The eighth annual Dine to Be Kind will take place February 22 (National Spay Day). More than 50 area restaurants will be contributing a portion of the day’s proceeds to Animal Compassion Network, western North Carolina’s largest safe-for-life animal welfare organization. Grab your friends, family, and coworkers and head out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner or order takeout for lunch. All these meals will help animals in need.

The money raised will support ACN’s Betty Fund Spay/Neuter Program, which was established in honor of Betty, a two-year-old stray Golden Retriever mix. Betty gave birth to 18 puppies in just one year. Animal Compassion Network rescued and placed Betty and her last litter of eight puppies—at staggering costs. In response, ACN started the Betty Fund with the sole purpose of providing spay/neuter assistance to those in need.

ACN continues to see an increase in the demand for its services; especially spay/ neuter assistance, pet food assistance, and our foster/adoption program. ACN’s programs also help to find new homes for family pets when their original owners have no choice but to give them up. When people eat out for Dine to Be Kind, they are not only saving dogs and cats, they are keeping families together. The goal is to make second chance pets everyone’s first choice.

For more information, visit animalcompassionnetwork.org.