The Shallow End

The Fur Ball

Last night's Wayside Waifs Fur Ball was probably the biggest fund raiser I've ever attended for a bunch of very lucky dogs and cats! Is it worrisome to anyone else that some of the community's wealthiest citizens view animals as more deserving than humans? Me, I'm a dog lover, but still. Just a thought. Here's just a quick tally, off the top of my head:

1,000 tickets sold for a minimum of $125 each (probably $150 on avg, less the cost of dinner and drinks) = $100,000

Silent auction: approx. $30,000

Live auction - 12 items, plus some that were sold twice(!) (things like donated trips via private chartered jet for $20,000 each and dinner with a local newspaper columnist, Charles (C.W.) Gusewelle, for $17,000 each)! Roughly $225,000

And a final round-up of general donations, rustled up by the live auctioneers at the end of the event (all to be matched by an anonymous donor), starting with $25,000 pledges and ending with $100 (needless to say, my own arm went up only near the end of this frenzy). These easily totalled $250,000, which means $500,000 for the shelter.

So what is that? About $855,000?!

Anyway, more about the events of the evening. The theme this year (it's always called the Fur Ball, but each year is a different theme) was Animal House, and so we arrived to find some people dressed in togas and others dressed in cheerleader uniforms, including a few in drag (we were not among the sheet wearing bunch, for those who are curious, nor were we in cheerleader uniforms). Here's what the place looked like:



While the silent auction was going on, there were adoptable dogs outside. We came dangerously close to bringing home "Lady," a sweet Aussie mix, but the handler assured us that she was very popular and was sure to be adopted very soon. If not, he will call us. There were also games of chance going on and ring toss games, etc. The place was crawling with people and sensory overload. We steered clear of all the games and poked around the silent auction a bit but mostly stayed outside and played with the dogs. I was too busy petting Lady to take her picure, but here's a shot of a couple of rescued former racing Greyhounds and a couple of toga sportin' ladies:



And what I just realized in looking at these two photos is that I've managed to capture the back side of the same guy in both of them, out of the 1000+ people in attendance. I have no idea who he is.

And then we enjoyed a lovely dinner and the live auction, followed by a wonderful story read by C.W. Gusewelle about his daughter's experience of traveling to Romania to adopt a baby. When they arrived, they learned of another baby in the orphanage that had just been rescued by a mother dog and carried to her den (underneath a building). According to folks that found the baby, the dog even nursed it alongside her litter of puppies. Whether that's true or not, at the very least, she protected it from the elements until it could be found. If that doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will. And if you have a chance, check out one of CWG's books. He's got good wit and a warm heart, all essentials for a good writer. :-)

Oh yeah, almost forgot. The evening was topped off with a great band, that opened with R.E.S.P.E.C.T. by Aretha and followed with other Big Chill favorites. We snuck out during the dancing part but enjoyed a few songs before we left. Not a bad way to spend an evening compared to some of the other charity events I've been to. Lucky for me, my company forked out the big bucks for the table.

posted by Gwynne @ 6:42 PM