Metro East Humane Society Raises $38,000 at Annual "Slumber Pawty" Fundraiser

EDWARDSVILLE - Metro East Humane Society recently raised over $38,000 with a 24-hour “Slumber Pawty.”

The event encouraged volunteers to spend 24 hours at the shelter with the animals. Mady O’Reilly, MEHS Development Manager, explained that the experience allowed people to engage with the dogs while fundraising for veterinary care, food, facility upkeep and more.

“It’s just this really awesome event where we decided that we’re going to all get together and we’re going to spend 24 hours at the shelter, because at the end of the day, shelter pets just want someone to cuddle up with just like any other dog,” O’Reilly said. “The event has been really awesome to be a part of, and it really has done so many amazing things for all of the pets here.”

The idea behind the “Slumber Pawty” was started in 2017 at Gateway Pet Guardians in East St. Louis. MEHS joined in 2019. As the initiative has grown, there are now annual Slumber Pawty events in 53 shelters across the country and even a few in South Africa, Tanzania and Brazil.

This year, 26 volunteers at MEHS participated in peer-to-peer fundraising to raise money for the shelter before the party. On the night of, they spent 24 hours at MEHS playing and cuddling with the dogs in their kennels.

O’Reilly shared that MEHS partnered with Madison County Animal Care and Control to sponsor the event, and Animal Control Manager Katherine Conder spent the evening with a dog that MEHS had received from Madison County. This special interaction underscored the importance of the event.

“It can be really emotional because you have that time that you really just sit, and you really just get the full perspective of what these shelter dogs see on a daily basis until someone comes and picks them up and takes them home,” O’Reilly explained. “If 24 hours feels like a long time, imagine weeks or months before you can really get out of there.”

The experience was positive for the volunteers, and it also did a lot to help the shelter. O’Reilly noted that all of the donations they received will go toward caring for the animals. As the shelter is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, this money will have a significant impact.

She emphasized that while the Slumber Pawty was a great success and raised “a substantial amount of money,” people can support the shelter year-round by donating, volunteering, adopting, fostering, or simply spaying and neutering their pets. She said they bring in approximately 30 animals every week, including a recent litter of puppies with severe mange. Spaying and neutering your animals can “help stop the overflowing faucet of pets without homes.”

“It’s not only adopting or fostering the animals that are here. It’s also helping prevent additional animals going into the system,” O’Reilly said. “We operate [our spay and neuter program] five days a week in our clinic at Edwardsville at a low cost to be able to help really combat the overwhelming number of pets that exist without people there for them. That is one of the best ways that you can help, by being proactive with your own pets.”

To learn more about Metro East Humane Society’s low-cost spay and neuter program, click here. You can visit their official website at MEHS.org for more information about the shelter, including how to donate, volunteer, or adopt a pet.

“Events like this are really crucial to being able to just continue doing what we do,” O’Reilly added. “We provide the best care that we can, but even the best care that we provide still doesn’t hold a candle to being out in a foster home or getting adopted or going on those dog adventures that we offer, just quick breaks out of their kennel just to make their lives better while we wait for them to go home…In order to continue being able to do that, we need people to show up for those pets in a lot of different ways.”

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