Christmas came early for Bandaged Paws as the local animal shelter received a $50,000 donation from Stahl Peterbilt Inc. Executive Director Natasha Arsenault says that she couldn’t believe it, but on Tuesday night, the donation was very real.
“It was very unexpected and very needed. It was kind of a roller coaster of emotions for us because we were in disbelief at first. David Nooy had the cheque for $50,000, which instantly made it real when we laid on eyes on it. It’s been a hard year for us and the generosity of the donation is just mind-boggling, I’m so grateful for it,” she says.
The community has rallied around Bandaged Paws since they announced that they were struggling with expenses. Arsenault says that the donation will help cover some of those expenses, like medical bills for the animals, which can be up to $25,000 per month.
“The support we’ve received in the last month and a half has been remarkable. Our annual Christmas fundraiser brought in an additional $25,000, which was our goal,” she explains. “We’ve been dealing with this cold snap and not being able to take in all of the animals that need our services has been really hard for us but we need to focus on the animals that are in our care now as well.”
Arsenault says that they’ll be able to bring back all of their staffing hours, increase capacity, and be able to help more animals. Even though financial donations are always appreciated, adoptions remain the biggest need.
“It’s not unusual for December to be slow for adoptions because people are busy. We’re hoping after Christmas that we do see an increase in adoptions because we are still at capacity and we have a large waitlist of animals that need our care,” she says.
Arsenault and the staff of Bandaged Paws are immensely grateful, beyond words.
“A huge thank you to the Stahl family, they’ve been so supportive since we moved into our facility. We never expected such a generous donation,” she says.