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Old July 25th 05, 03:19 AM
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Singh wrote:
No, not Idiot Insurance.

Louei and I have been bouncing about the idea of doing a benefit for a
struggling shelter, Tenth Chance, the people who gave us our dear little
(well, not so little now) Brandy. These poor people have a mountain of vet
bills over 3 grand, so now the vet won't give service to newly surrendered
cats until they get the bill chewn up. Not to mention food and litter, etc.
They don't have their own building, just volunteer foster-people like our
dear friend Marilyn and others who are knee-deep in cats; and Alexis still
has not found a home, so Marilyn keeps the poor little playful girl in her
own bedroom, away from the other cats.

How on earth do you arrange a benefit? Other shelters here like Ten Lives
have got more resources, they have two buildings dedicated to cats and a
network of both foster-homes and businesses who make huge contributions. All
we can do is maybe get the place where we do karaoke to do something, but
the bar is kind of a dive; good food though, but I don't know if it's enough
to get some serious cash raised. If any of you out there have ever done such
a thing, whether it be for cats or Girl Scouts or whatever, please enlighten
me, because these folks need help, and I'm stumped.

Blessed be,
Baha

Sorry, Baha, I didn't read this thread because I thought it was about
job benefits or managing 401K or profit sharing accounts! (duh, sherry)
Thanks to CN for pointing me here.
You're right, benefits are easier to arrange for established shelters.
But I know there are still things you can do.
This is a good time for benefit garage sales and raffles. You can get
your friends together for a rummage sale, combination bake sale and at
the same time sell chances on anything--see if you can get a merchant
to donate something cool. Car washes are good--there's usually a local
Boy Scout troop who'll help out with that.
If you've got a corps of volunteers who will help, our best effort is
always the annual Charity Auction. We rent a room at the country club,
and get merchants to donate items, and auction them off. We serve
dinner and drinks, too (open bar before the bidding really helps hike
the bids up, LOL)
Do you know any entertainers you could get for a benefit concert?
We even set up decorated jars at 7-11's, etc. for people to donate
change. Once we had a "Best Pet" contest at 7-11. People "entered" by
bringing a photo of their pet, and we put a can with a slot in it in
front of each picture. People put money in the can to "vote" for the
best pet. Best Pet got a trophy, which didn't cost hardly anything, and
we got to keep the $$$$. It was fun, and it got competitive--of course
it was the *owners* "voting" for their pet!
We had a barbecue dinner once for "Be Kind to Animals Week". I thought
this was a terrible faux pas to eat beef on BKTA week but we made $300
in two hours.

The one that amazed me was, we had a hot dog stand in front of Wal Mart
once. Sold hot dogs & drinks. We made $1500 in one day, and that's
above our costs.
What we've got going on right now is a "Shower the Shelter" party. Like
a baby shower, only for the shelter. We "registered" at Wal Mart. We
got a local hotel to loan us their meeting room for free.
Theoretically, when people get their invitations, if they don't want to
come and bring a gift, they can mail us a check. OK, I know it's
begging. But you gotta do what you gotta do. :-)

Good luck. E-mail me if you want or need any help that I can do. I'd be
glad to help any way I can.

Sherry