Pearl River County’s SPCA is in the running to receive $10,000, all they need is the community’s help to win.
It’s all part of the Hill’s Science Diet Shelter Heroes program. Pearl River County’s shelter was entered into the contest via a video outlining all of the hard work Carla Gerrard has put into reducing the number of animals being surrendered through a low cost spay and neuter program along with other efforts. The staff and volunteers at the shelter chose Gerrard as their hero, and created a video describing all of the great things she’s done.
In the video, the narrator describes how when Gerrard became involved with the shelter the animal intake was 6,000 cats and dogs, annually.
But through her idea to implement a low cost spay and neuter program, funded through at least two separate programs, the shelter was able to cut that rate down in nine years. Today intake levels have been cut in half from nine years ago.
Her efforts eventually led to 10,000 spay and neuter operations being provided to pet owners in the area.
Gerrard also headed up a low cost rabies clinic, provided pet owners with microchip and registration services to find lost pets and provided heartworm testing clinics.
The video was chosen from many other submissions, and is now one of the top ten finalists. In order for the Pearl River County shelter to win the $10,000, they have to finish in the top five.
Voting is ongoing at https://hillsshelterheroes.us.launchpad6.com/ and will last until April 10.
PRCSPCA Director Judy Wheaton said the shelter has many ideas for the use of the extra funds, such as covering general expenses, repairing dog kennels and replacing aging appliances that help keep medications cold.
Wheaton said for seven months out of the year, the shelter operates at a loss, so that money could definitely come in handy in paying bills, especially in the summer months when air conditioning use drives up the electricity bill.
While Pearl River County’s submission was in fifth place as of Friday afternoon, there are several others in the running, according to a review of the website. Wheaton is asking for the community’s help because there are submissions in the top five from much larger cities with many more people to vote.
Pearl River County residents interested in helping can visit the website mentioned previously and vote once per day.