saving and an incredible 94 percent save rate.

Scan the code to learn more about how you can help continue the mission in 2022.

Blu is January's dog of the month.

Geared for the Biker Community

Open Road Biker Church Welcomes All

Except for some leather jackets and a horse trough that serves as a baptismal, Open Road Biker Church, at its heart, is not that different from other churches. “Every church is made of broken people. We are no different,” Pastor Butch Horton says.

Reaching out to the broken has been his goal since 2009, when the Baptist General Convention of Texas asked him to start a non-traditional church in the area. At the time, Butch had just finished serving as a youth pastor at Crestview Baptist Church and believed God was leading him to start a church for bikers like himself who might feel uncomfortable bringing their tattoos, leather jackets, and checkered pasts into a traditional house of worship.

The first biker church in Georgetown, Open Road Biker Church began at a coffee shop, quickly outgrowing the spot and moving around town to the VFW Hall, Community Center, and library before settling at its current location off I-35. In the last 12 years, Butch has enjoyed seeing more than 400 people come to Christ, especially one biker he has never forgotten. After church one Sunday, Butch listened as the man shared his story. “He said, ‘You don’t understand. God will never forgive me for what I’ve done.’ ” Shortly afterwards, he became a Christian. “He felt at home,” Butch explains.

That’s his goal for every person who walks through the church’s doors. “We always tell everybody, ‘Welcome home.’ Our goal is that people would come in and just feel like they can be themselves and not have to hide.”

While bikers are welcome, Butch emphasizes that you do not have to be a biker to attend Open Road Biker Church. “We have business professionals from well-known companies and people from all walks of life attending our church. We invite everyone to discover whether non-traditional, relaxed, and family friendly might just be their kind of church."

Sunday Service 10am

Wednesday Service 7pm Services live streamed on Facebook Ministries available for people of all ages, including guys’ steak nights and prayer breakfasts, quarterly events for children,youth, and women, as well as monthly rides for bikers.

8420 NORTH I-35 • 512-966-8817 • MYBIKERCHURCH.COM