Update!
Okay, sorry for taking sooo long to update but here I am! We're the people and dogs who won the Patriotic Pets Photo Contest thanks to your support! We were having some trouble with the contest, they said they'd e-mail the winners but they didn't. Then I noticed that the winners page was taken down and the "Submit Your Photo!" one was back. I tried e-mailing and calling, but couldn't get ahold of a real person and then the voting page was back up! I kept calling the morning after I saw that and got ahold of a real person who was actually very helpful and he said he'd relay the message to the person in charge of the contest and he gave me his e-mail in case I needed anything else. Anyways, I never did receive an e-mail and, as a result, never gave them my address but somehow I received the cheque in the mail on Tuesday! I'm not too sure how that works, but regardless, we got the cheque!
We've decided that the $500 will be the initial donation into Pumkin's Promise, a fund set up through Furever After Rescue Society (the rescue that saved Pumkin) for the medical treatment, including heartworm, of rescued animals. We decided against doing it just for heartworm because Pumkin had other problems that needed medical attention, such as the pin in her leg, and we're so grateful that the rescue did everything possible to save Pumkin. We want to make sure that all animals have this option.
Our first order of business was to order those silicon wristbands, which we did about an hour ago (five hundred of them!). They say "Pumkin's Promise" with a heart in front of Pumkin (symbolizing love and also heartworm) and a pawprint after Promise (symbolizing Pumkin leaving her pawprint on the world). Then they have the words "SAVE, HEAL, LOVE", which is the promise we made to Pumkin, and then on the inside they say "www.fureverafter.org", the rescue's website (which, by the way, you can visit if you want reassurance that I did donate the money and that I'm not Joe Blow sitting in my basement, lol, they were very kind and put the information on there). Then they're swirled with light orange, orange, and white (as pumpkins are orange!). I wanted to have "Prevent Heartworm" on there, but there is practically zero incidence of heartworm in my area (something about the temperature having to stay above 70 F/21 C for a period of two weeks for the worms to develop, which never happens). So, instead, I decided to hand out a little sheet along with each wristband with Pumkin's story on it. I'm so excited!
The rescue was already having an awareness picnic on September 9th, so we're just selling the bracelets then also. Then on the 10th, we're having a garage sale. We want to take advantage of the whole pumpkin and Halloween thing, so I was thinking a human/dog costume party with an optional costume contest with prizes, like best guardian/dog costume, most original, etc. For Christmas we want to have a Christmas crafts sale and *hopefully* Christmas cards with Pumkin's story, hoping that they'll be sent to areas that are affected by heartworm and raise awareness.
This is all so exciting, it's happening so quickly! Oh, and the initial $500 donation in Pumkin's Promise that all of you helped with was used for spay/neuters and heartworm testing (which, I'm happy to report, were all negative).
Any suggestions? Opinions? There's so much to do! lol
Pumkin smiling at all who helped, thank you! (Pumkin's would-have-been adoptive mom sent this to me yesterday, wasn't she gorgeous?)
