Tubby, a dog from Wales that held the Guinness World Record for most bottles recycled by a dog.

By Emily Keller

community

Bandaged Paws finding ways to fundraise despite pandemic

Apr 26, 2020 | 7:00 AM

The Bandaged Paws Animal Rescue Association is trying to find alternative ways to fundraise during the pandemic.

Natasha Arsenault, Executive Director of Bandaged Paws, says with closures and physical distancing requirements put in place by the province, Bandaged Paws has restricted public access and the amount of people inside the facility, including volunteers.

“We’ve had to decrease our staffing, so our ability to properly train people has kind of taken a hit there, so we’re running on a skeleton crew, we do have our core volunteers that have been coming on weekly basis, they’re still helping us out, and then we have one staff in the building at any given time.”

She does say the animals have mostly been doing fine with the limited amount of staff, but they have been impacted as well.

“We’ve tried to limit our intake numbers just to make sure that we can provide all of the medical care required for every animal that’s coming through the door, so it’s definitely hurt our operations in ways just because of donations and fundraising being at kind of a stand still. We are trying to find ways to fundraise in a social distance friendly manner now.”

Arsenault says they do currently have a bottle drive going, where they are picking up bottle donations from homes and businesses on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

They will also be running a Fun Drive with Value Village where donations of gently used household items are accepted. She adds that other fundraisers are planned for the upcoming weeks.

They also have their ongoing 50/50 fundraiser, and tickets can be purchased online.