The Poplar Bluff Animal Welfare Alliance will be among more than 600 nonprofit organizations across the southern part of the state participating in Give Ozarks Day.
The annual event, which returns after a hiatus of a few years, will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and is sponsored by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Bass Pro Shops.
The Poplar Bluff AWA’s campaign is titled “Help Us Open Our No-Kill Shelter” and has the goal of raising money toward purchase of the current Hillcrest Animal Hospital building in Poplar Bluff for conversion later this year to a regional animal shelter. The current location is available because the owners of Hillcrest Animal Hospital are building a new clinic on Shelby Road.
“Last year was a bad one for fundraising because of COVID restrictions,” Marge Van Praag, president of the Poplar Bluff AWA, said in a press release. “Our normal income was cut about in half, so we could really use any help folks can provide on Give Ozarks Day.”
In addition to any donations that Poplar Bluff AWA receives on Give Ozarks Day, the organization will get one chance per donor to win one of the $5,000 hourly prizes given by the event’s sponsors.
Online credit card donations to the Poplar Bluff AWA and other agencies can be made by visiting GiveOzarks.org, where different projects can be searched by several methods including campaign title or zip code.
In addition to working toward the creation of a regional no-kill animal shelter, the Poplar Bluff AWA provides $50 subsidies to qualifying area pet owners to get their dogs or cats spayed or neutered. The organization has spent more than $85,000 on that project since its founding in 2008. The Poplar Bluff AWA also helps provide basic vaccinations for puppies and kittens in the Poplar Bluff Animal Control shelter.
The Poplar Bluff AWA is also registered with state and federal authorities as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, meaning that all donations to it are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the IRS.
For more information on the Poplar Bluff AWA, visit the organization’s website at www.awasemo.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/awasemo.