The Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter held their annual Paw Prints PetFest & 5K at Smithville Park last year. This year’s event is expected to be held on Saturday, Oct. 4.
The Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter will host their inaugural Wags & Whiskers spring gala at the Community House on Friday, April 4, at 6 p.m.
The seated dinner will include a DJ, dancing, raffle baskets and a wine tasting.
“Part of the reason for the gala is to spread the word to people who may not know about us but are interested in coming out for a good time for a good cause,” said Ann Rapisarda, member of the board of directors for the Friends.
“Anything to get the word out and make people aware of the animals, and what they’re going through and what they need.”
Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter is a nonprofit that cooperates with the shelter to care for pets and place them into adoptive homes and reduce the number of homeless pets in the community by sponsoring low-cost, spay-neuter surgeries.
“We started in 2010, so we’ve been around quite a bit now, and we raise over a half million dollars a year now and we use it to pay (for) all the advanced medical at the county shelter,” Rapisarda explained. “Unfortunately, the county can’t pay for all the broken tails, bad teeth, animals hit by cars … all kinds of advanced illnesses and injuries.
“So we step in and pay for all of that, rather than the animal being euthanized.”
The Friends also helps the shelter run its foster programs, pays for dog training if needed and has an adoption center – the Hissy Hut – in Mount Holly. Since it opened in late 2022, the facility has adopted out more than 340 cats. The organization recently started a surrender-diversion program and had 75 diversions last year.
“For people who call (the county animal shelter) and say that they’re looking to surrender their pet, we will contact them and find out what – if anything – is possible to help them keep their pet,” noted Mary Beth Morrone, volunteer at The Friends. “Or at least not bring it to the shelter, so that they can rehome the dog or the cat themselves.”
Following the Wags & Whiskers spring gala, the Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter will host a Fur Baby Festival at the Burlington County Fairgrounds at noon on Saturday, April 19, and the Paw Prints Petfest & 5K in Eastampton in October.
For more information on those events or to purchase tickets for the gala, visit www.friendsofbcas.org.
