On Saturday, June 6, Mid Mo Animal Rescue Coalition hosted its first fundraiser and adoption event, led by Tana Phillips and Tessah Shaw. It was a success in more ways than one. 

With its “pay what you can” approach, only accepting donations for the items it was selling, it was able to fundraise $1,224 in six hours. All items being sold were donated by community members who believe in its mission and answered its call for help reaching its goals. 

These funds will continue to help grow the organization’s reach to those who need it — both animals, and the people who love them. This includes the organization’s local animal shelter outreach program, funding medical bills and providing critical supplies when needed.

The mission has continued to grow in scope since the beginning of the year; not only assisting local animals find a better placement option when needed, but now also delving into the imperative tasks of providing financial aid to pet owners when needed. 

The promotion of retained ownership of pets and helping their owners through hard times is just as important as the organization’s goals to find rescue placement for animals in need.

The funds raised at this event help make that outreach possible.

In addition to the fundraiser, the organization hosted the first public debut of numerous shelter dogs — resulting in two perfect-fit adoptions. While four dogs didn’t find their homes just yet, they enjoyed the attention of shoppers and the enrichment of attending the event. 

The organization’s “thank you” list is a mile long, but it doesn’t feel right to not credit every single hand that helped make today possible:

– Volunteers that showed up both Friday to help load and transport all the items, and then showed up Saturday bright and shiny at 7 a.m. to help get ready for a successful event, including Lakota Phillips, Ben Deiderich, Rachel Rodgers, Elora Williams, Kallee Clarkston

— Donors of items who offered their belongings to the sale and helped raise the funding for our projects. 

— The City of Mexico Animal Shelter who trusted the organization to bring the dogs off-site and show them off to the public — resulting in two adoptions that may not have happened otherwise

— LockTight Storage and The Car Lot for the willingness to help navigate the logistics of finding a place to hold all the items while collecting them for the sale and providing an opportune location to host the event

All remaining donations that were not sold were donated back into the community at the Handi-Shop Thrift Store, where they will continue to serve their intended purpose and generate revenue for a local business focused on aiding those in need.