by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The 26th annual Woofstock Companion Walk has been deemed a success by its organizers, with $53,864 raised for the animals cared for at the Tri-County Humane Society in St. Cloud.
The event took place Sept. 13 with a 5k walk starting and ending at Wilson Park. More than 500 people and 260 pets took part in the walk to raise funds through pledges.
The annual Woofstock Walk is a vital fundraiser to help the humane society keep doing its work to adopt out animals, to care for them and to have all animals up for adoption vaccinated and spayed or neutered. Without fundraising and volunteers, those services would not be possible.
The top pledge fundraisers for Woofstock 2014 are Vicki Davis ($10,775), who is the humane society’s director; Colleen DeGroat ($6,605), Heidi Wagner ($2,066) and Jan Hovda ($1,190). The top fundraising team was St. John’s Prep “Hand to Paws.” ($314).
Organizers also noted that businesses’ generosity with donations, goods, beverages and gift items for prizes had a huge impact on the success of the event.
Ninety-seven volunteers put in a total of 462 hours setting up and working at Woofstock.
Currently, the Tri-County Humane Society has a kitten and cat sale. Kittens under 6 months can be adopted two for the price of one. For cats 6 months and up, customers can name their own price. Cats 2 years and older are free for senior citizens, veterans and active military personnel. For more about adoption and current needs of the human society, or to donate, see its website at www.tricountyhumanesociety.org.