UPDATE: Bandaged Paws and In the Woods Animal Rescue each got $2,461.75 in funding.
Thanks to the generosity of the community, two Grande Prairie animal rescue groups are about to get some extra funding. Through the Grande Prairie Rotaract Club’s annual 50/50 fundraiser, Bandaged Paws and In the Woods Animal Rescue will split the nearly $5,000 proceeds.
This is the second year In the Woods has received money from the club. Vice President Cheryl Bastien says she’s so grateful and plans to use it for vet bills and some kennel renovations.
“It’ll generally give us a boost and speed up things for us which is great. We’re just a group of volunteers, the only funding that we get is through adoption fees and donations so this is wonderful.”
The Rotaract club is a group for 18 to 30-year-olds who want to volunteer and give back to their community. During this year’s For the Love of Pets Campaign, the group sold almost 1,000 tickets, bringing in around $10,000. Bandaged Paws President Natasha Arsenault says most of this year’s donation will also go towards vet bills.
“We’ll definitely see a large increase in mothers and kittens that will be coming into our care. That requires a lot of funding to make sure everybody’s properly vaccinated, vet checked and dewormed and taken care of.”
This is the third year Bandaged Paws has received funding from the club. Arsenault says there’s no way they could keep the doors open without the help of fundraisers like this.
“We really couldn’t run without people that take the initiative to do these types of fundraisers for us. We put a lot of time in outside of our day jobs and families to put towards the animals. Having the third-party fundraisers like the Rotaract group does hugely impacts our ability to be successful.”
The 50/50 winner announcement and the cheque presentation for the rescues will be held on March 26th at the Alumni Lounge at Grande Prairie Regional College.