FOLSOM, La (WGNO) — While Folsom is about 50 miles from New Orleans, a nonprofit group there counts GiveNOLA Day as its biggest fundraising event of the year.
“We’re only as strong as our community makes us,” Big Sky Ranch Executive Director Catherine Wilbert told WGNO News.
Big Sky Ranch rescues animals along the gulf coast and provides essential medical care before finding new homes for them. Often those homes are in other parts of the country.
“Last year alone, we drove 84,000 miles to 33 adoption partners is 18 states,” she said. “Out west, up north and in the northeast.”
The group helps mostly dogs and cats. The medical care can be expensive as can the cost of delivering the animals. But the team handles the work at no charge.
“It is all volunteer. The drive, the 3,000 mile round trips everywhere, everything is volunteer,” Wilbert said. “So 100 percent of that money goes to fund the medical for the animal and the drives.”
This year, the group has an $80k fundraising goal for GiveNOLA Day. To help with the effort, it added a fundraising party with live music, crawfish boil and raffle at its Folsom location.
