Continued from page 15
and spread the message of the great
things we do. Volunteers are part of
our ever growing family and we just
can’t have enough of them.” When
Deel was at the microphone describing all of the great things happening
at the shelter during the evening’s
program, he was surprised by Master
of Ceremonies Drew Springer
who made a personal donation of
$100,000 to help kickoff the shelter’s capital improvement campaign.
He said, “Drew Springer and I have
gotten to know each other pretty well
in the recent months. The story of
his involvement in the Weatherford
Parker County Animal Shelter is
pretty special, even before his very
generous gift at the event. I had an
inclination that Mr. Springer was
going to make some jokes about me
and the shelter. When I was asked to
stay on the stage, I braced myself for
some light-hearted fun. When I found
out that he was committing to giving
the shelter $100,000, I was completely caught off guard! Even though we
didn’t win the event, we really were
the winners of the night.” Springer’s
gift is going to help the animal shelter
Heather Jundt Bullard accepting the Chef of the Year
award on behalf of Short Chef Creations
as it moves into the future. His gift is especially important to kick-start the
shelter’s capital campaign. According to Deel, “Often it only takes one large
donation to kick-start a campaign of this magnitude, and then others start
quickly falling in line. This money will go towards either the Isolation and
Treatment Center, Medical Surgical Center, or other planned renovations
that the shelter is hoping to have. The shelter has increased its Live Release
Rate (LRR) so high, that we rarely are forced to euthanize anything that is
not aggressive, sick, or injured. With the construction of the Isolation and
Treatment Center, we will be able to start treating animals that have minor
illnesses like the Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex and then
save even more efforts.”
SEPTEMBER 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Will Wakeland, Benevolent
Bachelor of the Year
19