Cupcakes giving unwanted animals a better life

By Kristen Oelschlagel.

BELLEVILLE (23/01/13) Jennifer Nicholls, and one of the cats up for adoption at the Quinte Humane Society, show off one of the paper cupcakes for National Cupcake Day. Photo by Kristen Oelschlagel.

Jennifer Nicholls has been involved in helping animals for years, but her latest project is the icing on the cake.

“National Cupcake Day is actually an initiative put out by the SPCA of Canada. They approached local SPCA’s and humane societies and asked if they want to participate,” Nicholls said.

Participants in National Cupcake Day can sign up as a team or individual and fundraise by baking cupcakes for people who donate money to them or by holding a cupcake party for friends, family and colleagues. Nicholls, who has raised $145 herself, is heading up the event for the Quinte Humane Society.

“This is the inaugural year so we don’t know how it will go. We’re hoping it will be a yearly fundraiser to raise a few thousand each year,” Nicholls said.

Brittany Koffman, community development coordinator for the OSPCA, said the event is the first of it’s kind in Canada but has been successful in other countries.

“The idea was gifted to us by the RSPCA in Australia, they’ve been running the event for a couple of years. There are over 40 agencies in across Canada participating,” Koffman said.

The Quinte Humane Society is home to around 3000 animals per year and can have around 150 to 200 animals at any time. But Nicholls said because of lack of funding, they can’t serve the community as best as they could.

“We need a new building. We’ve used this one for many decades and we just keep repairing and repairing, we just don’t have the room to serve the community. If we had more room we could definitely serve the communities better.”

The official National Cupcake Day is February 25, but participants can hold their cupcake parties anytime up to that date.

There will be a public event for the Quinte Humane Society on February 16 at PetValu in Belleville.

For more information on National Cupcake Day go to www.nationalcupcakeday.ca.