Come From Away remembers its roots with $15K grant to Gander SPCA

The Gander and Area SPCA is $15,000 closer to its brand new home, thanks to the hit musical Come From Away.

The money comes via the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDSFoundation, explained SPCA manager Bonnie Harris.

"What the foundation does is they often invite a show to make a special grant in their name to an organization," she told CBC on Wednesday.

"Our good friends at Come From Away decided that the Gander and Area SPCA was the organization that they'd like to see receive this money."

The organization has been raising fundsto build a new "much-needed" shelter, said Harris.

The building itselfis pegged at around $600,000, plus an additional $200,000 to outfit it with proper kennels and other equipment.

"We have been fundraising like crazy ... so this money is going to go toward our building fund," Harris said, adding the group has about $150,000 left to raise.

'Absolutely wonderful'

Shenoted it's far from the first time the cast and others involved in the Broadway hit have used their star power to raise money for the organization.

About $10,000 was raised by the production selling calendars on Broadway that featured photos taken during the show's pre-Broadway run in Gander.

"Everybody and anybody involved in this show has been absolutely wonderful,not just to the Gander and Area SPCA, but to the community as a whole," Harris said.