Eighty-five million households in the US have pets. Since 2013, more than 20,000 adopters have shared how their pets have changed their lives in an annual Petco Love Stories campaign.

The program annually offers stories from people who have adopted pets and want to share how their pets have changed their lives. More than 200,000 people have responded, and Petco Love has granted nearly $7 million to animal welfare organizations making those adoption matches possible.

The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary has already been informed that one of this year’s submissions to Petco Love Stories will result in a grant of up to $100,000 to the sanctuary. The amount of the grant will be announced December 16, and the winning adopter will receive prizes from BOBS from Skechers shoes and a Petco shopping spree.

The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary is one of 84 shelters nationwide that will share in a prize pool of $1 million.

Until then, however, the public can still participate in a second round of awards. The Newtown-based sanctuary is now hoping that the story that drew attention to its mission and work will be selected for additional grant funds.

The diverse and relatable selection of 100 winning stories reflects the many big and small, simple but profound ways pets make lives better.

The top five stories with the most votes will earn additional grant funding for animal welfare organizations from $5,000 to $25,000. Voting closes December 15 at 1 pm EST. People’s Choice winners will be announced before Christmas.

To participate, visit petcolove.org/lovestories. Links to each of the People’s Choice stories are available on that page, as is the voting button. To find the local story, search for The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Shelter or click through the Vote Now button and search for Judy + PeeWee.

Petco Love President Susanne Kogut says the stories reflect the importance of pets in the lives of their owners.

“Whether we’re in the best or worst of times, the love of pets can change everything,” Kogut said. “Reading these touching tales strengthens our resolve to create a world where every shelter pet finds a loving family, and no pet is unnecessarily euthanized. We are proud to invest $1 million to further empower the lifesaving organizations that work tirelessly to save pet lives and inspire others to adopt pets from their local adoption organization.”

Petco Love is a nonprofit organization of Petco Animal Supplies, Inc, that changes lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since its founding in 1999 as The Petco Foundation, the organization has empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts.

Contributors to Petco Love’s grants include its philanthropic partner Skechers, which has donated more than $3.9 million through sales of its BOBS from Skechers collection to help the organization save and support more than 800,000 shelter animals in the United States and Canada.