You wouldn’t know it by her smiling face and wagging tail, but Nova the yellow Labrador pup is lucky to be alive.
“She got into some sticks and got a sliver caught in her throat, and it got infected,” said Bev Shepherd, Nova’s owner.
Nova needed emergency surgery.
“I couldn’t have paid for half of it, all of it, any of it,” said Shepherd.
That’s when Judy Bobke and the Shawnigan Lake community stepped up to launch a bottle drive and help raise enough to cover Nova’s surgery. The bill was over $6,000.
“If it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t be here,” said Shepherd.
For Bobke, stories like these have become somewhat routine.
“People text and we help,” said Bobke, whose giving ways started a few years ago when the now 61-year-old was forced to quit her job due to serious health issues.
Alone at home and bored, she figured helping out her community was the least she could do. Bobke, an owner of several pets and an avid dog lover, started by volunteering and raising funds for the SPCA. In no time, she was helping out individuals in her community on a weekly basis.
“Well I kept getting messages asking for help and so Kim and Debbi and I started a bottle drive to help the community,” said Bobke.
Whether it’s covering costs for two brothers injured in a motorcycle accident or helping a family pay its gas bill, Bobke and her team’s bottle drives have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help those in need in Shawnigan Lake.
“I did it once and I kind of got hooked,” said Debbi Bigham, one of Judy’s main fundraising partners. “I got hooked because I liked the people I was doing it with and so we just kind of all stayed together and it’s the same group, which is nice.”
“It takes the whole village to make this happen,” added Bobke.
Bobke is quick to deflect praise, but those closest to her say she’s the philanthropic leader of the community.
“If it wasn’t for her none of this would happen,” said Bigham. “She’s the one that is always watching the social media pages up here. She has a huge following of people that will come and help her do anything.”
Like helping families in need over Christmas or even dressing up as a famous Disney character.
“Yes I’m Goofy,” said Bobke, who periodically puts on a Goofy mascot costume for birthday parties and other various charitable events.
“Goofy likes to raise money for animals, we raise money for sick kids, we do all kinds of stuff.”
Bobke is a firm believer in paying it forward and says the feeling of giving back makes all the bottle drives and dancing gigs, well worth it.
“At the end of the day, you see that you helped somebody and you see the look on their face and it’s amazing.”
Kevin Charach
