Click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.

Paws of Hope donations already pour in

May 4, 2015 | 1:38 PM

The 8th annual Paws of Hope is gearing up at the Archie Anderson Pavilion on the Exhibition Grounds.

The SPCA is accepting the donations for the yearly garage sale until May 5 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Executive director John Morash said all the funds that are raised go towards the SPCA to help and protect animals.

“One of our biggest missions is to make sure every animal that’s adopted is spayed or neutered and that comes at a great cost.  For instance when a cat comes in they need to be microchipped, dewormed, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and by the time all the bills roll in … it can be as much as $300,” he said, explaining when someone adopts that cat they ask for a minimum $20 donation.  “So you can see there’s quite a gap there and this money helps fill that gap.”

In addition, the funds pay for operational costs at the facility.

Since the SPCA started collecting donations April 29, they’ve seen a lot of people coming by.

“There has been overwhelming support,” he said.

Donations, so far, have ranged from local residents donating items of loved ones who’ve passed, to businesses such as Carlton Honda who dropped off $15,000 worth of parts, Morash said.

“It’s really neat to be a part of it.  Some of these volunteers have been here eight years doing this.  These ladies work tirelessly in there. They may be older in age, but they’re young in spirit and they certainly put in a full day’s work helping out,” he said.

The garage sale runs May 7 to 8, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and May 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  There will be a barbecue on May 8 and 9 as well from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Morash said some of the larger items will have sticker prices on them, but the smaller items can be purchased through donation.

“We found that that works better than having individual sticker items on each piece and haggling over each piece.  We’d rather people come down, pick what they want and make a donation to the SPCA for the items that they took,” he said.

“We found in our experience people are overly generous, so sometimes they pay more than the stuff is worth and they know the money is going to a good cause.”

sstone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @sarahstone84