PAW sets mark for Jordan's Way

WINNERS

We have the championship belt and a $25,000 check. On Sunday Feb. 25 we are going to do a live video with Kris celebrating the fact we are the winners.”

Sandy Brown, PAW Director

FORT MADISON – The PAW Animal Shelter is the top dog in the Jordan’s Way cross-country animal welfare effort.
The Lee County shelter was recognized last week as the top fundraiser in the country when they had animal welfare advocate Kris Rotunda on site in August of 2022 and raised close to $140,000.
That figure was the best in the nation and triggered another $25,000 donation from Jordan’s Way foundation. That check will be presented at a Facebook live event on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.
The event will also serve as a kick-off for the shelter’s capital campaign to raise the final $1.5 million needed to finish the new shelter currently under construction.
PAW Director Sandy Brown said the shelter had enough money for the shelter prior to the pandemic, but the logistical effects of the pandemic on the construction industry has pushed the cost to $6.5 million and the shelter is now short on funds.
The Facebook live event Sunday will include Rotunda and the presentation of a championship belt.
“We have the championship belt and a $25,000 check. On Sunday Feb. 25 we are going to do a live video with Kris celebrating the fact we are the winners,” Brown said.
“We’re going to do it at the facility and you’ll get a sneak peek inside the facility. This is  a really, really big deal.”
Rotunda's Jordan's Way program is a 4-hour live video blog in a zany format that has no agenda but to raise funds for animal shelters across the country. The event will be back in October with a challenge this year of $200,000, Brown said.
“We will have three months to raise that money. But last year we did just one month because it’s hard to sustain something for three months.”
Brown said since the pandemic occurred, dogs are being turned over to shelters at a pace unseen before.
“Right now every shelter in the US is full of dogs. People are dumping dogs like crazy. We just took in 37 dogs from a breeder this week and there were well over 100 in that facility,” she said.
“If people put breeders out of business, where do these animals go? There’s 1000s and 1000s of breeders throughout the U.S. When they either choose to retire or are shut down, those animals have to have a place to go and there’s no space anywhere. Everybody is full. The best thing you can do for an animal shelter is keep your animals. The world is disposable and we’re raising a generation of ‘I’ll just get a new one’."
Brown said she really doesn’t know what the Sunday event will be like, but Rotunda will be part of the event as will Mark Schickedanz, the construction manager of the new shelter, and staff to talk about the new building.
“Really we just want to recognize this win. We blew away 300 shelters and most of them are a whole lot bigger than we are. It shows what people who are dedicated to a cause can do. There will be a donation portal on the site, but we also take Venmo, Paypal, or people can just stop by the shelter to donate, or maybe adopt an animal,” Brown said.
“And $1 is just as important at $10 or $50 or $100. No donation is too small to help get this building done.”
Brown said not only are they working to finish funding the new facility, they also have to keep up with the costs of the current facility.
“That’s all on top of the fundraising, current vet bills, utilities, staff,” she said.