Humane Society of El Paso finds creative ways to fundraise during pandemic

EL PASO, Texas -- After closing its doors due to the pandemic, the Humane Society of El Paso had to find new ways to continue its annual fundraising events.

“Covid-19 has impacted the Humane Society of El Paso and many other non-profits in our community," said Deb Benedict, executive director for the Humane Society of El Paso.

“When the pandemic originally hit the county, we were forced to close our doors to visitors and patrons and to anyone that was not considered an essential staff member,” Benedict said.

Because of that closure, many fundraising events held at the shelter had to be cancelled or changed.

"One is our K-9 Classic. That was held in April and because we were still under the order that did not happen,” Benedict said.

In addition to fundraising events, the shelter had to cancel educational events that they hold every summer for elementary school kids. Traditionally, those camps were held at the Humane Society campus and were one of the programs that they were not able to offer because of Covid.

Another event is the annual, “Be a star, Save a life” telethon held every year at the KVIA studios. The telethon will still go on, but things will just look a bit different.

“Rather than doing it at the station, we’ve reformatted it to go virtual with the majority of our phone bank members answering the phone at home and many of the interviews will be held virtually or pre recorded,” Benedict said.

Despite the changes, shelter employees are grateful for the donations the El Paso community has continued to provide— and they are hopeful that the shelter will soon be back to normal.

“Our volunteers have also slowly come back on campus and we look forward to continuing to gradually reopen services," Benedict said.

Make sure to join us this Saturday, August 1st for the 27th annual “Be a star, Save a life,” Humane Society telethon airing on ABC-7 starting at 4 p.m.