Tails are surely wagging at the PALS animal shelter this morning following the organization’s annual Toast & Tails fundraiser, held at the Ice House in McComb on Thursday night.
The fundraiser for the no-kill animal shelter located on Marks Road featured food, fun and entertainment by TJ the DJ, silent and live auctions and a raffle for a print of a signed, limited-edition “Blue Dog” painting from the estate of New Orleans artist George Rodrigue.
“People seem to like it. We skipped two years. We did ‘PALS in the Pasture’ at Dr. Will and Mrs. Gay Austin’s house and it was a good turnout, but people just like this event better,” PALS shelter director Amy Branch said.
PALS board chairman Melanie Carruth said she was pleased with the crowd, which wasn’t deterred by the area’s first steady rain in weeks.
“It rained at the worst time, but we still got a good crowd,” she said.
Gay Austin said PALS receives a lot of support from local residents.
“People in the county are very generous in many areas,” she said. “We have a lot of elderly people (who) support us also. They may not be able to write but a $5 check, but it does our heart good.”
She considers the work PALS does a calling.
“This is our local mission. Our mission is to take care of God’s creatures,” Austin said.
“People may not see it, but we do a lot of good. We have a comfortable, safe place for our dogs and cats. The board of supervisors just helped us build a cat room, so now we have an area for cats and we can house more.”
Austin said people must be educated on the importance of spaying and neutering as a means to control the overwhelming stray pet population.
“Spaying and neutering is paramount,” she said.
She said the shelter is always filled with animals.
“Sometimes, we have to turn people away,” Austin said.
People mingled as they placed offers on items ranging from a doggie life vest, to freshwater pearls, cakes made by Tara Price and Phillip Scheel, dinner at The Caboose, other restaurant packages, jewelry from Selman’s Jewelers-Gemologist and a seven-night stay for pups and cats at the Pet Hotel.
“Everything that we have for auction is donated to us, so 100 percent of our proceeds go back to the shelter,” Gay Austin said.
The money raised will help take care of costs at the shelter and its efforts to help find permanent homes for strays.
She said the shelter just sent a load of animals to Madison, where they will go on to shelters in the Northeast for adoption.
“From Madison, they went on a 24-hour transport with stops in Massachusetts, Maryland and Maine,” Austin said.
The shelter also is planning a 5K run, “Paws and Santa Claus,” at Percy Quin State Park in December.
The event will have cupcake stations and cookies and hot cocoa at the end of the run.
For those who weren’t able to attend Thursday night’s event, Carruth said people can still donate through PayPal or send in a donation to the shelter.
“We just started taking credit cards, so if anyone wants to donate that way, they can,” Carruth said.
