The Cherokee County Animal Shelter may not have made it into a national competition to compete for half a million dollars, but it still wants to help animals needing adoption to be the winners this summer.

The local shelter is asking residents to help it find homes for a record number of animals to be adopted in one day.

The “Be Their Hero, Save A Life. Super Adoption Event” is aimed at setting a new all-time high for the number of adoptions made in one day and is planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 4.

Last year, the shelter was able to achieve, “approximately 50 adoptions, and half of them were paid adoptions for puppies,” said Sue Garcia, CCAS director.

“Right now we’re really getting a lot of animals in. The month of June we received almost 800 animals, which we haven’t seen in a single month since 2009,” she said.

Garcia said the promotion will consist of free adoptions for dogs and cats over one year of age for an entire day.

“Intake is on the increase and we’re looking for any way to get the information out to our community.” Garcia said. “All animals are already spayed/neutered in addition to many other benefits.”

All adoptions include spaying/neutering, initial vaccinations, deworming, microchip-tagging, initial flea/tick treatment, a sample bag of food and a free office visit with a participating veterinarian.

As with any pet, being informed and prepared are key for the responsibilities of dog or cat ownership.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals teamed up with television personality Rachael Ray for the third annual $100K Challenge, bumping the prize money to $500,000.

The contest was created in 2010 to get communities more involved with their local animal shelters, and to get animals out of the kennels and into loving homes.

Last year, the ASPCA selected the top 50 most voted for animal shelters from hundreds across the United States. Only three shelters from the state of Georgia made it into the top 50 chosen.

Cherokee County Animal Shelter finished in a tie for 33rd place with Dane County Humane Society from Madison, Wis.

The shelter participated in the national contest in 2011 but did not make it into the 2012 qualifying round with enough votes.

For more information, call (770) 345-7270 or visit www.cherokeega.com under “departments” and “animal shelter.”

The Cherokee County Animal Shelter is located at 1015 Univeter Drive in Canton and operates from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.