The Pembina Valley Humane Society received perhaps the best gift possible this Christmas.
The third year of the Santa Paws initiative was another success as the regional animal shelter put a call out to its communities to help meet the need for such supplies as dog and cat food.
“We also had people just donating money,” noted shelter manager Jennifer Young. “It actually was very, very successful. We had met our goal on three items and we were very close on four other items, so that’s fantastic.
“The kitten food is something we were in dire need of,” she noted. “We had so many kittens coming in, and we were 25 items over our goal for kitten food, so that is fantastic … it can be hard to get kitten food in town.”
Just as important, Young added, are some of the everyday kinds of supplies that also come in through the annual donation drive.
“It’s kind of funny because we get excited with some of the items that come in,” she said. “We got really excited when someone donated a new mop pail because we needed one. We’re even excited when we get the compost bags and the gloves.
“People thinking about even more than just the food is very helpful for us,” Young said. “In order to keep all of our animals healthy and even keep our volunteers healthy, we need things like the gloves, the gowns … we try to do the best we can in so many ways, and it gets really tough sometimes.
The main benefit of the campaign is it can take some of the cost burden off by providing some of these supplies for at least part of the year. PVHS can then focus on using funds to cover vet bills.
Their hope for the 2023 campaign was to get at least 300 cans each of wet cat and dog food along with kitten food, clumping cat litter, and laundry detergent, but equally important was to really engage with the community at large.
“We have done so well this year. I am blown away by how generous so many people are here,” said Young.
“There was more coming in than there was last year or the year before,” she said. “I don’t if we have more social media posts or such, but it just seems there’s a lot more people paying attention.
“I think it really just pulls at the heartstrings, and people are saying, ‘What can I do? Can I help?’” Young said. “This community is amazing. It’s fantastic how many people want to help in some way.”
