By — Mia Parada

This year has shown to be a year to remember, not only are we in the midst of a pandemic, we are also seeing a boiling point for human rights in America. With all of the challenges, we are seeing more people step forward to help their fellow community members in numerous ways. So the focus here is to take a closer look at those members of our community who are helping in extraordinary ways, giving a shout out to those who are doing their part to make a difference in these challenging times. 

This weeks’ Giving Back Thursdays is about Blue Ridge Center and their fundraising for Giving Tuesday. The Pack caught up with Annie Bradfield, executive director of Blue Ridge Center. Blue Ridge Center is a non-profit wildlife teaching hospital, rehabilitation, and education center. Blue Ridge Center cares for animals and educates people on how to better treat different species. One of the main purposes of the Blue Ridge Center is to have a healthy ecosystem for all species. 

“Our mission is to care for native wildlife by integrating veterinary medicine, rehabilitation, education and research. One of our current projects is the Wildlife Walk which is located next to our Wildlife Hospital and will be used to educate the public about our native wildlife and houses many of our ambassadors (animals that could not be released). We hope to open that to the public in the spring!” Said Bradfield on Blue Ridge Center’s mission. On Giving Tuesday Blue Ridge Center started a donation to help the funding of the non-profit. 

When asked Bradfield explains the purpose of the Giving Tuesday fundraiser for Blue Ridge Center. “At BRWC our patients do not pay for their care and treatment which can include medicine, surgeries, housing, and food. We rely completely on donations from our community to continue operations which is why we fundraise on Giving Tuesday. All the donations we received on Giving Tuesday will be used wherever the need is greatest – whether that is to buy medicines for our patients or to build more shelters for our longer term residents, the funds allow us to react quickly to whatever our patients need.” With this in thought Blue Ridge aimed to raise $15,000 for the non-profit. Thankfully they received over that amount with helpful donations. 

Blue Ridge Center shows through Bradfield that they were very grateful for all the donations and support on Giving Tuesday. “Giving Tuesday has become a very popular day for people all across the country to donate to the charities of their choice. We wanted to make sure we were on people’s minds when they were making the decision of where to donate – and we are fortunate that so many people thought of us!”