On July 8, a few officers from the Muncie Police Department took a tour of the Muncie Animal Care and Services Shelter, which currently shelters over 350 cats.
However, they realized the shelter was in serious need of supplies. The shelter was left with an abundance of young kittens after spring.
The officers decided to find a way to help their local shelter, and decided to form a very clever partnership to raise supplies.
In a live Facebook video from July 15, the department announced that, for a limited time, locals could pay off their police tickets by donating cat supplies of equal value.
“If you have a $25 parking ticket, you can bring up to $25 worth of cat food or litter to the Clerk’s Office, and you can get your parking ticket to go away with the exchange of the donation,” Officer Jamie Brown says in the video.
The promotion lasted just a few days, from July 15-19, but apparently, plenty of people took them up on the deal. If you gotta pay up to the law, you might as well help some cats while you’re at it, right?
Soon, the shelter was receiving stacks of food and supplies for their cats. But even more inspiring, most of it was just straight donations from people without police tickets.
“Most of these people didn’t even have a parking ticket,” the Muncie Police Department wrote on Twitter:
A lot of people have donated cat food and litter this week! Most of these people didn't even have a parking ticket 😬. @MuncieACS can always use pet supplies! We are glad this this week’s unique promotion helped spread the word! Thanks Muncie!#petsofinstagram #Muncie pic.twitter.com/GWvtmKMraR
— Muncie Police (@MunciePolice) July 19, 2019
The ticket deal was a big success.
But whether or not you have some overdue parking tickets, it’s a reminder that animal shelters are always in need of a little help from their community. You can always donate… or even better, adopt.