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Home Adopt A Pet Support/Volunteer News And Events
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Get Ready for Barkin' Ball 2008! Click Here To Purchase Tickets Email Fuzzy Friends with your contact information The Barkin' Ball will be held For details of amenities with each level of sponsorship Voted Charity Event for Three Consecutive Years! ____________________________________ PASSED APPETIZERS FRESH START CARVING STATION MASHED POTATO BAR ROCKSTAR STATION FUSION CUISINE BREAKFAST BAR ____________________________________ A Letter from the 2008 Barkin' Ball Sponsors For three years in a row, Fuzzy Friends Barkin’ Ball has been chosen the Best Charity Event of the Year by a local magazine! We are honored that attendees think so highly of the event – and are equally honored by the tremendous support given by our sponsors who truly make it possible. We anticipate this year’s event to be another sell-out with more than 1,200 tickets sold! While the Barkin’ Ball itself is always spectacular, we never want to lose sight of our purpose in putting on such a mammoth production. We are here, simply, to save the outcast pets that people have domesticated and then abandoned to the streets. We know that our supporters share our vision that every pet should have compassionate care and a safe place to live. We are now beginning our second decade of saving our community’s homeless animals. In Waco, thousands of dogs are euthanized each year because too few animals are spayed or neutered, and because too few people are responsible pet owners. At Fuzzy Friends Rescue, we receive 60-70 calls each day six days per week from people wanting us to take a dog or cat. That’s 20,345 calls each year and oftentimes the calls are regarding multiple animals! So while we have a good time on New Years Eve, we combat the ugly truth about animal neglect and abandonment all year long. This year’s Barkin’ Ball, which is our major fundraiser, will be held once again at the General Exhibits Building at the Fairgrounds Complex. The theme is A New Leash on Life, and the event will provide entertainment on a grand scale, a full dinner buffet, and multiple stations for partygoers to sample a variety of food. The champagne breakfast at midnight is just one of many highlights, as are the auctions. Please visit Fuzzy Friends Rescue, whether or not you have ever been. Keep in mind as you walk around that the Barkin’ Ball, which you make possible each year, makes Fuzzy Friends possible. We hope you adopt a pet, but even if you don’t, we’re betting you’ll be glad you saw all the friendly faces of our residents. (Isn’t it odd how a big nose, a paw on your arm or a wet tongue can lighten your load?) It is a commitment to these animals that makes this opportunity to serve as co-chairpersons for the 2008 Fuzzy Friends Barkin’ Ball such a worthy one for us. It is because of these animals that we invite you to attend the Best Charity Event of the Year (for three years in a row). You won’t be disappointed.
_________________________________ The Power of Love My mom, Mrs. Bill Teaff (Ine), is 93 years old. She resides in Snyder, Texas. Both my mom and my dad, in their retirement years, enjoyed having a small dog in their home. Through the years there was a Poodle named Dandy and two Chihuahuas named Taffy and Frieda, who brightened the lives of my mom and dad and loved them unconditionally. That love was returned and those three little dogs became great sports fans. Every football game, basketball game and rodeo that was being broadcast, the cherished dog of the moment enjoyed those sporting events in mom or dad’s lap. Five years ago my dad passed away and after 70 years of marriage mom was alone, in good health,and feeling very independent. She decided to go it alone in her own home. Mom was loved by her family, friends, church members and her closest companion, a little black and white Chihuahua named Frieda. Mother and Frieda were inseparable. One time she said to me, “I just don’t know what I would do if something happened to Frieda.” Unfortunately, about a year later Frieda became very ill and died. Mother had lost her little friend.
Mom first said, “No!” when I suggested that she get another Chihuahua. “No dog could take Frieda’s place.” she said emphatically. However, my wife, Donell, and I decided that the best thing for my mother was to find her a new black and white Chihuahua. We watched for ads in the local newspaper. We called breeders across Texas and asked friends for a lead on a black and white Chihuahua; none could be found. We made a couple of trips to Fuzzy Friends Rescue. We did not find a black and white Chihuahua, but we did find something that stirred our hearts and made us very proud of this Waco treasure. Betsy Robinson founded Fuzzy Friends eleven years ago as a no-kill animal shelter. Betsy founded the shelter on her belief that we must be responsible for pets that have been domesticated. We observed that all the volunteers have a strong commitment to this belief as well. Fuzzy Friends is truly the result of the power of love, faith and a lot of hard work. Though we did not find a replacement for Frieda we found one of our community’s greatest assets. It is a place where love has provided homes for animals that no longer have a home. Besides receiving medical care, some of the dogs become “Reading Assistance” dogs. They are taken to local schools to help at-risk students learn to read. Many Fuzzy Friends animals have the opportunity to go to nursing homes and share their love with the lonely and sick. Fuzzy Friends staff members and volunteers are sometimes requested to speak at schools, scout troops and civic organizations about the humane treatment of animals. A second trip to visit Fuzzy Friends Rescue was great, but we were again disappointed that we did not find a black and white Chihuahua waiting for us. About a week later Becki Goss Shepard, Director of MTT and Special Events, called to say that she just might have the right dog for Ine. We called our daughter, Layne, and asked her if she would take our two grandsons, Jake and Eli out to Fuzzy Friends to look at all the dogs, but especially the one residing in Becki’s office. The boys, Jake and Eli, ages six and three, spent almost an hour visiting with every dog at the rescue. Finally they were taken into the office to meet Sweetie Sugar, a black and white Chihuahua. When the phone rang at our house, Jake and Eli were both trying to talk at the same time, yelling that they had found the right dog for Ine. They told us that we had to come quick to see. When we arrived, the boys were both beaming. They had found the perfect companion for their great grandmother, and they were anxious for us to meet her. It was love at first sight as Sweetie was perfect. The paperwork was completed and all the arrangements were made. Sweetie would be moving to Snyder, Texas. Donell took Sweetie to Snyder. When she knocked on the front door with Sweetie in her arms, my mom opened the door and with a smile of anticipation she looked directly into Sweetie’s big beautiful eyes. It was again love at first sight. The two became inseparable. Sweetie is a bundle of unconditional love and that love is returned ten fold by my mom. Now Sweetie and Ine watch basketball, football and bull riding on television. Donell and I have developed a love for Fuzzy Friends. We are turning that admiration into support for this community asset. I hope that you will join us and hundreds of other Fuzzy Friends supporters, so that in our community, in all humility, we may follow these words found in the Holy Scripture, Proverbs 12:10 “A righteous man cares for the health of animals.” |
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Phone (254) 754-9444 | Fax (254) 754-9959 | 6321 Airport Road, Waco, Texas 76708 |
