It is great that Zootoo is attempting to make a difference. It is exciting to come back to the site to see what progress is being made on Makeover I and look forward to visiting back to see how things are going for Makeover II. What a lifetime achievement for Amanda and Libby to get the word out on Zootoo's contest and inspire so many of us to vote for CMHS.

I am sure if this is the 'real deal', as the videos updates will continue demonstrate, many of us will feel motivated to support Zootoo's merchants because we all want to see other shelters share in this makeover dream in the years to come.

Once again, thanks to all those that work mostly out of passion to, first take care of, and then continually search to find many unfortunate pets a second home and hopefully the wonderful life these pets deserve.

Thank you Richard for this wonderful opportunity. Our volunteer base has grown, our donor base has grown and more people are visiting our shelter looking to adopt a pet. The awareness that the Zootoo competition has brought HSNC has been great. Our community is now energized to help our shelter expand and help more pets. Zootoo has been a gift to the pets of Florida and around the country. I hope that everyone begins to realize that Zootoo is more than a contest.

Thank You Mr. Thompson for sponsoring this marvelous contest and helping so many animals. Congratulations to everyone who participated. Wishing for a Makeover III !

I think it is wonderful news that CMHS won. I have relatives that honor that shelter and they are so happy for that shelter and all those volunteers' blood, sweat and tears that go into making it a winning shelter. Kudos to them, too!

I am so excited that CMHS won! I can't wait to see what comes of all this!

To those who are questioning zootoo because last years winner made misleading statements, this comes from a joint press release by zootoo and last years winner:
"Joint Statement of Zootoo and Stray Rescue
April 22, 2009

Zootoo and Stray Rescue of St. Louis share the same goal: to do what is best for animals that are in the need of care, shelters and adoption. For these animals, we are pleased to announce that an agreement was reached today that will allow Zootoo and Stray Rescue to move forward. Today’s agreement completes Zootoo’s commitment to Stray Rescue. Zootoo was delighted to assist Stray Rescue in this endeavor.

Stray Rescue Corrects Misunderstandings

Upon learning more about the sponsorship funds that were associated with the Zootoo Shelter Makeover, Stray Rescue realizes that it did not have the full facts at its disposal when two statements were made. The Pedigree Foundation grant associated with the Zootoo Shelter Makeover Program was and remains part of the value delivered by Zootoo. Stray Rescue believed that this $250,000 was not part of the makeover award.
Therefore, the following statements should be corrected. “Stray Rescue founder Randy Grim said Wednesday his group wired Zootoo.com $170,000 of its own money. . . .” appeared in an April 8, 2009 Associated Press story.

The second statement, from an April 12, 2009, USA Today article, “Grim says he has wired Zootoo about $129,000 since November to pay for much of the work so far. . . .”

Once Stray Rescue had all of the facts, it realized that funds mentioned in the statements were part of the value delivered by Zootoo to Stray Rescue. Also, no funds were wired from Stray Rescue to Zootoo. Stray Rescue wired what it now understands to be sponsorship makeover grant funds to a title company in charge of disbursing funds for the makeover.

We are pleased that we have put this matter behind us and have reached an agreement to move forward with our shelter makeover. We regret any hardship this may have caused Zootoo or any of its sponsors or our supporters."

Needless to say, this negative press at the last minute cost our little shelter a lot of votes and local publicity.

I agree with Julee C above. I sincerely hope as well that this won't be another empty promise by Zootoo and Richard like it was last year. As I understand it, the top winner last year had to take good ol' Richard to court to see even one cent of the one million dollars promised to them. Rest assured that if they try to weasle out of it this year, their big gun sponsors like Pedigree and Petco will feel a sting from angry Zootoo supporters and their calls, emails, and boycotts. Think on it, Richard.

Congratulations, from the video I watched of your shelter you are very deserving and in need of the makeover. I also commend ALL the shelters/people for all the hard work and dedication to our furry family members and loved ones that have been saved by you all.

Thanks again to Richard and everyone over at Zootoo. It has been fun! Anxious to hear about Shelter Makeover III!!!!

Thank you so much, Zootoo. You have brought so many people and animals together and helped to raise awareness in our communities. I have never seen a contest with such a wonderful outcome for homeless animals!

Congratulations everyone. Can you please tell us exactly what the top shelter won?

Dear Mr. RT, In view of the controversies concerning Zootoo, I am curious as to what the words, "in total" means at the end of the sentence, "They won 10,000 each in total." Does this mean you give them a list in which to apply for grants up to $10,000 or does it mean you give them the $10,000 YOU SAID they would win? There has been controversy concerning this from last year's runner ups. As someone who spent hours and hours and hours sitting at the computer on Zootoo trying to help my shelter, I sincerely HOPE there has been no misrepresentation. Many, many, many people put their heart and soul into this contest for their shelter. They would work and come home and not allow themselves to go to bed until ALL Zootoo points were earned for that day. I agree that the contest raised community interest for the duration of the contest due to VERY hard work done BY the shelter. However, I fear, as I'm sure you realize, this will not last, and the smaller shelters will NOT receive the support they need. If, and I mean if, grants are what you are offering, our time would have been better spent researching offered grants and applying for them rather than promoting Zootoo. Consequently, I sincerely HOPE you award them the $10,000 promised by Zootoo (which is YOUR responsibility) to help them help our lost ones which you continually expouse as your focus. I understand Zootoo can change things at any time they wish (the Petco incident in the last week of the contest) per your disclaimer. Still, semantics and advertising ploys and back door revelations aside, please give these shelters the awards you led them and the community to believe they would receive at the onset. If the animals and communities are TRULY your focus, this is EXACTLY what should be done! I hope you respond to this rather than deleting. I really am concerned and interested in your answer. Congratulations to CMHS:-) May ALL your dreams come true. Julee

Congratulations one and all, every shelter manager, worker, volunteer and supporter. Well done, the animals and animal lovers alike will all benefit. But don't stop here, take the ball and run with it, it’s still a rough economy and together we can all take the great opportunity we have been given here by Zootoo and keep the momentum going, awareness, involvement and our love of animals will someday make "No Homless Pets" a reality! Thanks for the chance to make things happen Zootoo.

Congratulations! Everyone who helped deserves a pat on the back! The real winners are all the animals that will be helped. Continue to support your shelters and rescues!

Congratulations Everyone! This has been a fun contest. Most importantly the animals are the real winners. Have a good spring/summer season.

As a past CMHS board member and volunteer, I cannot tell you how delighted I am about the shelter makeover. My husband and I helped to open the shelter in 1978 and believe me it was 110% better than the old shelter it replaced. While we moved from the area in 1987, we continued to hold the CMHS in our hearts all these years. Now we are planning a trip to Columbia and will be able to share our joy with those that made this happen. Congratulations!!!!

Congratulations to all the shelters and to all the volunteers.. I am praying for a successful journey in the makeover and many more animals are saved with a comfortable and caring place to rest their head until they find their forever home.

Congratulations to all the winners and what a great job was done by ALL who participated for their shelters..

Congrats to all the participated in the makeover. The true winners are the animals. Let's all remember that.

Two of my three pets are from CMHS and I am so excited to know they are going to get some much needed financial help, and I hope the recognition gets many more pets adopted! I'd take them all if I could!

Kelly
"mom" to Wagmore (dog) and Hazelnut (cat)
my CMHS rescues!

Thanks, Richard! CMHS is proud and excited to be involved with Zootoo.com. We look forward to working with you to improve the quality of life of our shelter orphans. Amanda and Libby are currently filming their first webisode for "Animal Talk" in our lobby. They are so funny and entertaining! They've just been a joy to work with! Youth is often an untapped resource, so I encourage all shelter managers and directors to make sure they are working with youth in the community.

Congratulations to our fellow shelters! We thank you for the work you do and wish you all the best. We couldn't keep better company than you guys!

Congratulations to the Top 3!!! And to everyone who participated, give yourself a pat on the back for all your hard work.

Do you know how many votes we got for CMHS ? Thanks Mary

Such great news!

Stay tuned towww.CMHSmakeover.com for details & updates about the makeover itself!

Thanks to Zootoo for being the instigator of the marvelous community-wide support given to this effort. I've lived in Columbia for 20 years and I don't remember anything bringing so many people together to make something like this happen.

I know I'm an echo of what everyone else, especially everyone from Columbia is saying, but thank you Richard! You, and the sponsors of the contest are helping so many lives across the country that can't help themselves. A big thanks to Amanda and Libby too of course! Its so amazing that two young ladies could pull not only our community, but from so many across our state and the country to our cause. You two truly are inspiring.

Congratulations to the other top 10 shelters as well, that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment!

Happy Monday it is!

Congrats to CMHS!!! Amanda & Libby...thank you for lighting the fire! You have shown that 2 young, determined girls can make a HUGE difference!

A huge thanks to Richard, the Zootoo crew and all the people who voted for Central Missouri Humane Society!!! As someone else said...you truly are the Topcat! Topdog too! For all of the shelters who got exposure in their community and across the nation...thank you for that! These animals have very little choice and you are making the lives of so many of these animals better with your expertise and generosity. In this tough ecomony we'll see more and more animals abandoned or given up...again these animals have no choice. Thank you for making the lives of all these animals a little better until they get adopted to their forever homes.

Purrs & tailwags in thanks!
Ann Warren

Hearty congratulations to Central Missouri, Butte Humane in CA, and Jefferson Co. SPCA in NY for their top 3 shelter standings. Now the planning, designing and implemenation begins for your shelters' improvements. I hope that you can hit the ground running and continue to mobilize your communities to your needs.
Thank you to Richard Thompson and zootoo for this opportunity to improve shelter animals' lives in the US. Zootooers would like to see a shelter makeover #3, please!

Congrats to the top 3! Better yet, congrats to all shelters...We are all winners whether we won money or not!

Thank you Topcat! This is the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. When we started the contest halfway through, I never imagined we would go all the way. I felt we would be lucky to make it to the Top 20. Libby and Amanda brought this community together - their enthusiasm was contagious. If they can accomplish this at 13, they both have very bright futures ahead!

Richard - you are The Topcat! Thank you for Zootoo! You're correct, Amanda & Libby are the true sparks of this explosion! I've been a Columbia since the early 70's and have never seen the community pull together the way it has in support of CMHS. This has been an awesome ride for all of us here in our Central Missouri community.
Now, we'll all put on our work gloves, pull up our shirt sleeves, grab a sledge hammer & get to work to help make our furry orphans more comfortable. Thank you for giving us this opportunity! Jill McReynolds, Columbia, MO.

Thank to Zootoo for this wonderful chance to make over our shelter so we can provide even more personalized care to animals in need. Way to go, Columbia!!!!

Thank you, Richard Thompson, for creating Zootoo.com and the Shelter Makeover Contest. Animals are truly winners all over America because of your vision and dedication to homeless pets. All of Mid-Missouri thanks you and we look forward to improving our shelter with your help. Thank you so much for this opportunity to improve the lives of our homeless pets.

Thank you Richard for helping our community's shelter and pulling together a city in a way I have not seen done so joyfully! Everyone was on board and post everywhere including Facebook postings. I am so proud to live in a city that cares not only for animals but for everything that is good on this earth! Thank you Columbians you make me proud to have grown up here!! Paula Thomas

I'm so happy to know that so many animals will be helped by this contest. My shelter pick did not make the final 10[was a semi-finalist though], but after seeing the videos, I had to agree that Central Mo. was a shelter in much need of a makeover. I can't wait to see the results. I'm hooked on the TV show 'Extreme Makeover, Home Division', would love to see a shelter done on that series to! Thanks Zootoo, for this good work and for bringing attention to our shelters. Don't forget, the rescue groups need help too!