'Poorly Drawn Pets' raises $30k for The Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County
TACOMA, Wash. - In about 30 hours, The Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County raised more than $30,000 from donations for its "Poorly Drawn Pets" event.
Lindsey Heaney, the director of communications for The Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County, said they had about 1,000 people submit pet photos from across the world. At the shelter on Friday, dozens of volunteers and staff were hard at work sketching out pet portrait masterpieces.
"It’s a passion. And taking a passion and being able to use it to give back to people is something that I just love to do," said Debbie Ranniger, a volunteer with the humane society.
She said the "Poorly Draw Pets" event is one of her favorites.
"This is a way I can use my drawing to make people happy," she said.
Organizers with the shelter say this is the most money they have raised in the four years they put on the event.
In total, $30,759 was raised for the shelter.
"This just really goes towards the around ten thousand animals that come through our door every year. And we’re an open admissions shelter, which means we don’t turn away an animal based on age or breed or medical or behavioral issues, so we really take care of a lot of animals who need it the most," said Heaney.
Portrait submissions ended at 1 p.m. on Friday. Staff said with the large number of submissions, they will work on getting all the portraits finished over the next few days.
While the event is over, the humane society says they are always looking for volunteers or donations.