BY JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
As many groups and associations have had to adjust to COVID-19 restrictions this year, fundraising has proved to be more difficult than in previous years due to social distancing and other pandemic guidelines and restrictions. The Humane Society of the High Plains is just one of these many organizations that has been affected by limiting conditions.
Traditionally, the Hays Humane Society puts on a Soup ‘R Bowl feed that has been hugely successful in past years. The money raised from the Soup ‘R Bowl goes to medical care for the animals.
“The Soup ‘R Bowl has been going for 24 years. Every year the event gets bigger and better. It does feel quite different not being able to put on the Soup ‘R Bowl this year,” Sierra Diehl, President of the HSHP board of directors said. “We have been extremely fortunate to have such a great community and supporters that have given us donations throughout the year, it has really helped relieve that stress.”
This year, the Humane Society has opted to do a Cookbook Sale fundraiser in order to make up for the loss of the Soup ‘R Bowl. The Cookbook is made from about 10 years of previous Soup ‘R Bowl cookbooks, combined into one large book. There is a huge variety of soups for everyone to try at home. When asked about the predicted success of the Cookbook Sale compared to the formerly accomplished Soup ‘R Bowl fundraiser, Diehl was hopeful, but also realistic.
“It’s hard to predict the success of the cookbook, we have only recently started the fundraiser. The Soup ‘R Bowl is our largest fundraiser each year, it would be hard to compare the two,” Diehl said. “So far it is going well. We have gotten quite a few order forms in, and continue to get more each day.”
The pandemic has not only affected the Soup ‘R Bowls fundraiser, but rather the Humane Society’s fundraising as a whole. Diehl states that while the society has struggled to stay afloat, it has had a fantastic and full support system to lean on in a time of need.
“We have had our share of issues but we have a lot of great supporters who helped out with fostering animals when needed and put in a lot of extra hours to make sure the animals were well cared for,” Diehl said. “We are so thankful and appreciate all the great work and are very thankful to our great staff. Though our board of directors handles most of the fundraising, we also have local businesses and groups that reach out to us wanting to do various things.”
Everyone has been playing their part to make sure the animals are well taken care of and though the association is at a fundraising standstill currently, there has been talk of many future plans. Diehl said that COVID-19 has put a temporary hold on doing other in-person fundraisers, and keeping the community safe has been a priority. However, the HSHP has been discussing different ideas of fundraising events they could hold.
“It has been a positive aspect of everyone having some extra time on their hands due to COVID-19. We have been able to look at previous fundraisers as well as come up with some new ideas that we think will be fun for the community,” Diehl said. “Hopefully later this year we are able to do Paws and Pints, reschedule the golf tournament, and dine out days at local restaurants.”
To order one of these cookbooks, they are available at https://hshponline.org/fundraisers in a printable form. Once that form is filled out, it can be mailed with payment to the shelter. The form is also available on the Hays Humane Society Facebook page. In the coming weeks it will also be available to purchase at the Humane Society.