Archives for October, 2008
It was called “A Furry Tail Evening”. Marisol and Rob Thomas wanted to do something to support Pets Alive.
Coming into last night, we literally had $5000 in our checking account.
Without this event…..Pets Alive would have been saying goodbye.
Matt said it best in his speech, I think. Pets Alive will save almost 1000 animals this year. 99% of them were on euthanasia lists at other shelters that are forced to put dogs down. We pull them, vet them, love them, and then find them a home. One THOUSAND animals this year. Think about that. Then think about how that 1000 would be in the ground today if not for people like Rob and Marisol, who put on an event like last night – ..for us.
(Pets Alive staff – don’t they look BEAUTIFUL??)
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Updates by kerry on Oct 26, 2008. There are comments.
Good evening. I’m Matt DeAngelis, Executive Co-Director of Pets Alive. I’d like to introduce my Co-Director Kerry Clair. Kerry? (Kerry waves)
About two years ago Kerry disappeared from her wall street job and I disappeared from my small business in Newtown, CT. Our friend Sara Whalen had started Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary about 30 years ago as a place to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome animals in need. Over the years Sara had saved thousands of animals. Now Sara was dying of cancer and there was no succession plan for Pets Alive.
Well…that’s not entirely true. She did have a succession plan that she never told anyone about. It was me and Kerry. And you.
I run into people in my home town who haven’t seen me in a year or so who ask me what Pets Alive does. In the business world we used to call this our “elevator speech,” or how we would describe what we do to someone you meet on an elevator. Pets Alive’s is easy. We save animals.
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Updates by kerry on Oct 26, 2008. There are comments.
Animal Updates
Since my last update on September 26th the following animals were adopted: Poco, Chuckie, Lacey, Zing, Shelby, Poncho, Sassy, Luke, Max, Bobby, Utica, Dixie, Fifi, Cheetah (but she came back), Dudley, Zip, Draco, Tina, Maryann, and the following cats – Sissy, Morgan and Pumpkin.
We took in about 30 dogs that were abandoned in Hurricane Gusatav and we’re taking in 11 more this Saturday. Many of these dogs have heartworm (eight of them!), which costs us $600 EACH to treat. Fifteen of them still need to be spayed and neutered ($150 each). Please consider making a donation to help us treat these dogs for heartworm and get them all vetted. They have surely gone through enough and could use a break.
We have two new senior citizens in residence at Pets Alive. Buddy (who is the pet of the month and featured on our front page) was surrendered to us when his owner entered hospice. Her sons were really devastated at the prospect of losing their mom and then also having to put her elderly dog down. They called everywhere and no one would take an elderly dog with medical issues. We did. Buddy is a sweet dog but very confused here at Pets Alive. We don’t have him in a kennel or a run, we have him instead with Copper (pictures here with Becky) in the office. Copper is a wonderful dog and one of the Hurricane Gustav dogs. We were just planning on boarding Copper here until he could be moved to a safe place but we all fell deeply in love with this really spunky, friendly, generous dog. Copper is really a treasure. We don’t know how he came to be in the position he is – alone and abandoned – and we can’t understand it either. This is a really special dog and I have absolute confidence that he will find a home, as his personality is so warm and he is so easy going and easy to care for that he would be an asset to any home.
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Updates by kerry on Oct 16, 2008. There are comments.
Sidewalk Angels Foundation presents
“A Furry Tail Evening” to benefit Pets Alive
Pets Alive’s biggest supporters are Rob and Marisol Thomas. Every year their Sidewalk Angels Foundation gives Pets Alive a very large check to help us keep going.
This year though, our doors would truly shut without them. We were so deep in debt that digging our way out in the current financial climate has been very difficult. Our current monthly operating expenses are about $40,000 and we usually bring in about $20,000. Without some big fund raiser each year, we would not be able to continue.
This year, knowing that even their sizeable check would not keep us open, Marisol took it upon herself to throw a HUGE event for us. The event is October 25 and is called “A Furry Tail Evening”. It is a two day event. The evening will include a cocktail hour with silent auction, a formal sit down dinner and an intimate concert by Rob Thomas and his solo band with special guest Chris Daughtry.
The silent auction will have some fabulous items. Not only are Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf going to come out and support us, they are auctioning off the opportunity to play tennis with them the following day.
A very limited number of tickets will be sold and they are going very fast for this special event. Seats for the evening are $750 per person, or there is a VIP package availabe for $2,500. The VIP package includes 2 seats for the event, as well as a pre-show meet and greet cocktail reception with Rob and Chris.
All tickets are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. If you want to try to get a ticket please email furrytailevening@aol.com.
All the proceeds will go to Pets Alive.
This has the potential to raise our operating expenses for the entire coming year. If that happens do you know what an impact we could have on the community? We could open a spay/neuter and low cost medical facility here. We could welcome the public and start a training program. We could start doing outreach and going into schools, or bringing children here for field trips and introductions into animal care and altruistic living. We could finally make some really much needed repairs here to better the environment and we could perhaps hire a full time dog trainer to work with our problem dogs.
There are so many possibilities and so many things we can do if every month we were not so stressed about paying our bills, getting staff their checks on time and trying to still afford supplements or treats. It is always bare bones and we’re always scraping. To have our operating expenses aside and to be able to use the other funds we raise for changing the community and helping animals in outreach is a dream we have long imagined but didn’t ever really dare to believe. Through Rob and Marisol we can make such a difference and help to save so many animals.
How do you thank someone like Marisol and Rob Thomas? Without them our doors would truly close and if any of you have ever put on an event, you will know that it CONSUMES you. It takes every ounce of energy and sucks away all your time. Thank you so much Marisol and Sheelah and Maria and Rob. We, and all the animal lives YOU will save are forever grateful.
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Updates by kerry on Oct 10, 2008. There are comments.
VOTE to win us $10,000!
Pets Alive can win $10,000 with YOUR votes! PLEASE vote and spread to ALL your friends. We are close to the top already (we are 30 from the highest votes!!) & desperately need more votes to put us over the top! There are over 6000 people on this email list. If everyone voted we would have 5x the amoun tof votes we needed to win. Please vote for Pets Alive, and ask your friends to help. This is a very easy way for us to raise money! They will not send you spam, when you vote you can opt out of ANY mailings. Please vote for us and send this link to your friends: http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/75578/?refer=1821.09.1222221321.3728
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Updates by kerry on Oct 10, 2008. There are comments.
(Sorry for the delay on putting this on the blog i I emailed it out but forgot to post it here a few weeks ago)
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Yard Sale This Weekend!!
Becky and many other volunteers have been coordinating a HUGE Yard Sale on Pets Alive property. It will be this Saturday and Sunday (September 27-28). We have so many items for sale, the donations have been pouring in – we actually had to request no more items! Brand new items, used, animal and human alike, even furniture and antiques. Please be sure to stop by – it is going on even if it rains (we have tents set up!). See you there!
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Updates by kerry on Oct 10, 2008. There are comments.