Local Instagram page raises over 10K in 24 hours for animal shelter

SALT LAKE CITY — A local Instagram page focused on dogs in Salt Lake City has raised over $10,000 in one day.

Brandy Chenoweth runs the Dog Friendly SLC Instagram account, which features her dog Scout. Last week, a volunteer with the West Valley Animal Shelter reached out to her, asking if she could share the shelter’s fundraiser for food.

Chenoweth asked why the shelter was fundraising because she had seen the shelter fundraise for food before.

“[The volunteer] kind of let me know that that’s a pretty consistent need for them. And that some dogs were only getting fed once a day, which was pretty surprising to hear,” Chenoweth said. “Once [the volunteer] said that, I knew that we needed to kind of figure out how we could help.”

‘I cried’

After hearing what the shelter was going through, Chenoweth felt like she had to act. That’s when she had the idea to ask for $7 in honor of Scout’s seventh birthday to raise money for the shelter.

Within a 24 hour time period, the fundraiser had raised up to $10,000.

“I cried when we hit $1,000,” Chenoweth said. “Now I wish I could go tell myself or like, telling that crying person that we raised 10 times that, is… crazy.”

Chenoweth said the majority of donations came in under $10 from over 500 people. As of Sunday, Chenoweth posted on Scout’s Instagram account that the fundraiser had raised over $15,000.

“That is also the astounding thing,” Chenoweth said. “It shows the power of, like, small actions by a big community.”

According to the volunteer who first spoke with Chenoweth, the shelter will use the money mainly for food.

“The intent was always to help them with food,” Chenoweth said. “But we definitely will also be helping with treats, probably some, like, GI supplements, things like that.”

Chenoweth said she has yet to talk to the WVAS but she said they will hopefully meet within the upcoming week.