Gervais & Vine staff and patrons help raise nearly $2000 for CARE

From Tara Haltiwanger, President of Cullen's Archangel REscue:

Dear Kristian, Noelle, Gervais & Vine Staff and Patrons:

Thank you to everyone at Gervais & Vine for your kind and generous donations. Please thank all of your patrons who have donated to our cause as well. We are so grateful for the funds, which have already been put to excellent use. Below is a list of how the funds are being spent so far. Please note that we also have funds set aside for emergencies and ongoing needs. Continued...

 August 31, 2007

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." Unknown

Two of the most important creatures in my life are our two dogs, Fozzy and Lily. When you don't have human children, your pets are your kids and you love them and spoil them rotten. Why? It's obvious; they give you unconditional love and spoiling them costs next to nothing. However, some people are indifferent or downright cruel and inhumane when it comes to their pets. Don't worry, I'm not going to get into Michael Vick-like horror stories of abuse and such. Sometimes it's the little things, like simple abandonment of a pet, whether literally or figuratively. Literally would refer to the USC students who get pets at the start of the school year and then leave them at the end when they head home (yes, this happens--just ask the shelters). These people ought to be banned from school and flogged at the fountain in Five Points. Figuratively, I would have to say the most common are the young couples who get pets as a substitute for kids, then once they have children, basically ignore and/or abandon their pets even while they continue to live in the same house or worse yet, tied up in the backyard. There's a special ring in hell for these people.

Then you have the morons who get pets, then don't neuter/spay them, don't get their shots, don't give them heartworm meds and basically just neglect them. Who raises these people? I'd like to smack them in the mouth with a carp. It takes a real jackass to mistreat an animal and apparently a lot of them get raised in this country based on the number of animals in our shelters.

So, what happens to all these loving pets? They end up in the pound. At worst, they're "put down" (the nice way of saying they're killed and disposed of like the trash you scraped off your plate last night...sorry, but a daily dose of reality is good for the soul). At best, they're adopted by loving families worthy of their affection. In the middle is the purgatory of being held in a cage in hopes of being adopted, wondering "What did I do to deserve this? I was learning not to chew stuff. I didn't pee on the rug anymore. I'm young. What? What did I do?"

Luckily, the Midlands has organizations that help care for these pets and keep them from being destroyed. Animal Mission, Project Pet, Pets Inc, Animal Protection League, CARE and many more work tirelessly to keep our furry pals safe, healthy, neutered/spayed and happy. However, it takes great people, adoptive families, time and money to accomplish all of this. The "money" part is where we come in. From now on, in addition to our other charitable works, we will be focusing our efforts on a different animal charity every quarter. How?

         We'll choose a wine to serve by the glass and will donate a dollar for every glass sold

         We'll feature some of the pets that are available for adoption in our e-mails and on our website

         We'll hold special events that will help raise awareness and money

         We'll reward you for helping out with food and wine

Our first animal charity will be CARE (which stands for Cullen's Archangel RescuE). CARE was named after Cullen the Greyhound, who was killed in a home invasion of its President's house in 2003 (Cullen's murderers were never caught). It is a non-profit with no facilities and an all-volunteer staff. They operate through a network of warm and wonderful people who foster the pets until adoption. They raise money for the veterinary care and spaying/neutering of the animals, but in reality most of the money spent on the actual fostering is borne by the foster parents. We'd like to help them out by relieving some of that burden and by also helping to raise money for the vet care of some of their pets. We also want to help these loving pets find safe and happy homes, so for our first FEATURED PET we proudly introduce you to Cleo, who graces the upper left corner of this e-mail.

Cleo was dumped in the country and was very skinny and starving for attention! Cleo is now healthy, up to date on vet care and filled out (maybe too filled out!). Cleo, aka Piglet, is a very happy girl; always smiling and wagging her tail. If she was a person, she'd be a Wal-Mart greeter. She is always the first to greet people at adoption days, and she loves to sit back and people watch.

NEWS! Cleo was adopted by a loving family in Georgia recently!! Altogether, over 8 pets have been adopted, close to $2000 raised and lots of medical needs met THANKS TO YOU!!

Cleo is currently working with her foster mom on basic obedience training. She will do anything to get petted and has already learned Sit and Down. She is housetrained and crate trained. She loves her crate and goes in there whenever she wants to take a nap. She even knows how to open it from the outside to let herself in. She uses her paws like hands to grab the door and pull it open!