Erin Price’s pun game is strong, but not as strong as her passion to champion a cause.
“Like a dog on a bone, I will not stop,” said Price, who led a two-and-a-half-year effort to get a new sign for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (OSPCA) Orillia Animal Centre. “I’m just so happy it’s finally here.”
The modern, LED sign far outshines its worn and dated predecessor, which was donated to the centre in January 2001. The new one is bigger, more visible and will allow the OSPCA to promote its animals and events.
“It’s to promote what’s going on at the centre at the time, and creating awareness is important, too,” centre manager Carol Beard said, adding there are plans to display some of the animals along with information about them.
While Price led the charge, it was a community effort that allowed for the purchase of the $28,000 sign. Local businesses donated money and space for fundraising events, and individual donors ponied up cash, too.
“It’s been a huge, huge project,” said Price.
While soliciting donations, Price had the opportunity to explain why something like a sign was so important to the non-profit.
"It took so much energy to convince people who would think, ‘Why am I giving you money for a sign when there’s a dog who needs medical care?’” she said. “My answer was, the idea of the sign would generate awareness and income for the centre, and the spin-off is we’ll have a lot more money for the animals.”
Beard said she and her staff were “super-impressed with the whole process.”
“It started with Erin having a vision and, from that, it came to be a bigger and better sign than we’d anticipated,” she said. “There was so much help from the community. A huge thank-you from everybody here.”
