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Marta Hepler Drahos

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June 13, 2011

Marta Hepler Drahos: Humane society in need

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS mdrahos@record-eagle.com

When I think of Cherryland Humane Society, it's with pleasant recollections of the hours my family and I spent volunteering at fundraisers. Hot, sticky nights pouring Pepsi under the National Cherry Festival beverage tent; stuffy afternoons in the Central High School gym, where my mom and I took turns browsing the arts and crafts booths and selling hot dogs from the concessions window a floor above; bitterly cold nights at the old Keystone shelter Christmas tree lot, where one year my husband pricked himself on a suspiciously blue, blue spruce and then got chills so bad we almost called the ambulance.

But mostly I think of Cody, our beloved shepherd-retriever, who was so unmanageable he was adopted and returned by other people -- twice -- before we spotted him at the shelter and gave him a last chance.

He was hardwired to run free, though we had a huge fenced-in backyard, and spent every waking moment inside whining under his breath by the front door. At our next house he often scaled the wire of his 5-foot-high pen, disappearing when we put him out for a few minutes at bedtime and then climbing back in by morning.

When he died, we buried him in our backyard with a stone that reads, "Cody: Free at last."

So when the humane society announced that it might have to close for lack of funds, I was stricken. Although the shelter lags behind others in certain important management practices, like spaying or neutering animals before they're adopted out, its good work and caring volunteers have made it one of the most consistent nonprofits in the region for decades.

Now the shelter is trying to raise at least $200,000, which will allow it to operate through the end of the year, provided other normal donations are received. Every $20,000 it can raise toward the goal means it can operate for another month.

Already supporters like the TBA Credit Union C.A.R.E. Coalition (Concern for Animals Roaming Everywhere) are jumping in to help. The group hosted a rummage sale, then donated 100 percent of the proceeds to the shelter.

But what the shelter needs now is a big infusion of cash and FAST. The kind of cash that can only be raised through the Michael Moore Method of Fundraising. The kind of cash Moore and community supporters raised in a few months to restore the State Theatre to its former glory, and which they recently raised again, in under a week, to put in new seats at Lars Hockstad Auditorium.

It will take a few big donations and lots and lots of smaller ones, like the $10 text donations so many gave to the Lars project and to the American Red Cross for tornado relief efforts in the South.

But it can be done. And it will be done.

Somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge, Cody is counting on it.

Reach staff writer Marta Hepler Drahos at mdrahos@record-eagle.com.

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