HOWELL – The love of animals brought a crowd of people to the Associated Humane Society’s biggest fundraising festival of the year.
The Associated Humane Society, also known as AHS, is a community-based organization dedicated to rescuing stray and homeless animals in New Jersey. They have numerous fundraisers throughout the year, but this festival, called Bark Bash, is their biggest moneymaker.
The second-annual festival was held at Calgo Gardens and was open to the public all afternoon, offering pets to be adopted, professional pet photography sessions, raffles, donor and adoption information and live music to all in attendance.
All of the money earned from the fundraiser went directly to the Associated Humane Society, specifically towards their shelters and animal rescue centers. The society has three shelter locations in Lacey (at the Popcorn Park Zoo), Tinton Falls and Newark.
AHS had held their first Bark Bash fundraiser last year. Based on the results and requests following the first bash, AHS made some improvements: adding dogs and kittens to be adopted on-site as well as live music.
Samantha Burst, customer service and outreach events coordinator for AHS, coordinated the event and expressed significant gratitude to the volunteers keeping the festival afloat. According to her, over 30 people were signed up to volunteer for the event.
The event’s volunteers helped direct visitors and animals, as well as setting up tables and stations for each activity. Over 50 raffle baskets were assembled by volunteers, with funds from the raffle tickets going directly to AHS. The fundraiser was $10 for five regular prize tickets and $20 for two luxurious prize tickets.
Along with the fundraising activities, the event housed over 20 vendors; all small businesses that were somehow pet-related. This included homemade dog collars, pet accessories and more.
While earning money for the Associated Humane Society is the main source of reason for the event, Burst was also enthusiastic about bringing the society to Howell’s word of mouth. “A lot of times AHS kind of falls under the radar or people don’t realize that we’re different [from other shelters],” she said. “So this was really big for us to kind of put our name out in Monmouth County.”
The event, which was held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 12, was able to fundraise $14,000 for AHS’ shelters. There were also two dogs and one kitten that were adopted on-site by attendees of the fundraiser. Many attendees also expressed interest in some of the pets, with adoption processes still pending.
With over 600 attendees at the Bark Bash, Burst’s wish of the Associated Humane Society name spread was surely achieved.
“The whole point of us being out here is really just trying to put our name out there in Monmouth County. We’re one of the largest rescue organizations in the state. Since our Newark shelter services some really highly populated cities, we are always at maximum capacity,” she said. “So whether it’s raising funds or getting adoptions, our goal is just to eliminate the amount of homeless pets that we have in New Jersey right now. We are bursting at the seams and we need adopters, we need fosters, we need supporters, and that’s why we’re out here.”
For more information about how to help the Associated Humane Society, visit their website or visit one of their local rescue centers.
