Highland County Humane Society’s Annual Family Fun Day Is Coming

The Highland County Humane Society’s most important fundraiser of the year coincides with this coming weekend’s Hands and Harvest Festival.  I asked Corena Huffman, the society’s founder and president, to tell us what the society has planned for this year.

Good morning, Corena.

Good morning.

Can you tell me generally what’s going on next weekend?

Sure. We will be hosting our annual fundraiser here in Monterey – Family Fun Day – and what that entails is a combination of free children’s events.  We have a bounce house, face painting, prizes, games for kids, we’ll have animals for adoption there.  We’ll have Brooklyn’s Sweet Summertime Lemonade and a bake sale. Also providing breakfast and lunch, a silent auction will be happening throughout the day as well as a 50/50 raffle.

Yeah, I heard you say breakfast and lunch.  What’s going on for breakfast?

For, breakfast, Miss Amy Wayne is going to be providing made to order omelets with coffee and juice, also local sausage.  And for lunch, we’ll have Blue Grass BBQ.  We’ll have Bill’s food truck there providing BBQ chicken and sides.

Now this is a pretty important event for the Humane Society, isn’t it?

Yes, this is our annual fundraiser. This is the largest event and it’s grown every year and we look forward again to another good year.

If we have weather like we’ve been having that’s guaranteed.

Oh yes, the foliage is changing. We’ll have some leaf-peepers coming over and we hope to have some fantastic cats and dogs here for you to meet for your family.

I understand that you’re going to have family fun day because that’s an important aspect of your fundraiser. But that’s not what the Humane Society is about, is it?

It’s not.  We’re here to provide homes for animals that lose their home for whatever reason and also help community members with their pets through pet food, veterinary services and free spay/neuter, which also includes transportation.

And this weekend, you’re going to be doing microchips and rabies shots, correct?

Yes, we’ll have a microchip clinic and rabies clinic with Dr. Joe Malcolm of Stonewall Vet Services.  That will only be from 10:00 am til noon for dogs and cats.

So no appointment is necessary?

Nope, no appointment is needed. Just stop in and see us. Dr. Joe will also be providing some other veterinary services at a discount that day.

Dr. Joe’s been doing this for a number of years, hasn’t he?

He has.  He’s been an important component to our organization and to providing discounted rabies vaccines here in the county.

So Corena, how important is this event to the Humane Society?

This is our annual fundraiser event. It’s our largest fundraising opportunity. It’s also a great time to meet families here in Highland or families that are visiting who potentially will be looking for a new pet.  You can bring your kids by; get some energy out.  All of the kids’ events are free.  We’ll be at the firehouse where there will be food available, restrooms, etc. right in the center of town. Just one of the things going on during Hands and Harvest that you can bring your family by and enjoy.

And so the funds that are generated from this event, how does the Humane Society use those throughout the year?

Well, all of the funds go back into what we consider direct service. We don’t have any staff and we have no building that takes up any of our funding. So all of the money that’s raised during Family Fun Day goes back into our community. It goes back into the animals that we help find homes for, it goes back into providing community spay/neuter, veterinary care, food for some of our community members here in Highland and also transportation.

Whether you’re looking to adopt a pet, or have your pet vaccinated or microchipped, or you just want a family-friendly place to blow off steam, the Highland County Humane Society will be there to serve you at the firehouse in Monterey on Saturday.  This is Mickey Frank Thomas for Allegheny Mountain Radio News.