| Helping the Community | Why We Are Here |
Did you know, Fast Friends works with many groups within the community to help young adults fulfill volunteer hour requirements for school and/or special programs. While volunteering, students learn new life skills and experience firsthand how caring for animals can enrich their lives forever. These community organizations include: Many Options – a non-profit program for students in fifth through ninth grades aimed at giving youths positive experiences during after school hours. The program gives youths daily activity choices and is run by Monadnock Family Services. Earn-It – Is operated by the City of Keene Youth Services Department, and serves as a sentencing alternative for the Keene District Juvenile Court and the Juvenile Conference Committee Diversion Program (JCC). Through Earn-It, youthful offenders (age 12-17) are held accountable and work off their ordered restitutions, fines and community service to repay their victims and the community. ACCESS is a program for high school age special education students that is designed to help students obtain vocational and employability skills. We also have volunteers visit us on a regular basis from the Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Keene State College and Franklin Pierce College, just to name a few. Volunteer activities include but are not limited to walking the greyhounds, washing dishes, laundry, general cleaning, helping with playtime for the greyhounds and assorted outdoor activities, weather permitting.
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You may have heard that as of this past June, the last operating greyhound track in New England closed in Rhode Island. Thereby making New England free of greyhound racing forever. Even though this is great news, the problem of greyhound racing still exists throughout the United States. There are still 7 states that have greyhound racing tracks operating. Florida alone has 13 tracks operating year round. To keep these tracks operating and profitable, a steady stream of new racers coming to the track every year is needed. Many dogs never even make it to the tracks as they are "culled" before their racing career ever starts. Before the beginning of the adoption movement, all of the greyhounds that were not deemed racing worthy were euthanized. At 18 months of age, the greyhounds that have demonstrated the potential to make money for their owners will be sent to race tracks throughout the United States. Each racetrack supplies space, on average, for 1,000 greyhounds. Additionally, thousands of older dogs that have slowed down, fallen to injury or are moving into the breeding program, retire from their racing careers. As you can imagine, this keeps the adoption groups very busy with finding new homes for all. With the struggling economy there are fewer and fewer Greyhound Rescue Groups not only in the New England area, but nationwide. It is more important than ever to continue our rescue efforts to save these wonderful dogs. Your continued support of Fast Friends is extremely valuable and makes it possible for us to move forward with our mission of saving lives one greyhound at a time. Please help us continue this important work by clicking on the “Donate Now” button, every dollar counts. From all of the Greyhounds, thank you for your support!
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Adoption and Education Center
14 West Swanzey Rd.
Swanzey, NH. 03446
(603) 355-1556
info@fastfriendsgreyhounds.org
About Us
Fast Friends is a 501c3 non-profit organization. We rely soley on the generous donations from the public to continue our work of saving lives one greyhound at a time. In turn, we give back to the community by offering education and training to the public, community groups, and other animal welfare organizations.