Valley Animal Center hosts annual holiday fundraiser to help support the shelter’s costs of care and maintenance of its animals on Saturday.
The Valley Animal Center hosted its 7th Annual Holiday Bake, Craft and Book Faire Saturday. The event invited community members to sell their goods, take holiday pictures with their pets and have the opportunity to look at pets for adoption.
Kelly Joos, the executive director of the Valley Animal Center said this year’s event had one of the best turnouts.
“We had the most vendors that we ever had,” Joos said. “With the Santa Paws photos all the time slots were sold out. It’s always a really fun and great event.”
The Valley Animal Center is the largest no-kill shelter in the San Joaquin Valley. It also offers humane education programs, where owners are taught how to be properly treated and care for their pets, pet training programs and low cost neuter and spaying services.
The Santa Paws photos offered the opportunity for pets and their owners to be photographed for the holiday season. Hot chocolate, coffee and popcorn plus baked goods were on sale.
Any time the Valley Animal Center hosts a major fundraiser, usually four per year, the proceeds from the event go directly to the care and maintenance of the animals, Joos said.
“At any one time, we have approximately 400 animals,” Joos said. “So we need to feed them and to make sure that their areas [are] clean. We take care of their medical needs.”
Fresno State students helped out with the event, providing assistance in setting up booths and vendors and in marketing upcoming events.
Junior accounting major Pernell Long helped out during the event to promote the upcoming Thanksgiving Camp for the center.
“This was a project for Marketing 100S,” Long said. “We did all the advertising for this project, we scheduled all of the guest speakers and everything going on for the three days.”
Running from Nov. 24 to 26 is a camp for kids between ages 5 to 17. The camp offers an opportunity to shadow a veterinarian, learn about service animals and view a demonstration from the Fresno Police Department K-9 Unit.
“This is going to be an annual event, but this is just the first one,” Long said.
The camp costs $100 for all three days or $45 per day. For more information on the Thanksgiving Camp and upcoming events, visit the center’s website.