MVAS raises money after theft

POLSON — The Mission Valley Animal Shelter raised more than $3,800 at the Doggy Dash last weekend in Polson, but unfortunately, those donations will now go to off-set a break-in and robbery at the shelter’s thrift store, Seconds 2 Go, last Wednesday night.

According to MVAS board member and former president Jackie Smart, thieves entered through a window, which they must have opened during daytime hours. Polson’s assistant police chief John Stevens said the till was on the ground, pried open and the safe was missing. The store’s safe contained six days worth of sales, Smart said. There was no missing merchandise, as far as store volunteers could tell, but the vandals kicked down the office door and the back door’s lock to exit. They also broke the till.

“It’s very frustrating,” Smart said. “If somebody needed something, we would give it to them. We need the money, too, because we’re a non-profit, but we’d help them out.”

Former MVAS board of directors president and thrift store volunteer Pam Gibson was the first on the scene the following morning.

“I am so angry about this on so many levels,” she said. “Number one is not only that somebody would steal from a charity, but that they even took the little donation jar, with pennies and nickels that was next to the cash register. It couldn’t have been more than $8, but that is money that people have consciously given to the animals. It just hurts your heart that somebody would do this.”

Gibson said the break in has already changed the way the thrift store handles security. Some new security measures have already been installed, with a full security system on the way.

“The big thing is, if people put stop payments on their checks and come in to write us new ones, we would really appreciate it,” she said of one small portion of the loss, even though most of the checks the store receives are under $20. “I don’t expect much of that to happen, but if people would step forward, we would appreciate it.”

All the money raised at last Saturday’s Doggy Dash goes into the shelter’s general operation fund, the same account the thrift stores profits feed. Running strong for close to fifteen years, the event is the privately owned and operated shelter’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Participants raise pledges for the dash, which is a three-mile loop from the Travis Dolphin Dog Park in Polson, around the Polson High School and back along the bike path to the park.

“It has evolved over the years,” Smart said of the event’s times and locations. “This has worked out pretty well because people still have the rest of the day.”

Ronan’s Eunice Maher and her dog Skye were the top money raisers this year. Smart said Maher has been a longtime MVAS supporter and appreciates her dedication to the animals. Polson’s Karen Woodger was second.

Jackie Ladner and her dog Jesse were shoe-ins for the owner-dog look-a-like contest that took place after the walk. Ladner wore a white sweat-suit with a blue leash around her neck and matching pig tails, resembling her long-legged bichon frise mutt, Jesse.

“He was a shelter dog,” Ladner said. “I’ve had him for a year and he was a nut when I got him. We’ve really worked together.”