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player ready...The Event: It was a ‘Pawgarita’ and paw-di-cure paradise for more than 450 guests and 100 canine companions at the 14th annual PAWS Beach Party at Castaways in Chicago on July 14. PAWS volunteers circulated amongst the crowd showcasing adoption-ready canines as US99.5 host, Lisa Dent, emceed the pet-friendly gathering which offered doggies spa treatments and a splash pool while human guests enjoyed dinner and luxury items to bid on an effort to help PAWS in their mission to save homeless animals and make Chicago a no-kill city.
Cause célebre: “Shelters from all around the country are…asking for our ‘best practices’ because of the 18,000 spay/neuter surgeries we do for low-income families each year,” said PAWS founder, Paula Fasseas.
When PAWS launched in 1997, there were some 29,000 dogs and cats going into the city pound each year. PAWS spay/neuter program helped reduce that number to 14,000 by 2015. Also in 2015, PAWS oversaw more than 5,900 adoptions and is now going into the southern states’ high-kill areas to rescue puppies.
“Chicago is out of puppies!” said Fasseas. “Now we need to solve the kitten problem, the dog problem, the bully-breed problem and, in the next five years, we will be a no-kill city for sure.”
Andrew Tobin of Wilmette, event co-chairman added: “When animals have done nothing wrong to…end up homeless, (such as when) an elderly person passes away or needs to go into assisted living, seeing (animals) grieve, seeing them be depressed is heart-wrenching. And the opportunity to find a home for them and to get them into another loving situation where they can live out their life with love and respect is more rewarding than just about anything I can think of.”
Bottom line: The Beach Party raised more than $350,000 for PAWS’ life-saving work on behalf of homeless animals. See pawschicago.org