The Montclair Animal Shelter’s “Our Pound in Town” Block Party was a huge success.
On Sunday, April 10, Jeremy Pholwattanna teamed up with the Montclair Township Animal Shelter and hosted a large block party, which was located right in front of the shelter on 77 North Willow St. Originally, the Block Party’s main purpose was to help raise awareness of the Animal Shelter and all of the community services it provides as “Our Pound in Town,” until some very unfortunate events occurred on the morning of April 3, when a fire broke out and destroyed the shelter.
Luckily, no animals or people were harmed. By the end of that day, shelter workers and neighbors who rushed over to the scene to help were able to save 70 cats and dogs. Due to this occurrence, the block party’s main purpose was to then raise money to rebuild the beloved animal shelter. Countless sponsors, vendors and Montclair natives came to show their support and help raise as much as they can. From places like Intrepid Gym to Cuban Pete’s, Uptown Art, Paint Mix NJ, In the Company of Yum, Doin’Dishes, Laborotorio, The Grooming Gallery and more, each set up on both sides of North Willow St. to promote, raise and provide encouragement. By then end of the day, they were able to raise a total of $42,780.
“Today’s Our Pound in Town Block Party fundraising event has absolutely exceeded my expectation and I am so grateful for this beautiful towns support and generosity,” said Pholwattana.
Animal control officer for the township of Montclair and close friend of Pholwattana’s, Randy Brenan, also had similar feelings towards the town and overall outcome of the event. “I am very proud of all of the support we got from the community. It’s a fantastic turnout and we hope to raise a lot of money to get the shelter rebuilt,” said Brenan.
Montclair Animal Shelter’s very own director, Niki Dawson, was completely blown away and grateful as well, only confirming just how great of a town Montclair truly is. “The only thing to say is as overwhelmed by the community’s generosity and support after the fire last week I was, this may have even surpassed that,” said Dawson. “Every time I turn around, I am overwhelmed by the positive energy and support that we are feeling today. I knew it was going to be a good day, but I didn’t realize just how many people were going to show up and lend their support. We currently have about $40,000 raised through our fundlink, which is fomtasnj.org, an online fundraising campaign. All proceeds are going today to that to help add to that amount. We are just incredibly excited to adopt out as many as we can today!”
The block party went on until about 3 p.m., and was an overall great atmosphere to be around with its live music, smiling faces, friendly pets and delicious food that Cuban Pete’s was able to provide for the town. A special thanks to everyone who was involved, and everyone who left with a pet that day!
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