More volunteer time would help revive ‘Wag Sales’

The Weekly Wag Sales at the Humane Society have for several years been a popular fundraiser. However, due to recent difficulty in pulling in enough combined volunteer time to keep them running each weekend, the Wag Sales will have to close...


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2018-01-31 / Front Page More volunteer time would help revive ‘Wag Sales’ fundraiser By TORY DENIS SHS Animal Care Technician Becca Riley of Chester, left, and SHS Executive Director Anne Eddy visit with Leo, who is available for adoption. SHS Animal Care Technician Becca Riley of Chester, left, and SHS Executive Director Anne Eddy visit with Leo, who is available for adoption. SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Humane Society (SHS)’s new community room was packed with a wide selection of goods for sale on Saturday, Jan. 27, as Executive Director Anne Eddy and volunteers opened the sale to the public. Several shoppers showed up at 10 a.m., exclaiming over items such as a solid wood table, a well-made fleece dog coat, a soft pile of pet beds, and a vintage red handbag. The Weekly Wag Sales at the Humane Society have for several years been a popular fundraiser that directly benefits the Springfield animal shelter on Skitchewaug Trail. However, due to recent difficulty in pulling in enough combined volunteer time to keep them running each weekend, the Wag Sales will will have to close —at least for a while, Eddy said. The fundraiser will continue as giant indoor yard sales about every 2-3 months until more volunteer time becomes available to bring them back, according to Eddy. The weekly sale began about seven years ago, under the direction of Eddy’s predecessor Tom Browe to raise funds for the shelter, with the help of donated storage space. When the little house next to the shelter became empty, after a year of legal work the shelter was able to acquire it, and to use it for storage and the weekly Wag Sale. In recent years, volunteer Marilyn Blais took the Wag Sale project on as a volunteer, but she was putting in 40-60 hours of volunteer time each week just to keep it running, cleaning and pricing items and keeping it organized. “She did everything there,” Eddy said. After a few years, the constant project volunteer work was very tiring, Eddy said, and other volunteers’ hours were sporadic, just a day here or there. They did have a few volunteers, “but nowhere enough,” she said. So SHS made the decision, reluctantly, to close the weekly fundraiser for now. The Wag Sale will have a final sale this Saturday, Feb. 3 in two locations, the little house and the community room. They hope to reduce the inventory at the last official weekend Wag Sales. The shelter has a lot of inventory to sell at the moment. Some of the items are priced extremely low — for example, a topographical map of Chester and Andover was only 10 cents — and other items are marked at fair thrift shop prices, with some reduced to 50 percent of the marked price to help clear out their storage. Eddy said it is the shelter’s hope that they will be able to bring back the weekly Wag Sales. Meanwhile, the occasional giant indoor yard sales will take place in the community room, while the small house adjacent to the main building will be repurposed as a shelter for sick cats in isolation until they have regained better health. The SHS, located at 401 Skitchewaug Trail, serves the towns of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish, Chester, Grafton, Londonderry, Ludlow, Springfield, Weathersfield, Weston and Windsor. Anyone who would like to volunteer time, or otherwise help with donations, ongoing fundraisers or with animal care items, can contact the shelter at (802) 885-3997 or Spfldhumane@vermontel.net. For more information about the shelter and services, visit http://spfldhumane.org/.