Business, band make a donation to Humane Society

ELKINS -- Thanks to a local business and a group of musicians, the Randolph County Humane Society received a donation that will help obtain some of the organization's needs.

DiBella's 3rd Street Bar & Grill recently teamed with the band Checkerboard Sky for a fundraising event at the business. The collaborative effort raised $770 for the Humane Society.

"I was contacted by Evan Morici from the band, who said they wanted to do something to help raise money for us," Humane Society Board of Directors President Tina Vial told The Inter-Mountain. "We are very thankful for the money that was raised at DiBella's during a special event."

During Checkerboard Sky's performance at DiBella's on Aug. 25, all tips went to the Randolph County Animal Shelter.

"These types of things are so valuable to us," Vial said. "When community members step up and take it upon themselves to do something, it really matters and makes a difference. Because we are a small board and volunteers who can't be everywhere doing everything all the time, we really count on the community to do these types of things."

Vial said when money is collected from events, it is used for a variety of needs at the shelter.

"We use the money depending on what the need is, but operations are basically the main thing," she said. "Vets bills and payroll are the two highest expenses in our budget. But we also have to do all the other things like maintain the building and provide medicines to the animals. It's a business and it has all the expenses a business does, plus some extras because it involves live animals."

DiBella's 3rd Street Bar & Grill owner Larry DiBella said he was pleased with the turnout during what was described as a fun-filled night at the business.

"We have a good friend that works at the Humane Society and the band wanted to come do something, so we put this together," DiBella said. "The night went very well and we had a great turnout. The band stayed late and we were able to raise some money for a good cause."

Morici said he came to DiBella with the idea about a month ago and the two agreed to make it happen.

"After I talked to Larry about wanting to do the event, I made sure it was all right with the Humane Society," said Morici. "We ended up having a great turnout. It went really well."

Checkerboard Sky consists of Morici (sax), Steve High (rhythm guitar), Pete Tenney (lead guitar), Tom Barton (piano), Steve Holmes (bass) and Nick Gartman (drums). Morici describes the group as a jam band with a Grateful Dead type of sound.

Vial said the Animal Shelter is currently filled with animals and any support they receive goes a long way.

"We are beyond full right now and it's an issue that every single shelter and rescue in the nation is dealing with," said Vial. "We can't do any transports anywhere because they are full. It's a situation we haven't seen in 20 years and we are not really sure why, because we are getting adoptions, just not as many as we need to clear the shelter. 

"But if being full all the time is because we don't euthanize healthy adoptable animals in order to make room for other healthy adoptive animals, that means we have to turn some away, and that hurts our hearts. That's the trade off and it just means that we need to depend on the community to do what they can for us."

Vial said the Humane Society always needs volunteers to help with various tasks, including walking dogs, working in the "cat room" and providing support at fundraising events.

The Randolph County Humane Society will offer its 11th Annual Spay-ghetti Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 9 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Orchard Hall. The event is one of the organization's biggest fundraisers of the year. The spaghetti will be prepared by the St. Patrick's Guild of Coalton. The dinner will include a 50/50 raffle. 

For more information on the shelter or any of its upcoming events, including tickets to the dinner, go to www.rchswv.org.