The North Beach PAWS Annual Dinner Auction, held earlier in the month, was a success, raising funds for the regular operation of the animal shelter.

The sold-out event was the first since before the pandemic, which shut down the annual event for several years, according to the shelter’s site.

“[The proceeds] will help the general operation fund, day-to-day expenses, food, veterinarian bills and operations costs of maintaining the buildings and the property,” said president of the shelter Lorna Valdez in a news release. “It’s something we count on when we can have this auction. It’s an important part of our fundraising.”

About 250 guests turned out, selling out the tickets, according to the release. Many local businesses from across the county donated items for auctions. Guests at the dinner bid on things like goods, vacation packages or sports tickets. Music and live entertainers also took part.

“[The event] was wonderful. I own two rescue cats, and Ken (Albert) owns three dogs, and we love animals,” said Christine Hill, who also performed musically at the event.

Shelter staff also updated guests on the state of the shelter’s planned construction of a new dog shelter, now in the fundraising stage. The new shelter will be significantly larger and up to modern standards of best practices, The Daily World previously reported, and is intended to ease a bottleneck in the adoption pipeline.

“I loved [Manager Nanette Sparrow’s] presentation, she did an excellent job on the dog shelter that we need,” Valdez added.

The shelter leadership extended thanks to all the volunteers and staff who worked to make it happen, and to those who donated and participated.

“It was a huge success, we sold out completely. It was a great turnout,” Valdez said. “George [Lee] and his crew did a wonderful job, the [Ocean Shores] Pirates were such a big help.”

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.