LAC LA BICHE - Christmas came early last week for some lucky Lac La Biche-area cats and dogs. More than two-dozen family pets received festive treats in the form 25 advent calendars prepared by the Next Generation Teen Volunteer Group from Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).
The calendars were sold to community members in support of the Lac La Biche Regional Humane Society (LLBRHS). The local shelter is in the process of a planned expansion to give more space for animals, said Christine Martin, the Community Outreach Worker who oversaw the advent calendar project.
The sale of the calendars raised $625 for the shelter — a welcome donation, and one that was a welcome surprise, says humane society chairperson MJ Siebold, who only found out about the project from an FCSS social media post selling the calendars.
“They're such a great group of teenagers, but this was a surprise to us. When we saw the post we shared it,” said Siebold, who managed — barely — to get a calendar for one her own pets. “I went in to purchase some and they were almost all gone already, but I got the very last one.”
Siebold said that the thought alone is heartwarming, and in recent years as the pandemic has affected shelter fundraisers, every dollar counts.
“With COVID this last two years, fundraising has been really, really tough. Everything has been online and we haven’t been able to do any events. The fact that they thought about the work that we do in the community was really special too,” she said.
Foster a feline
One of the reasons for the shelter’s expansion needs is a recent increase in the number of cats coming to the facility. With limited space, shelter staff have been asking locals to support either adopt a cat full-time, or foster a cat in the short-term until a home can be found. All the necessities are provided to the new foster families, said Siebold.
“The message we are giving people now is, it’s not that we don’t want to help; it’s that we don’t have the space. What we offer is we’ll support them to foster for us, we’ll look after the medical care, food, litter, and things like that, if they will foster for us until we have space—we have a long waiting list now.”
The COVID pandemic hasn’t only affected fundraising at the shelter, it’s also affected the amount of animals now being returned. During the peak of COVID, the shelter saw a large spike of adoptions with people often staying home, she said. However, in recent months there have been a lot of individuals dropping adopted animals back off at the shelter, compounding the already limited space.
“Now what we are finding is that they are returning animals—especially dogs—because once they go back to work… people aren’t aware of the responsibilities or how to actually manage the transition of going back to work with pets. It can be tough,” Siebold said.
The challenges now faced by the local shelter will draw on more community support — like the recent advent calendar project.
Since the shelter opened its doors in 2015, Siebold said, fortunately, they have been able to support many pets and have been able to cover their costs, but every ounce of support helps to provide one more pet with the bare necessities. Ultimately, community groups like the Next Generation Teen Volunteer Group from FCSS provide the vital support the shelter needs to provide more services, said Siebold.
“It’s been a slow process getting the shelter up and running, and for the community to even be aware that we are here to serve the region… these kinds of initiatives make us feel valued and a group of volunteers to care enough and want to do something for us is really special—every little bit helps.”
Teenage help
The teens behind the fundraising effort came up with the idea to support the society. They had already been helping the facility over the summer months with volunteer yard duties, and the calendar project was a way to help in the winter months, says Martin. She says that giving the teens community projects not only helps community agencies like the humane society, but it ultimately supports the character development of the teens.
“We really feel that it is important that the teens steer the direction they want to go. We want them to have ownership of this group, be invested and feel like their feelings and opinions matter,” Martin said. “They all agreed they would like to help out the Humane Society in whatever way possible.
Shelter support needed
To support the local humane society, residents can always make an appointment to adopt or donate monetary funds, said Siebold.
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