In tough economic times, the Central Alabama Animal Shelter in Selma has seen more fruitful days with income. The shelter solely survives on tax dollars and donations, so with a chance to win a $10,000 the Selma Animal Shelter Board and members of the city government are encouraging the community to intercede on their behalf.

The Animal Rescue Site, www.theanimalrescuesite.com, has an annual Shelter Challenge that allows anyone from anywhere to vote daily online for the shelter of their choice. The Selma Animal Shelter is currently in fourth place in the race in Alabama. Animal Rescue Site spokesperson, Rosemary Jones, said the shelter could win more than just money if it came in second or third place.

“We try to give grants ranging from about $1,000 to $10,000,” Jones said. “We have some product sponsors, so people who were second or third in their state, they can also get these items — it could be pet beds, it could be vaccinations for all of the animals, several different things.”

She said The Animal Rescue Site, which has been up and running just short of a decade, first started the Shelter Challenge in 2008 and Jones said it was an instant hit.

“We launched this in 2008 and it proved enormously popular,” She said. “At this point we have given more $1.8 million in grants from just Shelter Challenge.”

The Challenge not only gets shelters the chance to win a grant, but it also promotes the shelter online. She said she knew of many instances where shelters never truly won the contest, but gained thousands of followers on Facebook. This in turn gave the shelters a high amount of traffic of people wanting to adopt and even people wanting to donate and volunteer once they saw the needs of the shelter.

“There is no limitation on who votes for you — it can be your grandmother in Florida, it can be your uncle in Alaska or it could be your friend in Texas,” Jones said. “But the thing is we wont tell them about it, that is the shelter’s job.”

In Selma there have been several postings on Facebook and other sites, encouraging the community to vote. Councilwoman Susan Keith and Mayor George Evans announced the challenge at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

To vote for the Selma Animal Shelter, visit www.theanimalrescuesite.com and once there, find the “Shelter Challenge” tab on the far right side of the page. Enter in Selma Animal Shelter into the challenge search bar and vote for the Selma Animal Shelter.