Heith Olmstead and Melanie Markling, owners of Northern Elite Firearms, received a warm reception when they arrived Friday afternoon at the Prince Albert SPCA. Manager Ashlee Bober looks on. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Community support

Prince Albert SPCA receives 900 lb donation

Jul 23, 2022 | 8:00 AM

A truck loaded with bags of dog food made its way to the Prince Albert SPCA on Friday.

Northern Elite Firearms, in partnership with Pet Planet, donated 925-pounds worth of kibble. Acknowledging they could have made their donation in the form of a gift card or cash, the gun store’s co-owner, Heith Olmstead, told paNOW it was important for them to proceed this way.

“That way people can see that this is an organization that desperately needs help. There’s a lot of charitable organizations out there that get most of the charitable stuff around the community, and we just want to make sure the SPCA gets recognized,” he said.

When asked why they chose the SPCA, Olmstead replied with a question of his own.

“Who doesn’t like puppies,” he joked.

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Olmstead receives a hug from one of the residents. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

The actual fundraising campaign started months ago. June 4 was national range day and proceeds from a local barbecue, as well as other accompanying fundraising efforts that day, went towards the SPCA. Co-owner, Melanie Markling, said it just felt like a good fit for them.

“I like what they do here. We are pet owners and we’ve had a good relationship with Pet Planet with our own pets and so we just thought this was a good fit for everyone,” she said.

Lately the business has been in the news over an issue with a sign that was posted and removed from a youth baseball diamond. Markling confirmed this donation was in no way linked to that, and was in no way an attempt to sway public opinion.

“Today is an outcome of the support of the firearms community across the city,” she said.

Olmstead also confirmed that both Pet Planet and the Prince Albert SPCA had no issue posting their logo to their social media pages, and they in turn will promote the SPCA’s logo.

“It’s about community supporting community and business supporting businesses,” he said.

Markling makes a new friend. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

Ashlee Bober, manager of the Prince Albert SPCA, said the donation is greatly appreciated and she anticipated it would last a few months.

“We have hundreds of animals come through here every year. Especially now we are seeing an increase of animals coming in, both cats and dogs,” she said.

When asked the reason for the increase in traffic, Bober explained some of it has to do with the pandemic, but added it’s also the time of year when litters of kittens get brought in.

“We are sometimes getting anywhere from one to two litters of cats in a day. It’s a bit overwhelming but we are doing everything we can,” she said.

Noting too the fact that this specific donation came from local businesses, Bober explained the SPCA does rely on support from the whole community.

“We do get individual donations where we get a bag or two come in, but to get this much food come in, it’s kind of a weight off our shoulders knowing we are gonne have food for these guys for a good period of time,” she said.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell