On Sunday, Tin Roof was filled with music, students and barking.
For The Love Of Paws, a fundraising event put on by USC students, benefitted the Columbia Humane Society with a silent auction, live music and food.
HRTM 386, a class at USC known as Tourism Festival Planning and Management, spent the entire semester preparing for their final exam, For The Love Of Paws.
Professor Annette Hoover said the first day of class, two nonprofits presented their causes and students voted on the charity they wished to pursue.
Students chose The Humane Society when Erin Smith, Director of Public Support for The Humane Society told them, “Over the course of seven years reproduction by two cats can lead to almost a million cats.”
The students organized the event planning into committees. Each committee had a general manager, but every student worked hard.
Courtney Gmerek was the general manger for the Marketing and Media Committee. Her committee created a website, Facebook and Twitter pages and television and radio stations to help spread the word.
Gmerek said the hardest part was getting in contact with people but saying she was a USC student helped.
Megan Anderson was on the Operations Committee, which made sure the event ran smoothly. The entire event had no budget to work with, so she had to ask local businesses for donations of everything from tents to tables and chairs. Additionally, the Operations Committee was in charge of setting up and taking down these donations for the event.
Carson Ensley was on the Sponsors and Donors Committee. This included securing donations of money and food. Large corporations like PetSmart didn’t respond, but local donors included Yellow Dog Barbecue, Village Idiot and Groucho’s did.
"If I can help in any way I try to. If somebody comes up to me and says they need help, I'm right there to help them,” said James Norman from the Finance Committee. His committee role was keeping track of the money and helping with ticket sales.
"Our goal through this event is to raise awareness about exactly what the Humane Society services are,” Smith said.
The Humane Society averages 40 spay and neuter operations per day and 9,000 per year. This prevents animal overpopulation, which would lead to many cats and dogs becoming strays and possibly being euthanized. The Humane Society also offers immunization and heartworm services at the lowest prices in the state.
In addition to ticket sales, the silent auction also benefitted the Society. There was a wide variety of items, including a dryer, a dog start-up kit, works of art and a Steve Spurrier autographed pylon.
The goal of the Humane Society for the funds is a mobile spay and neuter clinic to reach rural areas. Some places are too far for people to drive to get their pets what they need, so the society hopes to take the services to them.