February 24, 2017 at 2:01 p.m.
'Taste of Italy' dinner benefits pet neutering service
'Taste of Italy' dinner benefits pet neutering service
By Kayla Thomason-
Karla Ortman, founder and board vice president for The Fix Is In, said the turnout was about average, but she was pleased with it.
"I'm happy with it, it's always great to have a lot of new faces come through and familiar faces come through. So, yeah I'm happy with the turnout," she said.
Participants enjoyed a delicious dinner, dessert bar and raffles.
Paul Hagen, attending the dinner for the third time, was happy to support a good cause.
"It's a great fundraiser, it really provides a fabulous service," he said. "The whole country could stand to do more neutering and there's too many animals for the amount of people really, so they're doing a great service to the Northwoods."
Rick Covin, also a veteran of the event, agreed.
"I think it's a great event, not only is The Fix Is In a wonderful resource for the community but they do great work and this event is a nice way to come here and help them out," he said. "It's extremely important to spay and neuter your pet, matter of fact people who don't spay and neuter their pet are really contributing to a large problem not only here in Rhinelander but across the United States. The Fix Is In is so easy and so inexpensive to get this taken care of for your pet if you say you can't afford it that's not true because The Fix Is In will help you in a very reasonable way."
Jenny Zahner said she believes it's critical that affordable spay/neuter services are available in the Rhinelander area.
"I think it's really important and a lot of people need to get their pets spayed and neutered but can't afford the big bill for it so really a great cause I think," she said, adding that she had pet fixed by The Fix Is In.
"It's really a good, quick, efficient way to get it done and they have a lot of people, I'm pretty surprised at the volume of people that use them and I give their name out every time," she said.
Zahner is aware of the benefits of spaying and neutering pets and encourages others to do it to.
"Spaying and neutering elongates the life of the pet, (they are) much healthier, they usually live a little longer, they don't stray, they don't mark. So really think about getting your pets spayed and neutered," she said.
The event raised approximately $4,000 which will be put into a general fund to replace and maintain equipment, keep costs for customers low.
As of the end of January, the organization has neutered 14,485 pets since July of 2012.
"I'd just like to add how important low-cost spay and neuter is and it's really the key to reducing homeless pet overpopulation and that's something that has proven itself, especially this year nationwide there was a period of time this summer when a lot of shelters within Wisconsin were low on cats that were available for adoption, so we're starting to see the impact of low-cost spay and neuter," Ortman said.
As a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, all donations are tax-deductible. For additional information, visit www.thefixisin.org.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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