Two animal shelters in Platte and Holt counties will be fundraising in a unique way on Thursday.

The Paws and Claws Adoption Center in Columbus and the Holt County Animal Shelter in O'Neill are welcoming Jordan's Way on March 23.

Jordan's Way is a non-profit started by Kris Rotonda in honor of his dog Jordan, who was a rescue.

Rotonda has visited shelters all around the nation to help raise funds by hosting fun challenges and bringing the community together.

"I'd really like to do the doggy jail one," said Diana Kohl, shelter manager for the Holt County Animal Shelter. "What that consists of is five people in a dog's kennel. Whichever team gets the most donations during that time is the winner and the losers have to do some kind of challenge."

"It gets the community involved," said Cheri Vetik, manager of the Paws and Claws Adoption Center. "We've reached out to all of our local businesses, even individuals, making them aware that this is going to be happening."

Both shelters will have volunteers and businesses in attendance to participate in the challenges.

Some other challenges involve raising enough money for participants to get pied in the face or to participate in physical exercise.

Both managers agreed that Rotonda's personality is contagious.

"He just keeps moving. I know the year he was here two years ago he had one of the employees do so many sit-ups for so much money," Vetik said.

"Kris is really high energy, and he likes to keep things going and to add excitement and enthusiasm," Kohl said.

Both shelters have their goals of raising $20,000 each with the funds being used in different ways.

"The $20,000 is what we are trying to raise because we know that $20,000 a year is between our vet expenses and our dog food," Kohl said. 

"We put that money away," Vetik said. "We use it because we do spay, neuter, vaccinations, surgeries that may have to be done on animals if they come in hurt. So all that money is put away and we use it as we need to." 

Rotonda will be in Columbus Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and in O'Neill from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

People can also watch the fundraiser live on each shelter's Facebook page.

If you can't make it to either event, but would still like to donate, click here for the Paws and Claws Adoption Center and here for the Holt County Animal Shelter.