Vanessa Ball is asking her customers to make Valentine’s Day a lot sweeter for homeless cats in the community by supporting Global Pet Foods’ seventh annual Show Us Your Heart fundraiser.
“One hundred percent of the proceeds from my store will go to Cats Anonymous, to be used at their shelter for whatever they need it for,” Ball said.
From Feb. 1 to 14, Global Pet Foods and dog food manufacturer, Hill’s Science Diet are launching a national campaign to help raise funds for local animal shelters in their retail communities.
“What sets Show Us Your Heart apart is the real impact your donation makes in your community,” said Global Pet Foods President Jim Walker. “Your Global store selects a local shelter to support and your donation goes directly to help homeless pets in your area.”
Donations can be made for as little as $1, and will be matched by these two organizations. Since 2005, Show Us Your Heart has successfully generated over $250,000 for homeless pets.
“Last year we raised over $100,000 in just one week, thanks to our incredibly generous customers. It was such a huge success we’ve extended the event to two weeks,” said Walker.
Ball, who has owned the Fergus Global Pet Foods store for five years, says the response from her customers has been great, adding, “every little bit helps.”
Tish Walshe, founder of Cats Anonymous, knows this to be true. Running an organization that is 100% volunteer-run and with a shelter currently at capacity with 75 cats waiting for a good home, she is grateful for the continued support of Ball and her customers.
“It’s nice for the people who donate to understand that the money goes directly to the cats,” Walshe said. “Last year, the funds helped us with the Partridge family fund, where five kittens needed orthopedic surgery. When we have a project like this, we don’t want to take the funds from our operating budget. This money helped us cover some of the costs.”
Cats Anonymous has several goals, including a winterized garden facility for the cats and a green project to become energy self-sufficient.
The choice to support Cats Anonymous, located in Marsville, was an obvious one for Ball.
“I like the fact that this shelter is a no-kill facility and they try their best to find cats good homes, which is a lot of work considering the rely so much on volunteers,” she said. “They help with the feral cats and try to keep the population down.”
Though Ball is not directly involved with the work of Cats Anonymous, she does help them when she can.
“Sometimes they bring kittens into the store, so that people can see them,” said Ball.
Added Walshe, “Besides monetary donations, they’ve fostered cats for us and that really makes a difference to the kittens to find homes.
“Vanessa has also donated food to us, as have the people from Global’s head office. They have been very good to us in many ways, right from day one.”
Global Pet Foods is located at 600 Scotland Street in Fergus. For more information about Cats Anonymous, visit www.catsanonymous.ca.
