Highland Lakes Canine Rescue raising funds ahead of Amplify Austin Day
Donations through Amplify Austin Day help Highland Lakes Canine Rescue keep its doors open so it can find homes for dogs such as Heidi. Courtesy photo
Highland Lakes Canine Rescue is already benefiting from Amplify Austin Day, even though the special donation event is still more than a week away.
One anonymous donor through Amplify Austin has pledged to match the first $10,000 to the local dog rescue, while another has offered a $25,000 matching grant to be distributed among all animal care and service nonprofits.
Highland Lakes Canine Rescue is a no-kill shelter that rescues abandoned, homeless, and abused dogs. The organization rescued 250 dogs last year, 70 percent of which had medical issues that other shelters wouldn’t take on.
Amplify Austin Day is a 24-hour fundraising drive — 6 p.m March 4 to 6 p.m. March 5 — that connects Central Texas community nonprofits with donors. Donations are also accepted ahead of the actual day.
“This is a benchmark day of the year that helps us communicate to the community we have a need and how they can help,” said Susan Willis, executive director of Highland Lakes Canine Rescue.
The rescue is just one of 760 Central Texas nonprofit organizations participating in the event, which raised $12.3 million in 2020, roughly $33,000 of which went to the local dog rescue.
The event also highlights what Highland Lakes Canine Rescue and other nonprofits do.
“We get dogs with injuries, mange, heartworms,” Willis said. “We had three pregnant dogs last year, so then you’ve got puppies. Many of the other shelters around Austin, Marble Falls, Georgetown, they don’t have the space or the time to heal them, but we do.”
The money being raised now is going, in part, toward a power generator and insulation for its shelter. While these would benefit the facility during situations like last week’s winter freeze, when it lost power for several days, the improvements will greatly help during periods of extreme heat.
Other money raised will go toward food, kennel maintenance, medical treatment, and operational essentials.
Events such as Amplify Austin Day generate matching funds, which means donations go further.
Last year, money raised through Amplify Austin proved essential to keeping Highland Lakes Canine Rescue going, Willis said.
“This whole movement, it helped us keep the lights on,” she said. “If we didn’t have the donations we had at the beginning of the year last year to help us float into really creative ways to raise money when COVID was at its height, we would have had to shut the doors.”
To make a donation or learn more about Amplify Texas, visit its website.