Supply drive benefits two local animal shelters

Tori Chesnut and Heather Craddock are coworkers at ERA Town and Campus Realty, and they hosted a supply drive for the two main shelters in Starkville and West Point on Saturday. People were able to stop by with the whole family, which included the furry family members, and donate supplies to help animals.

Chesnut and Craddock will drop off the supplies that were donated on Tuesday to the Oktibbeha County Humane Society and the West Point Clay County Animal Shelter. This past year has been hard on everyone, and the animal shelters in the area have unfortunately felt that.

The WPCCAS recently saw damage due to the February ice storm, and they are still recovering from that. Most annual fundraising events are in person, and because of COVID, it has put a lot of strain on nonprofit organizations like animal shelters. Even with grants, places like OCHS and WPCCAS rely heavily on donations from the community to stay in operation. Having supplies donated allows these shelters to turn their monetary focus to facility maintenance and upkeep.

“We wanted to reach out to the community, and me and Mrs. Heather are kind of new to ERA so we gravitated toward each other and we both have dogs at home,” Chesnut said. “I’ve volunteered at Oktibbeha County, and she’s volunteered in West Point. We were thinking that during COVID, they couldn’t really get out and do their normal fundraisers or supply drives, so we figured it wouldn’t be much work for us and it’s for a great cause. It also helps us get to know the community a little better.”

Each person who donated supplies got to take advantage of the hot dog table they had out, and they also had Deja

Brew right around the corner offering free pup cups which is just whipped cream in a cup that of course all of the dogs loved.

The Girl Scout Troop 20117 out of West Point came along to support the supply drive and to sell Girl Scout Cookies to passersby, and they got the pleasure of meeting one of the nineweek old puppies named Kenan from the Oktibbeha County Humane Society.

Chesnut and Craddock are happy to give back to the community, and they along with ERA Realty look to do more events like this throughout the year.

“We have seven dogs, so when OCHS does their five dollar rabies shots and stuff like that, I take full advantage of it,” Chesnut said. “So why not take an opportunity to give back?”