Ross in Owensboro Hosts 2nd Annual 1000lb Challenge

For the second year in a row, the Ross Medical Education Center Owensboro Campus hosted their annual 1000 Pound Challenge in conjunction with the Owensboro Humane Society. Over three weeks, staff, faculty, and students worked hard to collect items for the Humane Society. They brought in items that they had purchased and also decided to bring the cause to their community. They spent time encouraging local businesses, families, individuals, and friends to bring in pet friendly items of which the Humane Society was in desperate need.

After spending time collecting the items and looking forward to the weigh-in, the final drop off date for donations was October 10th from 9:00am to 1:00pm. According to Melissa Becht, the Owensboro Humane Society solely relies on donations from the community, so events like this are huge for them. The Owensboro Humane Society is a no kill shelter and is currently housing 24 dogs and over 100 cats. Melissa is on the Humane Society, and she stared, “we are not county founded, so events like this are a huge benefit to us.” On the big day of the final drop-off and weigh-in, the Humane Society also set up a booth at the Ross drop off location so that people could learn how to adapt a friendly pet.

This year’s drive was very exciting. Last year was the first year of the event and the Owensboro campus was able to donate 600 pounds of items on the Owensboro Humane Society’s wish list. Some of these included dog and cat food, pet shampoo, blankets, cleaning supplies, cat litter, dog and cat toys, garbage bags, etc. This year with the help of the community, students, faculty and staff we were able to donate 1024 pounds of the many items listed on their wishlist to the Owensboro Humane Society! Campus Director Latasha Shemwell was ecstatic that the campus met their goal for the Humane Society and can’t wait to host the event again next year.