Opinion
St. Croix Animal Friends strives to promote education among pet owners
March 31, 2010
Once in a while there is something local that will catch my eye, something that sails under the radar until I walk right into it.
This time, I walked into something that loves the color purple and cares for animals-right next door to River Falls.
St. Croix Animal Friends is a non-profit organization based out of Hudson, Wis.
Also known as SCAF, this organization has a unique proposition printed all over its purple brochures: while it isn’t affiliated with other shelters and does not want to ever be called a shelter, it wishes to construct an animal adoption and education center for St. Croix County.
SCAF wants a place to house animals in their time of need and to then find them a permanent home.
The organization desires to promote education about pet ownership and create a harmonious balance between animals and people.
That is a pretty gracious, immense goal to achieve for such a small organization.
St. Croix Animal Friends has been in existence for five years, formed as an answer to the lack of animal shelter and care centers in the area.
Since then, it has been raising funds to obtain land and began building an education and adoption refuge.
SCAF also has established itself as offering convenient services to pet owners in need, including affordable spay and neuter programs for area animals.
SCAF also has a unique sort of food shelter program, one that assists families with pets during difficult times.
It accepts donations of cat and dog food, cat litter, treats, and other animal necessities to distribute to local families in need.
SCAF’s goal is to insure that these animals are fed appropriately and “would not have to be surrendered to a shelter because its family could no longer afford it.”
This program helps keep pets in a home and out of an overcrowded shelter.
As a non-profit, SCAF holds fundraisers annually to help it reach its goal-and the uniqueness of this organization keeps coming.
Every year it hosts the Animal Walk, where participants can pledge miles while walking their (or someone else’s) dog.
The 2010 Animal Walk is scheduled for May 1st and offers prizes for top pledges.
For the third year in a row, SCAF will also be hosting “Blast from the Past,” a dinner and dance spectacular that takes places this Saturday, the 27th. From themed costume contests and limbo to music ranging from oldies to disco, SCAF manages to throw an interesting party for a good cause.
St. Croix Animal Friends is not a shelter, nor does it wish to be one.
It exists to build a place for animal lovers to meet their new best friends, and for animals to find a home while between families.
It’s refreshing to find such a humanitarian organization so close to campus.
SCAF can be found on Facebook (St. Croix Animal Friends) and also can be visited online at stcroixanimalfriends.org for opportunities to become involved.
There will also be a table in the University Center Tuesday, March 30th from 12:00 pm to 2 pm for more information on this local organization.
<b>Laura Krawczyk</b> is a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.