Nicola Redpath and the Prince George Animal Rescue Society now have a chance to keep helping local animals, thanks to a donation from 100 Heroes Prince George.
For those that are unfamiliar with the movement, 100 Heroes Prince George is where the community comes together, each pitching in $100, with that money then pooled together to go to one of three charities at each event.
Six days before the first 100 Heroes Prince George event, Nicola Redpath found out she had been nominated through a text message that morning.
"It didn't really sink in at that point because I didn't realize that it was a one-in-three chance of winning this," Redpath says. "I thought 'Oh that's nice.'"
She was then given the link to Colin Breadner's site (who created the movement 100 Heroes Prince George) where she started watching a video. That's when it really hit her.
"I thought 'Oh my God. This is like a one-in-three chance, holy smokes,'" she adds. "Then Colin got ahold of me."
She was told she would have to prepare a speech and then present it to all those in attendance, just as the two other charities that were nominated were required to do. When she found out, her mind went to one place.
"Full on panic mode," Redpath says.
Once she arrived for the first 100 Heroes Prince George event at Trench Brewing and Distilling on April 29, she had nothing but butterflies in her stomach.
"I felt like I was going to throw up," she says. "It was just a pit in my stomach. Doing the public speaking part, that's fine but never have I ever actually had so much on the line."
While there were close to 150 people in the room, she says it felt more like a million when she went up to give her presentation on why the Prince George Animal Rescue Society would be deserving of the money.
"I had to go first," Redpath says. "In a way, it was great because it didn't give me more time to stress. I was focusing more on the relief part than what the results were going to be at that point."
Then it all came full circle for Nicola when the cheque was flipped around by Colin Breadner showing it was made out to Prince George Animal Rescue for $14,000.
"It (her brain) was blank," Redpath tells PrinceGeorgeMatters. "It was a total blank. I was bawling and I was just shaking, my whole body was shaking and it was just unbelievable."
She was able to watch one of the videos of that evening in the following days and when she did, she said it hit her all over again, but was able to comprehend what happened a little bit more.
"I was able to relive it," Redpath says. "I don't remember any of it."
She says currently there aren't concrete plans on what the society intends to do with the $14,000 but there are some beginning ideas such as automatic waterers for the animals, to cut down on the time she spends carting around water in the summer or winter.
"This (funding) will streamline this so much," Redpath says. "It will help our volunteers do other tasks as well instead of filling the troughs, cleaning troughs, and all of that, so this is a huge thing."
As for the community of Prince George supporting her and the society, she says it gave her reassurance she's doing the right thing despite there being troubles along the way.
"Extremely humbling," she says. "There are moments in rescue work where you're like 'Oh God, why am I doing this?' or 'I think I've had enough.' You watch rescues come and go and no one seems to stick it out. There have been moments. I think last year, I had a moment where I was just done. So when something like this happens, it's extremely validating."
The society is not funded, which means they constantly have to fundraise and occasionally dip into their own pockets to keep things up and running.
"We work two other jobs," Redpath says. "Each of us to keep it afloat. We're drawing on our personal finances all the time so not having to do that, is huge."
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