This week, Senator Tony Luetkemeyer and his dog Truman visited FOPAS to deliver an amazing gift - $44,000 raised for the animal shelter!
Senator Luetkemeyer selected our shelter to be the recipient of funds raised for the 2025 Senate Bowling Tournament, and we couldn't be more grateful.
The co-chairs of the board wrote a heartfelt letter in thanks:
Dear Senator Luetkemeyer:
We want to thank you personally for nominating our non-profit organization to be the
recipient of this year’s Missouri Senate Charity Bowling Tournament proceeds. We are
grateful that you thought of our shelter and were ecstatic to learn of the results. Please
know that the amount raised means so much to an organization such as ours which
operates almost exclusively on donations.
It is also rewarding to know that the efforts of our small shelter do not go unnoticed in
the community. We rely heavily on the generosity of our community not only for our
funding, but also for the care of our animals. We are fortunate to have 175 volunteers
who come in on a weekly basis to feed, clean cages for, and spend time walking,
playing with, and loving the animals in our facility. Countless other volunteers contribute
their time to fundraisers, social media posts, Saturday adoptions, and other important
endeavors.
The last few years of our 25-year journey have been difficult ones in terms of keeping
our donations at the same level as our expenses. COVID had an impact on the majority
of our fundraisers, and the economic climate has seen donations to non-profits such as
ours dwindle. However, we have successfully brought back one of our biggest
fundraisers, Chocolate4PAWS, and are actively incorporating more fundraisers into our
calendar.
The amount raised by your tournament means so much to our volunteer base which
works tirelessly on these fundraisers and caring for our animals each and every week.
The timing could not have been better as we hope to move forward another 25 years
being “the little shelter that does.”
Sincerely,
Julia Trumpold - Co-Chairperson, FOPAS
David Woolwine - Co-Chairperson, FOPAS
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