That’s the slogan for this year’s annual Furball fundraiser, with an emphasis on “stay.” This year’s event will feature exciting events all through the evening.

Andrea Bodholdt, vice president of the Almost Home Board of Directors, said this year will be a little different than previous Furballs.

“Typically, our Furballs have always been kind of a come and go event and you come and bid on your auction items and then the live auction was at the end, but this year it’s kind of an agenda evening,” she said. “We’re going to have three different sets of silent auction tables, so those will happen throughout the evening.”

The live auction is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. There will be live music from Jessica McClintock from 6 to 7:30 p.m. There will be a pet trivia game after the live auction ends. Dinner will be provided by Amigos.

-Messenger file photo
The Fort Frenzy silent auction item at the 10th annual Almost Home Fur Ball in March 2018 included a cute litter of toy dogs and puppies along with a pass. The annual event, held in the Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota showroom, raises money for the Almost Home shelter of the Humane Society of North Central Iowa.

“There’s going to be prizes and raffles and giveaways all throughout the evening,” Bodholdt said. “We have bingo again and bingo prizes. There is a cash bar and we will be featuring a shelter pet or two in the garage of the showroom. So we will have some animals there and some vendors. That’s new this year. Different rescues from around the area and other smaller businesses are going to set up tables to support the event as well.”

Bodholdt, who began as a volunteer at the shelter nearly 12 years ago, said the Furball is the shelter’s main and most successful fundraiser each year, but due to the pandemic, they have been unable to hold it in person the past couple of years.

“It is our biggest fundraiser,” she said. “We typically bring in $30,000 to $35,000 and that goes to pay for anything we need. We labeled it twelfth-ish annual Furball because last year was our 12th annual, but we held it virtually so this year is our 12th annual live Furball. The last two years we’ve gone without a Furball. So, you know if we take in about $30,000 that’s $60,000 that we did not have over the last two years. But we’re still here due to community support.”

Almost Home is a nonprofit shelter so it relies fully on donations.

“We are grateful for the Fort Dodge community and surrounding counties and partners with the shelter that give either on a monthly basis or routine basis or they just drop off a check,” Bodholt said. “That’s really what helps us pay the light bill and pay the water bill and for all the medications, all the dog food, cat food, cat litter.’

“It’s been quite a winter,” she added. “Our heat went out on New Year’s Day. To have someone come out and fix it was horribly expensive. But you know, it’s those types of things where we just have to build up a savings for all these emergency things.”

Bodholdt said they also use funds for medical needs for the animals. “If we need microchips, if we need vaccines, and we also get a lot of our spays and neuters done locally and there’s a donation that some of the local vet clinics have worked out so each month we can get some of those taken care of,” she said.

Bodholdt added that they sometimes hold smaller fundraisers but those are more supplemental as they are often subject to the weather and don’t bring it nearly as much money as Furball does.

Almost Home is still closed to the public but those interested in adopting can make appointments to come in and meet the pets.

The Furball is held at Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota, 2723 Fifth Ave. S. Owner Casey Johnson said they enjoy hosting events that help the community.

“There’s not a lot of places in town that can hold 800 or 900 people so that’s a big key and then of course we have plenty of parking,” he said. “We host a lot of things in our showroom and we like to use it for that purpose. We’re just really honored to be able to host events like this.”

“We encourage everyone to come out and attend and enjoy this evening,” Johnson said. “A lot of times people say they forgot about it or didn’t make it out and they don’t realize what they’re missing because it really is a fun night,” he said.

Matt Johnson, co-owner of the dealership, added, “We enjoy supporting Almost Home because people’s pets are part of the family and Almost Home is an important part of the community so we’re happy to support and help that cause.”