Jacksonville residents will have the chance to make their friends jailbirds — but for the benefit of cats and dogs.
Bail for Fur Babies, a fundraiser presented by Jacksonville Pride, will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at the old Jacksonville jail, 408 E. Center St. Jacksonville Pride, which holds several service projects throughout the city, is holding the inaugural event to raise money for the Jacksonville Animal Shelter and to help the Jacksonville Historical Society revitalize and reopen the historic jail, which currently isn’t in use.
“We’re a nonprofit group, and we’re working to beautify Jacksonville and make our town better,” said Debbie Fulton, Jacksonville Pride founder.
Bail for Fur Babies will allow people to spend $10 on a warrant for someone else’s arrest. Once that person is in jail, he or she has 30 minutes to call as many people as possible in order to raise bail money. The structure comes with a bit of twist, though, Fulton said.
“Your friends can pay $1 per minute to keep you in there, so while you’re calling people to get you out, your friends are keeping you in there,” she said.
Individuals can also put themselves in jail for free, she said. There is no set amount of money someone must raise in order to be let out of the cell. After 30 minutes — or longer, depending on how much money friends have spent to keep them in there — the person will be released.
Fulton said a Jacksonville Pride member came up with the fundraising idea about three weeks ago, which is around the same time the organization began a painting project for the jail. Fulton said Jacksonville Pride doesn’t shy away from doing things “spur of the moment.”
“Anybody who comes with an idea to raise money, we try it,” she said.
Fundraisers like Bail for Fur Babies help the Jacksonville Animal Shelter sometimes waiver animal adoption fees.
“We’ve not euthanized [animals] for over two years, thanks to the money that’s come in,” said Hedy Wuelling, Jacksonville Animal Shelter animal-control supervisor.
Wuelling and Fulton said they would like to see at least $5,000 raised at Bail for Fur Babies.
“Of course, any fundraising toward us is great because that’s what we use to get all the dogs and cats vetted,” Wuelling said.
Wuelling said the animal shelter is currently full and has about five animals that are nursing. She plans to put an animal-control officer in jail during the event and pay the $1 a minute to keep him in the cell.
“Community involvement is really good for the shelter,” Wuelling said. “This is really nice. I think it’s awesome.”
Wuelling said that sometimes, the shelter gets a monthly veterinarian bill of $4,000, and other expenses can be up to $1,500. Since the shelter is mostly run with donations, it needs as much financial help as it can get to support all the animals the shelter houses.
“Any pet that comes deserves a second chance and will get adopted,” she said.
She also encourages pet owners to spay and neuter their pets so the shelter won’t be overloaded.
Other local organizations have also gotten involved with the fundraiser, which will sell food and drinks. The NAACP Jacksonville Branch will provide a grill, First United Methodist Church will donate ice and water, and restaurants will donate items such as hot-dog trays, napkins and utensils, Fulton said.
“We’ve got people in our town that care and are helping us out,” she said.
Fulton said it’s important to support the animal shelter because of what it does for the city.
“I’ve never seen an animal shelter work as hard as these people do to save every life that comes in the shelter,” she said. “I’ve never seen an animal shelter work that hard to save these babies.”
Fulton said she hopes to see at least 100 people attend the event and buy a $10 warrant.
“If we can get $10 per person, that’s $1,000,” she said. “You know how many animals that would help support?”
Fulton said she hopes the event will encourage residents to focus on being a community again, instead of just a town.
“You’ve got two organizations bending over backward to do everything they can to save our town and our citizens,” she said.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.