28th Anniversary Celebration Fundraiser A Success
May 6, 2020
On Tuesday, May 5, the supporters of Turpentine Creek came together to celebrate our 28th anniversary. Due to our temporarily closure due to COVID-19 the celebration was moved online, but it was still a wonderful day of like-minded animal lovers getting together to support our Refuge.
Although our official anniversary was May 1, we decided to host our celebration on May 5 due to the pop-up national fundraising day #GivingTuesdayNow – a national day of giving to help support nonprofits during COVID-19. Throughout the day we featured live video, enrichment, games, memory posts, and of course a fun, engaging environment for our supporters to show their support of our mission.
Without your support and donations we could not do what we do daily, nor could we save the lives of survivors of the big cat trade.
Initially, we had set a goal to raise $28,000, but some of our supporters stepped up and offered various matching donation that equaled $23,450! Because of this, we changed our goal to $42,000 the day before our event! Our supporters rallied behind us to not only meet that goal but also surpass it! In total, we raised $50,598 in a single day of giving!
We offered 63 items on our online auction, most of which were items made by our animals such as paw paintings, boomer ball key chains, and spool flowerpots. These unique items were very popular and overall our auction raised $10,637, which is over 20% of our total raised throughout the day!
These donations are a much-needed boost to our finances. With our temporary closure, our income has dropped over 35%. We luckily had some money set back incase of emergencies but that amount is quickly being depleted. We have reduced our expenses to help manage costs but are still running at a deficit.
It costs approximately $140,000 – $150,000 per month to just maintain our most basic expenses such as salaries, utility bills, and buy basic supplies. Luckily, Tyson has donated enough meat for us to provide our basic big cat diets, but we still have to purchase produce for the bears and meat for our animals on special diets. We are also paying for medicine for our animals and the supplements that go on the food.
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us over the last 28 years. You have helped us with our mission, saved lives, and are helping us create a better future for big cats in need. Hopefully, in the near future laws will be passed and facilities, like ours, will no longer be necessary.
We still need your help, please consider setting up a recurring monthly donation to help us get through our COVID temporary closure at www.tcwr.org/donate
