The Humane Society of Beaufort County is in the planning, and collection, stage of its biggest fundraiser of the year: a dinner and auction Oct. 25.

This marks the 20^th year the nonprofit has held the event, raising money to support its spay and neuter program to help cut down on overpopulation of dogs and cats in the county.

“It’s definitely our major fundraiser and we really need to do well to be able to do the number of spays and neuters that we’re doing — we’re helping them to do all of them from the shelter,” said Dr. Marty Poffenberger, HBSC president. “When we started 20 years ago, we were going in the red. We had a small sum of money when we were going into it and would not have financially been able to do what we do — we certainly wouldn’t be able to do what we do now.”

This summer, the Betsy Bailey Animal Control Facility — the county’s shelter — saw record numbers of stray and feral cats come into shelter, a problem HSBC is tackling with its program: the more spay and neuter procedures it can help fund, the less animals will end up in the shelter. This month, HSBC is also offsetting costs for “Dog Adoption Month,” in which dog adoption fees are dropped from $65 to $40, a fee that pays for spaying/neutering, the first round of shots, a microchip and worming for each dog adopted.

The auction will be held at the Washington Civic Center and begin at 6 p.m. with a silent auction, accompanied by heavy hors d’oeuvres and beverages. A live auction starts at 7 p.m.

But right now, HSBC volunteers are looking for more items to add to their auctions and raffle table. HSBC is requesting items from the public to help their cause. Suggestions include re-gifted items, original artwork and crafts, but nothing will go to waste, according to Poffenberger.

“Really it depends. We look at things and sort of decide where going to use them — in the silent auction, the live auction, on the raffle table,” she said. “We like the bigger items, but we’ll use everything.”

The fundraiser regularly brings in crowds of animal lovers and more than $15,000 for the HSBC program each year.

“A good little saying: if you want to help animal, you adopt. If you want to help 100, you spay or neuter,” Poffenberger said. “Because you really save more lives that way and that’s where we continue to put our emphasis.”

Anyone who would like to donate items or buy tickets for the auction can call 252-946-1591. The deadline for both ticket purchases and donations is Oct. 17. Tickets are $30 per person.