Red Deerians are invited to ‘bail out’ their favourite local celebrities on May 13 at the Red Deer and District SPCA’s Catch, Fetch & Release fundraiser.
Behind the bars of the dog kennels will be some local figures including Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling, Jack MacDonald, chief of Red Deer Emergency Services and Sylvan Lake Mayor Susan Samson.
The celebrities will not be released until they have raised enough money to have themselves bailed out. The minimum amount to be released is $2,000.
“Some of [the celebrities] have exceeded $2,000 already, they’re just out there fundraising and doing a really great job for us,” said Julie McInnes, executive director of the Red Deer and District SPCA.
This is the first time the Catch, Fetch and Release fundraiser has run but McInnes said they plan to make it an annual event because of the interest it raised with local celebrities.
“Our president and one of our directors are involved in development and fundraising and they came up with the idea in January so it came together quite quickly and we are confident that it will be a successful annual event,” said McInnes.
There will be a barbeque at the SPCA on the day of the event where people can buy a burger and see the new facility if they haven’t already.
If people are interested in viewing animals on the day of the fundraiser, they are invited to do so. The cats will be in their regular space, but the dogs will be moved to the holding area to allow kennel space for the imprisoned celebrities.
“One group is actually coming as a litter; there are five or six of them so they will all be in the kennel together,” said McInnes.
Tax receipts are available for any pledge over $20 and the public can specify on their pledge form which person they want to donate to, or they can choose to donate to any prisoner.
“All of the funds raised will go directly to the operation and care of our animal shelter and education centre,” said McInnes.
The SPCA is also gearing up for their garage sale on the last weekend in May.
The garage sale will have lottery tickets, which will be on sale at Bower Mall the last weekend in April as well as at the SPCA.
Also, on June 11th the SPCA will be hosting Walk and Wag, formerly known as Bark at the Bend.
“We used to hold it in September but we’ve really wanted the school kids to get involved and September is just too busy so we moved it to the spring,” said McInnes.
Pledge forms for the Walk and Wag event are available online at the SPCA web site.
McInnes says the Catch, Fetch and Release fundraiser is expected to raise about $40,000.
“More than 90 per cent of operating revenues come from donations from our community and from self generated revenues,” said McInnes.
For more information visit www.reddeerspca.com.
kpalardy@reddeerexpress
