The Parksville SPCA calendar has never been able to raise a lot of funds for the association, but Paddy Mark wants to change that.
Mark is volunteering, for her third year, and putting together the Nanaimo SPCA calendar.
Over the last couple of years she has raised around $30,000 at that branch.
A few years ago she said she didn’t get a call about putting her animals in a calendar and wondered why. The Nanaimo branch told her they didn’t have a volunteer to do it, so Mark said she’d take it on. She has had such success she wants to extend that to the Parksville branch.
A family doctor in Lantzville, Mark said she has seen a lot of abuse in her profession, and she finds it very disturbing when it involves the helpless.
“The animals have absolutely no say in anything,” she said, adding as human beings, people should do whatever we can to protect all the helpless, including animals.
Mark puts a picture of an animal on each date of the calendar, which is a $25 donation, and then each month has a pet of the month, which is $150, and the picture on the front is the pet of the year, which goes for $500.
People can e-mail pictures to her or she can get pictures scanned. Mark said often people will put a picture of their animal as a memorial, and it’s not just cats and dogs that go in the calendar.
“I get farm animals and there’s even goldfish in here.”
Mark needs the pictures for next year’s calendar in by the beginning of September.
For more information on putting an animal in the calendar, or if there are any questions email Paddy Mark at paddy.animals@gmail.com.
Alternatively contact the Parksville SPCA at 250-248-3811.