The dog days of summer are here, and getting active this month can help homeless pets in need.
Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation, or WAIF, is challenging Whidbey residents to move 48 miles by August’s end as part of a fundraiser to help cover daily operational costs at the shelter.
“We haven’t done anything like this before,” Karina Andrew, communications and event coordinator at WAIF, said. “We’re really excited. We hope that people will be excited to participate and that it’ll be a success.”
Forty-eight miles is approximately the distance between Deception Pass Bridge and the Clinton ferry terminal, representative of the reach of the nonprofit’s service.
Participants can hit 48 miles any way they choose, but the challenge can be completed as easily as walking 1.56 miles — or 3,300-4,500 steps — a day for 31 days. Signing up is free and participants can use Facebook to track their progress, launch their own fundraisers, find sponsors and spread word of the event to friends and family.
According to the challenge’s Facebook page, $3,384 of the $10,000 goal has already been raised as of Thursday.
Like WAIF’s other fundraising campaigns, all proceeds will go towards “daily care for the animals, food, medicine, vaccinations, spay and neuter surgeries, veterinary care, pet beds, toys, kitty litter, treats” and more, Andrew said — everything necessary in “caring for our shelter animals until we find homes for them.”
Shelters all over the country are overwhelmed with particularly high volumes of animals, she explained, and WAIF is no exception — as of Tuesday, WAIF is home to 157 animals across its main shelter in Coupeville, Freeland Cat Cottage and Oak Harbor Cat Adoption Center, as well as those in foster care. Adoption is down and pet surrenders are up, perhaps the result of “economic uncertainty.”
That uncertainty directly affects the shelter, too.
“A lot of the things that we use on a daily basis at the shelter are really rapidly increasing in price, and combined with the fact that we have a lot of animals right now, means that our daily expenses to care for the animals that we have is increasing,” Andrew said.
Sustaining programs like the Prevent-A-Litter Assistance Program, Nick’s Crisis Care Fund and the Pet Food Bank —which provide reduced-cost spaying and neutering, financial assistance for emergency medical care and food, respectively, to pet owners in need — is also costly.
“We want to have those programs available as more people might need to utilize them as well,” she added.
Donations can, as always, be made directly on the WAIF website, waifanimals.org. Visit bit.ly/waif48 to accept the challenge or sponsor somebody else’s campaign.
(Photo by Mary Jo Adams) Dog trainer Jackie Reid poses with a WAIF pooch.
(Photo by Mary Jo Adams) Levi shakes hands with dog trainer Sam Thomson.
