By Tanya M. Ursual

From The Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS) P.O. Box 256, Lanark, Ontario, K0G 1K0:

Perhaps you would like to help us with a LAWS fundraiser of your own. Courtesy of the ASPCA’s “101 Great Shelter Ideas,” here are some suggestions for things you could do to help raise money and awareness for LAWS:

1) Approach a local business and suggest that they offer a promotion whereby for each item sold in a one-month period, they donate a certain number of dollars to our shelter. This would work for a restaurant, car dealership, or nearly any type of business.

2) Why not organize a LAWS penny drive at your school or place of work. You will be surprised by how much money can be raised when everyone throws in a few pennies.

3) Consider organizing a group of friends or colleagues to get together and become a “LAWS Guardian Angel”. During any given week, animals arrive at our shelter requiring surgery or special food/care (ie, expensive kitten formula). Call to see if you and your friends can help a specific animal that week and be its “guardian angels.”

4) In one US county, a group of small town musicians created a compilation C.D. entitled “Love is a four legged word” and sold the CD’s to help raise money for their local animal shelter. Perhaps you have your own skill or talent.

5) Why not consider forming a “Sponsor-A-Snip” program. Your group tries to raise money to cover the cost of a spay/neuter for a family that legitimately can’t afford to have their animal done. Sadly, our animal cruelty Inspector and shelter staff know of many families in need of this kind of assistance and, at present, we have no money in our spay/neuter assistance fund.

6) Consider making up a poster each week for an animal seeking adoption in our shelter. Place this poster in a drive-thru or store front window where hundreds of customers can see it each week. Be sure to provide details on the animal such as a photo from our website, breed, age, and how interested adopters can find their way to LAWS.

If you love animals and have always wanted to help, why not consider trying one of these ideas or come up with a fundraiser of your own. Your initiative and effort, even if it raises just a few dollars or gets an animal adopted, may make all the difference for a furry friend in need.