MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Animal Outreach annual fundraising dinner drew so many people it overflowed the room at the Moses Lake American Legion Post 209 Friday night. The annual “Spay-ghetti” dinner is one of three main fundraisers for the organization, said director Carmon Derting.

An after-expenses count won’t be available until later this week, but Spay-ghetti 2016 netted the animal shelter about $3,000, Derting said. The crowd overflowed the Legion’s back room out into its dining room; Derting said a preliminary count was about 70 people, although people kept showing up throughout the first hour. Along with raising money, the GCAO staff used the occasion to announce plans to build a new shelter.

“What we do is house displaced animals,” Derting said. In 2016 that meant the shelter took in 2,021 displaced cats, dogs and other animals. That’s a lot, but the number is actually decreasing as pet owners spay and neuter their animals, she said.

“We care for them. We do everything we can for them,” Derting said of GCAO’s clients. The staff works with other animal adoption partners to find new homes.

And lost, strayed or otherwise wandering animals that end up at GCAO usually will find a home, either back to their owners or someplace new. Of the animals that came through its doors in 2016, 1,363 were adopted to new homes and 406 were returned to their owners. Unfortunately some were too sick or injured; in 2016, 140 animals were euthanized.

The average stay for a dog is 10 days, and 14 days for cats, Derting said. Pet owners should call the shelter when their pets have gone missing – sometimes that’s where they are, she said.

Grant County Animal Outreach is a private, non-profit organization that depends on donations and fundraisers. Along with a spaghetti dinner, Friday’s fundraiser included speakers and an auction.

“The community donates 98 percent of our cat food and dog food,” Derting said. Aside from normal operating expenses, the biggest expense is veterinary bills for treating sick and injured animals. Derting said GCAO spent about $53,000 at the vet in 2016.

The dinner featured speakers from the Yakima Humane Spay and Neuter Clinic, Wags and Whiskers in Ephrata and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. Animal control deputy Larry Ledeboer shared some tips for taking care of animals, both domestic and livestock, answered questions and talked about the role of the animal control unit.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].