App raises money for Sask. animal rescues just by walking

REGINA – A new app allows you to raise money for the animal shelter of your choice, just by walking.

An Indiegogo campaign raised $20,000 for ResQwalk and now, each week, a donation pool is divvied up between the participating shelters in Canada and the United States, depending on how far supporters walked.

This week, 620 shelters and rescues are part of the app and the donation pool sits at $1,000.

The Regina Cat Rescue, the Saskatoon Humane Society and SCAT (Saskatoon’s Street Cat Rescue Program) are three Saskatchewan charities on the list this week.

“I think people will find it really refreshing because we’re not asking them to open their pockets,” said Rachel Molnar with Regina Cat Rescue. “So far we’ve only raised about $4, but we’re hoping as more people download and start using the app we can raise a lot more.”

The $4 was raised by Regina Cat Rescue supporters walking a total of 8.79 kilometres last week. The money per kilometre changes each week depending on how many walkers partake and the distances travelled.

The Regina Humane Society applied to be on the ResQWalk app, so it’ll likely be added to the list next week.

“It really gives control to the donors on how they want to give,” said Karen Dackiw, development director with the Regina Humane Society.

ResQwalk was created by a couple in New York but it has a Saskatchewan connection.

“I don’t know if it’s a function of the fact that my husband is from Saskatchewan, so we have lots of good vibes coming through the province, but we just had amazing support,” said founder Bailey Schroeder. “The idea with ResQwalk is to be able to give people the opportunity to help, without having to spend any money or do anything outside of their daily routine.”

Schroeder is hoping to secure corporate sponsorship to continue the program beyond September, when the Indiegogo fund runs out.