Bridgton boy raises funds by sleeping at pet shelter

FRYEBURG, Maine — Oliver Blair, 8, slept over on Saturday night at Harvest Hills Animal Shelter in a bid to raise at least $29,000.

It is Harvest Hills’ 14th year doing the sleepover fundraiser and Blair’s second year, the pet shelter’s executive director, Joan McBurnie, said.

Last year, “Oliver was only 7 and wanted to do this,” said McBurnie. “It just was huge.”

Fundraising-wise, “it was our biggest year. I think he raised $24,000,” she said, adding, “I think because people just couldn’t get over this young man giving up his holiday.”

In 2021, Oliver, of Bridgton, came in just $1,000 short of his $25,000 goal. This year, he has set his sights on $29,000.

Oliver has also been volunteering at the shelter, where his mom, Meredith Blair, is Harvest Hills’ vet tech. Asked what motivates him to do the fundraisers for the animal shelter, the third-grader at Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton replied, “I like animals.”

One of his favorite dogs at the shelter is Sherman, an American bully. Oliver hopes publicity from his sleepover will help Sherman find a home.

Harvest Hills describes Sherman as “friendly, silly, wiggly, and ready to cuddle.”

“Sherman’s very nice,” Oliver said. “I want him to be adopted.”

Oliver is also fond of another dog named Bart and a cat named Smoke. In addition to giving the animals some TLC, Oliver had plans to hang stockings filled with toys for them.

Last year, Oliver slept on an air mattress, which he said his mom spent the whole night making sure was pumped up. This year, he will have a real mattress to sleep on.

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Oliver and Meredith will be joined by Meredith’s sister, Hilary Hendricks.

McBurnie said the fundraiser is appreciated, especially this year with the shelter having to deal with inflation and with the cost of electricity and heat going up. She said veterinary costs have risen because there’s no emergency animal care in Fryeburg anymore.

“We’ve had some big pet expenses with veterinary costs, because we’ve had to take them down to Scarborough or Portland to the emergency clinics,” said McBurnie.

At the moment, Harvest Hills is sheltering 12 dogs and 40 cats.

Of the sleepover event, “We’ll definitely take videos and post videos throughout the evening. Just to keep people updated and know what we’re doing and who we’re hanging out,” said Meredith.

To donate to the sleepover, go to GoFundMe; PayPal (on the Harvest Hills site); send a check to Harvest Hills Animal Shelter, 1389 Bridgton Road, Fryeburg, ME 04037; pay by credit or debit card over the phone; or bring cash to the shelter.

For more details, go to harvesthills.org/christmas-eve-sleepover.

You can also check out Harvest Hills’ Instagram account for videos of the sleepover.

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