Sounds of music, dinner and laughter filled Historic Smithonia Farm at Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter’s ninth annual Bark & Wine fundraiser on Saturday.
The Bark & Wine is MOAS’ largest fundraiser of the year, and it features live music, local beer and wine, a raffle and an auction. This year’s auction had over 100 donated items, including pieces by local artists and gift certificates for local businesses.
Sherrie Hines, MOAS board member and Bark & Wine coordinator, estimates that the event raised about $20,000 this year, a step down from years past. And with increasing expenses, the Bark & Wine covers only a fraction of the shelter’s operating costs.
“The Bark & Wine can’t even fund six months of the shelter’s operations,” she said. “It basically funded a month in the past. With inflation, it doesn’t even do that.”
MOAS receives financial support from Madison and Oglethorpe counties, but Hines estimated with inflation, the counties’ support covers about 20% of the expenses.
“It’s not that their numbers have changed, it’s just that their numbers have not gone up where all of our expenses have,” Hines said. “It’s just so important that the community continues to support MOAS, because otherwise, we really may not have much of a future.”
Inflation has been a challenge for MOAS, increasing prices of everything from medical equipment to pet food. But another concern for the shelter is change in the housing market.
“The housing market has kind of changed; rent is going through the roof. It has changed for the animals, too,” said Shaina Knight, MOAS grant coordinator. “Landlords are not allowing pets like they used to. They can afford to be more picky now because there’s such a demand, so we’re seeing a lot of pets displaced by that.”
That increase in displaced pets means the shelter is constantly at full capacity.
“We’re just trying to keep our head above water,” MOAS Director Erica Hendrix said. “We’ve had more owner surrenders in the past 12 months than we’ve seen in years.”
One way the shelter has fought rising costs is by applying for grants. Knight estimates that the shelter has received around $85,000 this year in monetary grants, and another $30,000 worth of pet toys, vaccines and other equipment.
The shelter emphasizes that its biggest need is continued support and donations from the community.
“People’s continued giving, people’s continued support, that is what we really desperately need,” Hines said. “One night doesn’t fix the problems we have.”