Bowl-a-rama Was a Success!!!

Wow! We had an initial goal of $45,000 for this fundraiser. At the beginning of last week we were only up to about $31,000 and so dropped that goal to $35,000 for a final total. Well, we surpassed that, and while we didn't quite meet the original goal, we did raise a whopping $43,000!!!! I don't know if any of those donations came from my 2 readers, but if it did, thank you very much!!

We also had a blast bowling on Saturday morning. People came dressed in their best '50s attire and we bowled our little hearts out. The dogs beat the cats, ahem. You can see some video footage on RESCUE's Facebook page. Check it out! And check out some of our other videos and photo albums while you're there. You can get your morning dose of cuteness from all the dogs and cats.

Thanks for reading. See you at the dog park!

Bowl-a-Rama Fundraiser: Three Days Left!!

Well, we have three days left until Phoenix-area shelters converge and take over a bowling alley this coming weekend!!

RESCUE has a goal of $45,000. This will help cover most of our expenses for the rest of the year. $1500 a month covers our dog boarding costs. But we also have cats in boarding, medical expenses (we recently had to have all the teeth pulled from one of our little dogs, man was the expensive) and various other expenses that come with any business (even non-profits have bills to pay). But with only three days left, it looks like we won't quite meet that goal, which is unfortunate.

However, the volunteers have all worked really, really hard to raise the money we have so far. We now hope to raise at least $35,000 before the end of the week. We're about $1000 short of this goal!! If you haven't made a donation yet, please take a moment to go over to the website and make a secure, tax-deductible donation. Every little bit helps, even a donation as small as $5 will help make a difference.

Already made a donation? Please pass the link on to the animal lovers in your life and encourage them to make a donation as well.

Thanks for reading. See you at the dog park.

Bowl-a-rama Time!

It's that time of year again, time for Bowl-a-rama!

Bowl-a-rama?!

Yes, Bowl-a-rama!

Bowl-a-rama is a fundraising event sponsored by PACC911. Animal shelters and rescue organizations from around the Valley participate in this fun event. From May through the end of July groups make a big push to raise as much money as they can. Then, on the first Saturday in August, the groups take over a local bowling alley for the entire day (and I mean take over, it's crazy animal lovers as far as the eye can see) and have a great time bowling, wearing goofy costumes, and belting out creative cheers. There are also raffle prizes and a silent auction going on that day. The bowling day itself is just for the rescue groups. Prizes are also awarded to the groups for best costumes and best cheers, and for raising the most funds.

RESCUE has a goal of $45,000. This will help see us through the remainder of the year. We have two teams working to meet that goal: The Leader of the Pack (the dog team) and the Rockin' Bowlin' Felines (the cat team, obviously). So far we've raised almost $20,000, so we are close to that half-way mark. But there's only one month left to raise money.

I am on the Leader of the Pack team, go figure. Each team member has an individual goal of $1,500. $1,500 will help cover one month worth of boarding costs. Or it could help cover medical costs for a dog or two. Am I anywhere near that? No. But you can help me out!!

All you have to do is make a donation using our secure donation page: http://azrescue.org/servlet/sponsor02?bowl=1

Every little bit helps, whether it's as small as $5 or $25 or larger donations of $50 or more. It's tax deductible as well. I know the economy is tough right now, gas prices are through the roof, food costs are going up, people are losing their homes. But the dogs and cats still need your help, maybe now more than ever before. But if we don't have the funds, we can't help as many of them as we need to.

Home foreclosures are at an all time high. People are finding themselves in situations where they feel they can no longer keep their pets. The number of pets ending up at shelters has grown considerably in the past year. People are turning in pets at a higher rate and the city and county shelters find themselves at capacity. They are also abandoning animals in the homes when they have been foreclosed. There are just so many animals out there in need of new homes. Smaller groups take in what they can, and that includes RESCUE. We managed to rescue five new dogs two weeks ago (Rocky was one of them). But we can't do this without your financial help.

Maybe you can't adopt one yourself, and maybe money is tight for you, but maybe you can find a way to spare $5 or $10 this month and make that donation to RESCUE. Tell a friend, or ten friends. Take up a collection within your carpool, at your work, from your family and friends. Every little bit adds up.

And it's so easy. Just click the link I posted above. This will take you to our donation page. Select a bowler (Leader of the Pack in this case ;D), type in a quicky message to encourage us, indicate the dollar amount of your donation, and you can put me down as the Referrer (AZ Dog Mom) so I know it came from a reader. Didn't I tell you that would be easy?

So please, head on over to the site this month and make a donation. Then tell everyone you know about it and ask them to make a small donation. With your help, we can reach our goal of $45,000.

Thanks for reading. See you at the dog park!

Thursday Thirteen!

I've never tried the whole "Thursday Thirteen" type of post, but I want to try to post more often here, figured I'd take advantage of this. So here it is, my first attempt at a Random Doggie Thursday 13! (And I'll throw in some cat stuff too)

1. If you have a peach tree in your backyard, birds will indeed flock to it. And proceed to feast on the peaches you have not yet picked. And make a big mess, in more ways than one. The ground beneath said tree will soon be sporting many sticky peach-pits. Your dog will discover these long before you do and is likely to pick them up and carry them around the yard, and attempt to chew them. Bad, very bad. Lesson to be learned, do a daily peach-pit check BEFORE you let the dogs out.

2. When you take a brief break from fostering, your own dog will love you more, and then become bored because she has no one to steal toys from or snap at. And you will once again see the elusive scaredy cat on a more regular basis, outside of her feline sanctuary. But you will find you miss having another little four-legged one around.

3. My cat spends way to much time near the water bowl. Chest and neck mats are a real pain to comb out. Much comb-biting is involved.

4. When you have so many leashes hanging on the leash hooks that they start to fall off if you brush by too close, you have too many leashes. Especially considering there are never more than two dogs in the house at one time.

5. Its can be frightening to find clumps of fur in the back of the coat closet. Especially when that fur is from a dog that you fostered over a year ago.....maybe I need to vacuum out the closets more often.

6. Dog + Moth = Me laughing hysterically through the patio door. Good times were had by all, well except for maybe the moth.

7. There's this great new alarm clock out. Its called the Reggie-Clock. At 6am, every morning, it marches into the bedroom and lets out a LOUD and startling "MUR-ROWR!" Trust me, you'll jump so high you won't be able to go back to sleep. And there's no snooze button. (Who knew a 15 year cat could be so loud and demanding)

8. RESCUE is working one of our biggest fundraisers of the year right now. We have until the beginning of August to raise as much money as we can for the Bowl-a-rama fundraiser. This is an event sponsored by PACC911 and rescue groups and shelters all over the Valley will be joining in. RESCUE has a goal of $45,000 and we need all the help we can get!!! So take a moment to visit the website and maybe even make a small donation. You'll be helping to fund our efforts to give homeless dogs and cats a second chance at life and a new forever home. I will be doing a separate post about this soon (I'm on the Leader of the Pack team).

9. When you own dogs and/or cats, you can take them with you wherever you go. Just take a look down at your shirt or pants. You'll see, they're always with you, whether you want them to be or not. Where's that lint-roller?

10. A dog can make your day. No matter how bad your day at work was, you can't help but smile, laugh, and feel calm when you have a warm, furry friend sitting on your lap loving you unconditionally (though a treat won't be turned away). I love my Min Pin.

11. Cats are not always graceful or sure-footed. Neika, our Siamese, is the poster child for the graceless cat. When she's not catching a foot on the top of the baby-gate as she jumps over, or trying to balance on the bars of the clothes hamper cart only to fall into one of the hamper baskets, she's sitting on the bed in a most unlady-like position. A position that compels us to ask her if she'd like a beer. Use your imagination. I came out of the bathroom this morning only to see her lounging on the bed in one of these lovely positions. Really, its a wonderful way to start the day.

12. Could there be a more sad little face than this?

This little guy is Tad. No, he's not my new foster, but he is new to RESCUE. And he just looks so little and sad and scared. Tad is a chihuahua, about one year old and sweet as can be. He's not quite ready for adoption, but watch for him, he'll be up on the website real soon.

13. "Anyone who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog." -- Franklin P. Jones (And Saturday, I will once again get to taste the sweet elixir of clean, as I give Marie a much-needed bath)

Wow, that was tougher than I thought to come up with 13 things. But, there you have it, 13 random thoughts from yours truly.

Thanks for reading. See you at the dog park!

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RESCUE - The BEST in Phoenix?

RESCUE has been nominated to be the "Best" in Phoenix for animal shelters/rescue groups!

The "Best" is hosted by azcentral.com . This is their second year for this and it is a Reader's Choice poll. Readers nominate their favorite local businesses from a number of categories. These include favorite people, recreation areas and activities, Valley attractions, arts and entertainment, food and dining, various services, and even pets! The top ten are selected for each category and then readers can vote on their favorite from that list of 10.

The winners for each category will receive plenty of media exposure and then of course they will be awarded the title – THE BEST for 2008!!!

Voting is simple. Head on over to the azcentral.com Best website and then click on Pets. A new window will pop up which asks you to enter the characters you see (this is just a security check). Then you will be taken to the poll page. The default category will be Best Animal Shelter (on the left side of the screen). You can also choose other categories by clicking on them, which will then open a new list of nominees. Click the radio button next to RESCUE to select us, then click Vote down at the bottom of the list. That will tabulate the votes to date and show you the current results.

You can vote once a day from now until April 17th. So please tell a friend (or 10)! And be sure to log on every day to cast your vote. You can help RESCUE with your vote by giving us a chance to show the community who we are and what we do to help homeless dogs and cats in Maricopa County.

Thanks for reading. See you at the Dog Park!

Beauty to the RESCUE!

Its that time of year again, time for the annual Beauty to the RESCUE fundraiser event!

This event takes place on Sunday, March 9th, from 9am-3pm at the Mane Attraction Salon in Phoenix. The address is 3156 E. Camelback Road.

The beauty of this event isn't just the customers after a service, but also in the fact that Mane Attraction is open on a day it would normally be closed. They also donate all the proceeds from the day to RESCUE. How great is that?!

The event will include beauty time, food from Seven's Heaven, items for auction, dog grooming services by Animal Attractions, and of course, the lovely dogs of RESCUE. You can partake in all of this as you rock out to the musical stylings of Sistah Blue.

And to top off the festivities, we will have be holding a raffle drawing at the end of the day for a $1000 grand prize. You can purchase raffle tickets for only $5 from the RESCUE website. And you do not need to be present to win!

So hurry over to the site, buy your tickets and then go mark you calendar for Beauty to the RESCUE!

Thanks for reading. See you at the Dog Park!

National Pet Idol!!

RESCUE is hosting a National Pet Idol contest as a fundraising project!

Entries have closed, but voting has begun! Its just $1 to cast your vote, and all the proceeds go directly to RESCUE. So click on the button below, cast your votes (you can indeed vote more than once), and help RESCUE!

Thanks for reading. See you at the Dog Park!

RESCUE Bowl-a-rama Fundraising Event

August 4, 2007 is the date for the 5th Annual Bowl-a-rama. This event is huge fundraiser for RESCUE. We have a goal of $50,000 this year for this event.

To quote our website:

"Organized by local animal-loving businesswoman Eileen Proctor, top dog of It's A Ruff Life!, in conjunction with Pets911, this event is part of their continued mission to lend a paw to animals that are currently living a "rough" life. The Bowl-A-Rama brings together over 60 animal organizations to participate in this fifth annual fun-filled day to help the animals.
All pledges raised by RESCUE will go directly to our mission of providing a second chance at life for dogs and cats who through no fault of their own are spending their final days at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control."

Basically, we try to raise as much money as we can between now and August 4th. On the 4th, all the animal rescue organizations come together and take over a local bowling alley and bowl, cheer each other on, parade around in crazy costumes, and all around have fun. The organization with the best costumes wins a prize as does the organization that raises the most funds. RESCUE wants to be the latter in that. We did it last year and we want to do it again this year.

So how can you help? Easy! You can make a pledge to one of our teams. Its a secure online transaction which is tax deductible (you'll receive a receipt in the mail), and only takes a minute!

I'm on the "Hot Doggies" team this year. We're the dog team. There is also a cat team. But of course, you want to support the dog team. Its all about the dog team. Don't forget, its the dog team you want to support. Got that? D-O-G T-E-A-M. So when you head on over to the website to make your donation, you'll want to be sure to indicate the "Hot Doggies" team. We have a little internal competition amongst the RESCUE volunteers: Cat Team vs Dog Team. The dog teams have always raised more than the cat teams, and we want to keep it that way. ;D (But the Cat Team is determined to make it a close second.) When the form asks for a referrer, you can just put this blog or my blog name (AZ Dog Mom).

So scoot on over there before you head out to the dog park and make that donation! We need all the funds we can get, every little bit helps.