Before COVID-19, our volunteers had been attending Bingo sessions at the Delta Bingo location on St. Clair Ave. West. Volunteers would spend a two-hour shift walking through the space wiping down tables and machines, clearing away food trays and throwing out used Bingo sheets.
In exchange, our charity would receive a donation from the Bingo hall as they’re required to allocate a certain amount of their revenue to charities.
But when indoor gatherings were banned and Delta Bingo was forced to close their doors, we lost that regular stream of income.
The money we received each month was earmarked for veterinary bills, which have not stopped during the pandemic.
We’re happy to have received word that some Bingo activities are resuming now that Toronto is in Phase 3. Even though our volunteers aren’t able to attend the sessions for a few months, Delta Bingo will be starting to make donations (at a reduced rate) once again to EHS.
We’re very grateful for this funding, as it allows us to continue to provide the best possible veterinary care for our cats and dogs.
In the past, this money has gone towards vet care, and the donations have allowed us to spay and neuter more cats and dogs. All of our animals are spayed or neutered before they’re adopted as it’s an important medical procedure. Recently, Julia, a five-year-old cat, was brought to us as a stray. After treating a wound under one of her arms, she went in for a routine spay, which is when the vet discovered she was suffering from pyometra, a very bad infection of the uterus. Left untreated this could have been fatal for Julia. But because we were able to cover the costs of her medical care, she has now been adopted and is living a very comfortable life with her new family.
Now that funds will be coming from Delta Bingo once again, we’ll be looking at what vet bills are most urgent and will use that money to cover these costs.