ADVOCACY: Recognizing Alicia Rose Williams

WRITTEN BY: BRIAN FOSTER, Publisher

One winter day in 2015, I got a very enthusiastic email from a girl who wanted to have her rescue at our Eat, Drink & Rescue Event the upcoming January. Lowcountry Dog was just getting back on its feet under new ownership and this was our first event we had planned for the local rescues. I had never heard of this rescue nor this girl despite being fairly active in the rescue community for 6 years. The rescue’s name was Eunoia Rescue and they had formed just a few months earlier. I looked up the name and saw that it meant “Beautiful Thinking” before looking up the founder and found it to be a recent college graduate named Alicia Williams. Unfortunately, the event was already planned and we had no room for another rescue but her persistence landed us at a lunch meeting one weekend. I brought Peanut, our chief canine officer, along and a girl with green hair showed up with a pit bull named Happy Face. Alicia told me all about the rescue and how she started after she graduated from Clemson the previous year. She had only pulled a few dogs at this time and was learning the rescue world as she went. I was very impressed with her conviction and dedication to saving dogs from euthanasia.

Soon after that initial meeting, we were invited by the Charleston Riverdogs to participate in an event and we invited Alicia and Eunoia to tag along. Alicia was doing everything herself at this time including fostering most of the dogs at her parents home in West Ashley. She soon started getting foster volunteers and in May of 2016, her first adoption event took place at our PBR event just for pit bulls. That summer, Alicia approached us again with an idea… “What if I write an editorial for Lowcountry Dog every issue?” Peace, Love & Real Talk was born and first published in our August 2016 Issue. This became her podium to share her opinion on some topics that needed a platform. Alicia did not pull any punches going after some Charleston institutions like The Citadel for their mascot breeding program to the Town of Summerville for supporting PetLand selling puppies. Her column has been a major part of Lowcountry Dog ever since.

Alicia was busy growing Eunoia Rescue and LCD helped with setting up and working some adoption events, fostering dogs and doing some transport. Alicia helped LCD by working as our rescue coordinator and getting the information on the sponsored adoptable dogs every issue until our social media manager took this on in 2021. Almost every non LCD event that we participated in, Alicia was there to help us as well as share information on Eunoia.

Eunoia Rescue turned 5 years old in September of 2020. They now have a great group of volunteers who work tirelessly to get dogs adopted and in foster homes. Eunoia has grown to be one of the largest foster-based rescues in the Lowcountry thanks to the dedication and vision of Alicia and her team. In the past few years, Alicia herself has focused on saving senior dogs that need a place to live the remainder of their lives as well as starting a community program to help low-income people get their animals spayed and neutered.

You may be asking why we are writing this piece about one of our own and that is because Alicia has made the difficult decision to step down from animal rescue as well as her role with Lowcountry Dog. Anyone who has put in the time and energy into animal rescue as Alicia has the past 5 years will know what rescue fatigue is. Alicia has left Eunoia Rescue in the very capable hands of Hali Selert, who has served as vice president in recent years. Hali is also a staff writer with Lowcountry Dog and she has been very active in the day to day operations of Eunoia for almost as long as Alicia. Hali was one of her very first foster volunteers, so it is only fitting that she should take over the rescue Alicia has built.

Lowcountry Dog celebrated Lowcountry Dog Animal Advocates for the past few years before shifting to our THINK OUTSIDE THE SHELTER article. Being an Animal Advocate is a way to THINK OUTSIDE THE SHELTER and we want to recognize Alicia Williams as a true animal advocate for her accomplishments in rescue and with our own magazine. We wish Alicia the best as she begins a new chapter of her life and we know that her committed spirit to rescue will never leave her! ■