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For the 14th annual PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) Chicago Fur Ball, over 700 guests, along with 200 canine companions, showed up in their black-tie best Nov. 13 at the Drake Hotel. The Grand Ballroom and Gold Coast Room were filled with wagging tails and generous hearts, raising a record-breaking $1.6 million for Chicago’s largest no-kill animal shelter.
Co-chaired by Melissa and Michael Canning, and Corey and J.P. Marchetti, with honorary chairs Nancy and Michael Timmers, the night began with a reception during which guests shopped a silent auction and posed for photos with their pets on a red carpet and in the Fotio Photo Station booth. Caricaturist Ali Cantarella created portraits of guests with their furry friends. A doggy spa, hosted by Paradise 4 Paws and PAWS volunteers, offered paw-dicures, massages, an indoor grass lawn and playtime throughout the evening. Pets dined on chicken, green beans and carrots served in crystal goblets.
A hallmark of this event and one of its biggest fundraising components is the live auction, which raised $249,500 this year. PAWS board members Anne Marie and Murray Peretz won the opportunity to have their dogs featured on the cover of PAWS Chicago’s 2017 desktop calendar for $25,000. Other unique packages included a Tuscan villa getaway (two trips sold for $32,500 each); a South African safari (two trips sold for $22,500 each); and dinner with former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, which sold for $10,000.
During the Bid to Save Lives paddle raise, 19 homeless dogs, puppies and kittens were presented onstage, many of which found homes that night. Longtime board members Bonnie and Jim Spurlock donated $30,000 to offset the cost of kitten vaccines for the coming year.
PAWS Chicago founder Paula Fasseas said, “This is the most critical night for animal welfare in Chicago. Our job is to get animals out of city pounds, get them medical care and whatever behavior modification they need and into forever homes. We go to Animal Care & Control every day. We want to take them all, and the day will come. We’re getting close.”
In 2014, PAWS Chicago found homes for 5,952 homeless pets through its Lincoln Park and Glenn L. Felner North Shore adoption centers and performed 18,290 spay and neuter surgeries through its Lurie Clinic and GusMobile Spay/Neuter Van.
Freelance writer Candace Jordan is involved with many local organizations, including some whose events she covers.
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