Humane Society holds cat adoption event, rummage sale

Home City News Humane Society holds cat adoption event, rummage sale
Humane Society holds cat adoption event, rummage sale
A cat at the Hillsdale Humane Society.
Collegian | Tracy Wilson

After taking a year off due to the pandemic, the Hillsdale Greater Humane Society will be holding its annual rummage sale from Nov. 11 to 14 at the fairgrounds in the 4-H building. According to social media manager Jenna Wood, anyone in the Hillsdale community can donate items during the rummage sale drop-off, which will be Nov. 9 and 10. 

“It’s one of our biggest things,” shelter manager Jill Nichols said. “They missed it last year because of COVID, so that was a big hurt for us.”

According to senior Danielle Bagenski, who leads the Humane Society GOAL program at Hillsdale College, student volunteers play a large part in getting the rummage sale up and running.

“They spend the time sorting through all of the stuff people donate, pricing it, organizing it, and they really do all the set up work for the shelter, for the actual rummage sale,” Bagenski said. “I really like seeing how the students work with people in the community in the shelter. It’s a time for everyone to work together, and so maybe you meet someone that you haven’t met before, and you get to know them.” 

The leftover items from the rummage sale will be donated to Hillsdale Thrift, Nichols said.

Another upcoming event is the PetSmart adoption event in Jackson from Nov. 8 to 13. 

The shelter is also holding an adoption event from Oct. 26 to 30, where anyone with an approved adoption application can adopt an adult black cat or kitten for 31% off. 

“Last year, we had three full litters of black kittens come in,” Wood said. “This year, we only have 5 or 6 total.”

Another program is Happy Tails, which allows owners of newly adopted pets to update the shelter on how the pet is doing with their new family.

“Stuff like that makes me really happy because we get to see them in their new homes and getting all the love,” Wood said.

Nichols said the shelter is also welcoming volunteers. One prior student volunteer, she said, would sit with the cats while doing his homework.

“We need more volunteers, we need more socialization with the animals,” Nichols said. “The dogs need to be walked all the time.”

Bagenski said volunteering helps to prepare the animals for life in a home.

“The shelter really does the heavy lifting. But, it’s really hard for a shelter to give all the animals all the love and the attention that they want while also fulfilling their needs. We come in and we really help socialize them,” Bagenski said. “It’s a really great way to remember that there’s something larger than yourself going on in this community.”