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Humane Society’s Jail for Bail Fundraiser a success

Feb 3, 2016 | 8:41 AM

The second annual Jail for Bail fundraiser was held Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the North Battleford Humane Society.

The event started last year in an effort to raise money to build a new facility. Shelter coordinator Michelle Spark said they need to raise about $1.4 million and have banked $400,000 to date. Spark is hoping to raise all the money in the next two years. A location hasn’t be selected yet for the new building.

The final tally had the Jail for Bail fundraiser at $13,000, about $2,000 short of last year’s total, but still a massive success.

Nine people from the Battlefords, including Spark, participated in Jail for Bail. They were all locked in kennels at 5 p.m. and had to call family and friends to bail them out with donations. When they ran out of family and friends to call, they were handed phone books so they could keep calling people until their release at 8 p.m. A few of them even chose to have the furry friends their fundraising for, as cell mates.

The “jail birds”, as they like to be called, were treated like first class prisoners as they received coffee, Timbits, soup and wraps. They were also allowed to have washroom breaks so no newspaper was needed and unlike last year, neither were leashes.

Donations were accepted through phone, internet and walk in. The shelter was not allowing adoptions, as the volunteers and workers were too busy taking donations. They were still spreading awareness and told anyone looking to adopt that they were more than welcome to come and rescue a new family member during regular hours.

Once 8 p.m. rolled around, the jail birds were more than happy to open up those gates and get out of there, but not before celebrating a job well done.

It was bitter sweet for Spark, as it was really jail or bail for her because people could either donate to free her or to keep her in a kennel overnight. She was free until the very last donation of the night, made by a fellow jail bird, who donated $500 to keep her there, before running as fast as they could out the door.

The North Battleford Humane Society will be taking donations until Friday, Feb. 5.

ghiggins@jpbg.ca

@BattlefordsNow