One Moose Jaw girl has happily donated $1,025 to the Moose Jaw Humane Society, after making and selling cement garden turtles this fall.
The idea began when five-year-old Mia Richards made a cement turtle for her mom, Mercedes Langley, for Mother’s Day.
“We like to do a donation to the [Humane Society] every once in a while, so I thought, well maybe we'll just get a few together. We didn't know how many we would it end up selling,” said Langley.
Roberts decided to sell her homemade turtles, so she could make a donation to the Humane Society and help the shelter with food for their furry guests.
“We got the money for the puppies and kitties so they can get food and get homes, so they can be loved,” said Richards.
Richards and her turtle team — her mother and grandmother — made 78 turtles in her grandmother’s garage, after putting their idea out onto Langley’s Facebook page Junque.
The team had so much response from Moose Jaw that they had to actually stop taking orders, to ensure they had enough time to fill their requests.
“It was really great to see the amount of response that we got. Mia was very excited, she takes it very seriously,” said Langley. “She had her mission of making turtles and she did really great.”
Humane Society executive director Dana Haukaas is grateful for Richards’ generous donation, especially as she knows how much Richards loves visiting the animals at the shelter.
“[A thousand dollars] is an overwhelming amount of money for a little girl, and for her to raise all that money and give it all to the homeless animals in Moose Jaw is pretty amazing,” said Haukaas. “Mia is kind of a frequent flyer here at the shelter. . . and she always loves to come and see the cats and the dogs, who also love to see her.”
Langley operates a furniture-refinishing business here in Moose Jaw, Junque, and often donates furniture to the Humane Society, much like her daughter’s project to raise money for the shelter.
The Humane Society’s plan is to use the donation to purchase food for the shelter animals, as that was the request made by Richards, although Haukaas mentioned that donations can often be put towards medical bills and other needs around the shelter as well.
Langley and Richards are already looking ahead to this spring, as they are planning on continuing the project and taking more orders for the charitable cement turtles.
Langley encourages anyone interested in purchasing a cement turtle to support Richard’s donation to the Humane Society to keep an eye on her Facebook page for when orders open up again in the spring.
