The Southside SPCA is a local nonprofit that could use a raise. The Amazing Raise, set for Sept. 16-17, gives the Farmville community an opportunity to provide that raise in a big way.

“The SPCA will be at the Farmers Market in Farmville from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Wednesday for the event. If we have the most donations the SPCA could receive $15,000 in addition to what we raise during that 36 hours,” SPCA volunteer Joyce Eggleston said.

The SPCA event will include prizes and a dunk tank featuring local celebrities. SPCA volunteers will also be on hand with computers to accept online donations.

“We’ll have two live remote shows donated by radio stations WVHL (10 a.m.-1p.m.) and WFLO (2-5 p.m.),” Eggleston said.

The Amazing Raise, now in its fourth year, is an online-giving-event sponsored  by the Community Foundation serving Richmond and Central Virginia. Since 2011, donations and prizes from The Amazing Raise have infused local nonprofits with more than $5 million in unrestricted support.

“The whole idea is a $50 one-time donation made online with a charge card,” Eggleston said.

Those $50 donations tally up to determine the first, second and third place winners who will receive additional funding for their organization.

“I think were in fourth place last year,” Eggleston said. “Last year we raised $17,000.”

The SPCA web site states: “Southside SPCA is a donor-supported, no-kill animal welfare organization providing care and adoption services to homeless pets in 12 counties in South-Central Virginia. Operating almost entirely with volunteers, the Southside SPCA has saved over 36,000 pets since the organization’s inception in 1975.”

Southside SPCA’s programs include: Homebound Hounds that transports approximately 30-45 puppies to Massachusetts for adoption twice a month; Pixie’s Pen Pals/Fetch A Cure that partners selected inmates at Virginia prisons with SPCA dogs for training to make them more adoptable; A.D.O.P.T. (Adult Dogs Offered Professional Training) a program placing difficult-to-adopt dogs in training; P.A.W.S. animal sponsorship program; and The Pet of the Month featured in local newspapers. The SPCA also offers a free spay/neuter program.

“We have dogs for adoption at the Pet Smart in Midlothian every Saturday,” Eggleston said. “Last Saturday we had seven adoptions.”

Cats and kittens are available for adoption at the Pet Smart on Laburnam Ave. seven days a week.

“In 2014, the Southside SPCA took in 994 canines and had 971 canine adoptions,” SPCA Director Sandy Wyatt said. “We took in 266 felines and adopted 256.”

Funds are needed to keep adoptions and programs operating.

“We need the money to help the animals,” Eggleston said. “They are my cause, no doubt about it.”

For more information on the SPCA visit their web site: www.southsidespca.org.