Regina Humane Society hosts annual fundraiser telethon Sunday night

Cute cats, dogs and other animals could be getting a helping paw from the people of Regina.

The Regina Humane Society (RHS) is hosting its 33rd annual telethon Sunday night.

This year, the fundraiser hopes to bring in $65,000 dollars or more.

Bill Thorn is the director of marketing and public relations with RHS. He told 980 CJME the fundraiser is even more important than usual, because of the pandemic.

“It’s been quite a year. It has been for a lot of people. In fact, our telethon last year aired on March 15, and it was March 16, the very next day, that things started shutting down due to COVID … It’s become even more critical than normal, due to the fact that we’ve had to cancel a lot of our fundraising events,” he explained.

The shelter will use any money brought in many different ways, all aimed at helping out the animals.

“It goes to just about every corner of the organization. Our adoption program, lost and found, all of the medical care that we’re providing for animals, the education and outreach programs that we have, those are all 100 per cent donor-funded,” he said.

“We get 3,500 to 4,000 animals coming through our door each year. Each one of them has its own story, and its own needs, and we want to be there for each and every one of them.”

Thorn is also excited about the show’s content this year. He shared some of what you can expect.

“Besides raising the money, it also gives people an opportunity to see what their money does. We’ll be talking to people that have adopted animals, we’ll get some updates on some past guests that we’ve had at the shelter, some behind-the-scenes looks at what goes on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

You can watch the telethon on Access TV or online here. It starts at 6 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m.