A pair of local businesses are teaming up to collect food and donations for the Prince Albert SPCA.
Pet Planet Prince Albert and Mann Northway are teaming up to Pack the Pickup for the SPCA. Donations can be dropped off at Pet Planet Prince Albert, Mann Northway or at the Prince Albert Raider home game against the Regina Pats on Dec. 3.
“Anytime is a great time to have an event like this and do fundraising and look for donations,” Prince Albert SPCA manager Ashlee Bober said. “It has been a lot of planning and now is the time that we are able to make it work…. It worked nicely to have the event that fit the timeframe of the Raiders game here this Friday.”
Pet Plant Prince Albert owner Lee Penner said they want to support the community, and this fundraiser was a natural fit.
“The community has been really good to us during the pandemic and we naturally always deal with the SPCA and we have done that for seven years,” Penner said. “This year we are going a little bit bigger.”
“It is something we have done since we bought the store, so for seven years we have been working with the SPCA on a lot of things and it has been a very good partnership,” he added.
Mann-Northway and Pet Planet have been running promotions for a few weeks, and the support is already flowing in.
Pet Planet Prince Albert will be also providing 10 per cent off all donations and matching donations purchased in store, pound for pound.
During the Dec. 3 Raiders’ game, Pet Planet Prince Albert will be announcing a major donation and continued commitment to provide every dog and cat adopted from the Prince Albert SPCA their first bag of food for free.
The SPCA wish list of items includes cat food, dog toys, small animal supplies, and general supplies like paper towels. Bober said that there is currently a large need for cat food.
“A lot of the items that are on there are things that we require year round,” she explained. “Right now we are definitely finding that we have an influx of cats, so we are really looking for help right now with cat food and stuff like that. We tend to have such a high number of cats here in this building and we go through cat food and whatnot quite quickly.”
Cat food isn’t the SPCA’s only need, however. Penner emphasized there’s also a need for pet toys, as well as food. She said staff spend a lot of time with the animals, but toys are a big help when staff can’t be around.
“It is nice for them to have some sort of entertainment and enrichment while they are in there as well,” she explained.
Bober thanked everyone who either participated in or plans to help out with the fundraiser ahead of the game. She also thanked Mann Northway, Pet Planet, and the Raiders for putting the event together.
“We appreciate the support from our community and the local businesses that we have here,” she said. “We are so grateful to have everybody else helping us out.
“We really need the support from our community to be able to do what we do each and every day and to save the amount of lives we do,” she added. “Without the help of our community, we can’t do this.”
The Prince Albert Raiders play the Regina Pats with puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday, Dec. 3.
