MUSKEGON, Mich. — On the dance floor at the Polish Falcons Hall, Main Street Dueling Pianos belted out tunes in front of a crowd of dozens of people on Wednesday. By the end of the night, each of the prizes up for auction or raffle had been claimed, including an acoustic guitar autographed by Taylor Swift.
But the real winners of the night at the 'Piano and Paws' event were the shelter pets at the Big Lake Humane Society and Community Animal Clinic, which raised around $9,000 on the night.
"We look forward to this event every year, and the money raised here supports our mission that we're living and working in every day, helping homeless pets and helping keep pets with their families," said Big Lake executive director Alexis Robertson.
Big Lake doesn't host as many large events anymore. Robertson says that's because staff members are focused on the work they're doing at the shelter. But 'Piano and Paws' has been one of their biggest annual events and they were excited to keep it going this year.
"We as shelters can sometimes get so bogged down in what we're doing every day that we forget to share it and make people feel connected and understand what their donations are being used for. Sometimes what we're doing does feel so overwhelming and it's hard to be able to share with the community, but if we're not doing that, then we're not going to have the support that we truly need to be able to meet the mission that we have," Robertson said.
Winter is one of the busiest times of year for the shelter and even after Wednesday night's big fundraiser, the shelter could still use help.
"Coming through to the holidays, monetary donations are our largest thing. That's how we keep our doors open. But we do see a lull in volunteers as well, so getting people in the door and still walking dogs when it's cold is an awesome thing," Robertson said.
"If you don't want to get out, you can always just send something from our Amazon wish list. That's probably the easiest way to just connect with us."
If you'd like to help Big Lake, you can visit their website.