MEAD, Wash. — More than 400 animals were evacuated to the Spokane County Fairgrounds in the aftermath of 2023's devastating wildfires in Spokane County.
The group behind the safe haven for these animals, now needs help of their own. Shannon Morse has a ranch in Mead with more than 100 animals. She also volunteers for the Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team (HEART).
"I realized that there's a lot of people who are not really prepared to get out rapidly," Morse said. "And so it's kind of my goal to help those people make the plans to safely evacuate."
HEART helps evacuate and shelter animals during natural disasters. When the Gray and Oregon Road fires torched hundreds of acres across the county, HEART stepped up to shelter the animals at the fairgrounds.
"There's just nothing that calls to me more than taking care of animals," said HEART president Marian Ortiz.
Months after the fires, she says the organization needs help. Ortiz says HEART uses more than $10,000 a year for their operations. All their money is raised from donations.
"We don't have enough volunteers as it is, we always need more volunteers. It's just, without volunteers, we don't operate," Ortiz said. "We have to pay for storage of our equipment we need right now a new cargo trailer to store equipment,"
To help get the funds, HEART is hosting its annual fundraiser on May 2 at the Shriners Event Center in Airway Heights. The event helps fund most of their yearly operations.
"There's always more that we can could be doing and more ways that we can be helping the community," Morse said.
If you want to buy tickets for the fundraiser or volunteer for HEART, check out this link.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
Apple TV: Search "Spokane News from KREM" in the Apple store or follow this link.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.