Watermelon Mountain Ranch hosts a Pampered fundraiser

This summer, Watermelon Mountain Ranch is holding a fundraiser through Pampered Chef, a multi-level marketing company that sells a variety of kitchen items from almond syrup to zesters.

"They like giving money back to organizations. Whether that be dog rescues or Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts," said Angie Spiker, a Pampered Chef consultant that is working with Watermelon Mountain Ranch.

"Every dollar raised by these kinds of fundraisers is going to the animals in need, so if the check ends up only being a couple hundred dollars, that's a couple hundred dollars toward a medical bill to be paid when we've got dogs needing bloodwork done because they're extremely overweight. We've got animals on really specific food that can't be donated. It's a prescription-only that costs us hundreds of dollars a month," said Sara Heffern, executive director of Watermelon Mountain Ranch.

The funds raised can also go to the upkeep of the facilities used to house the animals.

"If a gate gets torn down, if electricity goes out in the building, they have to figure out a way of getting funds for that and due to those fundraisers, they get them immediately. It's especially helpful if we ever get an animal with special needs, like an animal that needs invasive surgery that might cost 10 grand. That's not something that we can just pull out of our pocket. Since we're a nonprofit, everything is just put into that Excel spreadsheet, and it's to the penny. So when those things come up, we are at the public mercy and they come through with us every single time," said Garret Humphreys, kennel manager at Watermelon Mountain Ranch.

Each year, the ranch both takes in and adopts out around 1,500 animals and since 2002, Heffern says they have helped save more than 200,000.

Of all the animals they take in, a majority of them are from municipal shelters.

"Right now, municipal shelters are absolutely drowning. We're getting calls from as far as Florida to take pets," said Heffern.

Because of this, Heffern says they want to put more money toward growth, which includes improving existing facilities and and adding more buildings to increase their capacity.

This increase is needed due to the ranch's status as a no-kill shelter. Because of that, Heffern says that the animals stay with them until they have a home, even up to multiple years. She noted a pit bull they have had for eight years that has not been adopted and who recently had a $2,000 procedure to have a tumor removed.

But recently, less adoptions have been occurring, specifically dogs.

"Dog adoptions are down across the nation," Heffern said, adding that cat adoptions are on the rise.

"People are getting into all the other animals. There's a lot of reptile adoptions, there's a lot more people getting fish. It's kind of just getting more diversified," said Humphreys.

Due to this drop, Heffern says that dogs are staying with the ranch a lot longer.

She says that another reason for this drop is because people adopted more frequently in the pandemic and no longer have the space. Not only that, but Heffern says that financially, it's become more difficult for people to handle multiple pets.

The fundraiser has been running since June 17 and will end Aug. 2.

Ten percent of all purchases made through this link will go to Watermelon Mountain Ranch. If more than $650 worth of product is sold, then the amount donated will go up to 15%. In August, any sales made will double to either 20% or 30% if the ranch has passed $650 in sales.

On June 23, in just under a week since the fundraiser started, the ranch met the $200 sales threshold and became eligible to receive the funds they raised. Spiker says that's an average timeframe to reach the threshold this time of year but that the total sales depend on the supporters.

As of July 8, the fundraiser has sold $416.50 worth of product, which generated $41.65 for the ranch itself.

"I’m hoping we can get at least to that $650 threshold so they can get the maximum benefit!" Spiker said.

Watermelon Ranch does not have a fundraising goal. Spiker says she doesn't go into fundraisers with expectations of how much will be raised.

She says that the most popular items are spatulas and brownie pans. "There's so much stuff there and it's such good quality that you really buy it once and you probably won't have to buy it again," she said.

Each item comes with a different warranty that ranges from one year to a lifetime.

Watermelon Ranch also accepts donations through various fundraisers they do throughout the year and donation links on their Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as their website, wmranch.org under "Ways To Give."

The ranch accepts donations besides funds as well, including items and volunteered time.

"For us, it's all about the public support, so everything from volunteers, to fosters, to donors. And donors, it's not always just monetary either. It's donating towels and gently used sheets that we can use, too, on campus. It's you're picking up a bag of food at Costco and grabbing a bag too and dropping it off. It doesn't just have to be these huge donors that are giving us money. It can just be the little things donating items for us to put in the store. It literally can just be the small things."