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The Lethbridge and District Humane Society has been matching pets with new owners for about nine years. But they always need help, so they are excited about an April 29 concert/fundraiser featuring Canadian rocker Sam Roberts.
“It’s a big departure from our usual fundraisers,” said Barb Grodzicky, the Lethbridge and District Humane Society haven manager.
The organization doesn’t receive any government funding, so it depends on donations and their usual fundraisers including their annual Dog Jog and the Barebones half marathon, as well as an assortment of other events such as bake sales and T-shirt sales and pet photos with Santa during the Christmas season.
“The Sam Roberts band are big animal lovers,” she continued.
This will be the first such event, so organizers are hoping it goes well.
“This is a nice additional fundraiser,” she said.
Organizers, Full Circle Entertainment, approached them about the idea and they were happy to accept the invitation.
“We don’t know how much money it will raise. We hope it will be a lot and that it will be a soldout concert. Everybody is really excited about it.”
The Lethbridge Humane Society, at its location 2920 16 Ave North, has room for 10 dogs and up to 50 cats, all of whom stay there until suitable homes and owners are found for them.
“We don’t euthanize to make space; we only euthanize if they are in poor health,” Grodzicky emphasized.
There are a variety of reasons why animals are taken to the Humane Society.
“Sometimes the owner has health problems. Other times, the owners are moving and can’t take them with them,” she said.
In some cases, abandoned animals are brought in.
She said very few of the animals come in because the owners lost their jobs and can no longer afford to care for their pet.
They have a variety of breeds of dogs including lots of Labrador mixes, several collie mixes and lately several rottweiler mixes. Most of them are larger dogs.
“Sometimes we get smaller dogs,” she said.
Fortunately, most of the animals don’t stay for long.
“Our longest resident has been here for six months. Most of them are gone in three months. Other times it is as quick as two days,” she said.
Sometimes, it can take a while to match the right dog with the right owner.
Cats are different, however.
“We have one cat who is nine or 10 years old. He has been here for most of his life, but she’s the resident cat now,” she said.
The animals are well cared for.
“They are all happy dogs. There are no unhappy animals here,” she said.
Roberts, who has a string of radio hits including “Don’t Walk Away Eilleen,” “Them Kids,” “Lions of the Kalahari,” and “Where Have All The Good People Gone?” is almost as excited about premiering the music for his long-awaited new CD “Collider,” as he is about supporting the Humane Society.
“If you can do something like this, it’s nice to add this extra dimension to what we do,” Roberts said from his Montreal home.
His band has two tour dates — Lethbridge and Lac La Biche — before the actual tour for the CD, which will be released May 10.
“Hopefully there will be a good crowd. We come into town for one night, but the people at the Humane Society are working 365 days a year,” he continued.
“The most important thing is that the show inspires people to get engaged with the Humane Society. Hopefully it will raise some awareness and some money. But most importantly, it helps inspire people to get engaged in their community.”
He is looking forward to returning to Lethbridge.
“I think the last time I played there was four or five years ago. It was a typical bar show in a Roadhouse-type place. It looked like an old factory. It was five or six years ago,” he said.
He said the show will consist of some new material.
“A lot of things have changed. It’s been almost three years since I released a CD,” he said.
“People like Neil Young and Bob Dylan used to put out CDs every year. Now it doesn’t make sense to put a new CD out as often.”
The music from the new CD is very much based on rhythm.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of blues music and Afro-beat music. Those are the things I like to listen to. And I’m still going through all of Bob Dylan’s music. I always learn something new from listening to it about how to write a song,” he said.
“I’ve always been a rhythm and melody guy.”
However, expect to hear some new favourites as well.
“I think we’ll draw from the well of some of the old chestnuts, but we’ll definitely be playing a lot of the songs from ‘Collider.’ These are the songs we’re excited about now. It’s hard to play a set of oldies when we have all of these new songs burning a hole in our pocket.”
The concert is April 29 at 8 p.m. Special guests The Dudes open.
Tickets are $50 for the floor and $45 for the upper stands. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Lethbridge and District Humane Society.
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