It can be rough when you’re a dog or cat without a home.

The Cape Coral Animal Shelter has a fun way of bringing people and pets together for a night of play and snuggles through its annual fundraiser, PJs and Paws — A Night at the Shelter. Meow in its sixth year, participants dress in pajamas, often bringing matching sets for the dog or cat with which they get paired, and spend the night at the shelter.

The non-profit organization, meant to be a temporary home for animals until adoption, is raising money to expand its facility.

Dressing for bed with a 4-legged friend

This year’s Pjs and Paws was set for Feb. 27 at the shelter at 325 SW 2nd Avenue in Cape Coral. Participants were asked to raise a minimum of $2,000 each with the goal of raising $40,000 total.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun,” said shelter Executive Director Liz McCauley. “I hate to say it, it’s my most fun event because we really just kind of hang out and have a pizza party and hang out with the dogs and the cats all night and it’s fun.”

The night will be filled with reading bedtime stories, going for walks, playing games, “sharing quiet cuddles, and simply spending quality one-on-one time together,” she said. Participants and pets also will take part in a painting party, “where dogs and cats (with a little human help) create colorful abstract art that participants take home as a keepsake of this special night.”

Looking to expand, how much does the shelter need to raise?

Cape Coral Animal Shelter opened in 2020 and started the PJs and Paws event in 2021 when holding fundraisers at public spaces wasn’t allowed or advised because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

“Volunteers were laying in the beds with the dogs and they’re petting them and they’re singing to them and some of them were reading and they’re just hanging out with the dogs in the kennels. And I thought, you know, why not have a pajama party?” McCauley said. “My board of directors was like, ‘that’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in my life. Who’s going to want to sleep over at the shelter?’

“And we did it that first year and we raised $36,000 in one night and people loved it,” she said. “And so, it’s kind of snowballed.”

Since opening, the shelter has found homes for more than 6,000 animals, McCauley said. “We’re real proud of that.”

With room for only about 100 animals at a time, McCauley said the organization has plans to triple the size of the facility on its existing property, land it leases from the City of Cape Coral for $1 a year for 100 years. The end fund-raising goal is $8 million for construction of the new 19,000 square-foot shelter building and expansion of its veterinary clinic, she said. About $5 million has been raised so far.

J. Kyle Foster is a senior growth & development reporter for The News-Press & Naples Daily News. Reach her by emailing jfoster1@usatodayco.com.

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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Cape Coral, Florida, animal shelter holds annual overnight PJs event