#GoBeyondGiving

I’m handing over the reigns!  For the last two years I have spent Christmas Eve at Harvest Hills Animal Shelter, as a fundraiser to help HHAS raise over $25,000 with the help of gofundme and direct donations to the shelter.  I truly believe the dogs appreciated having someone spend the night with them when they got a lot of attention, treats and more time out of their kennels… and for the dogs Sadie (year one) and Bones (year two), they got someone to cuddle with for the night (pit bulls and cuddling go hand in hand...Bones especially liked curling up inside and at the bottom of my sleeping bag).  But this year I’m stepping down from that cuddling position and handing the reigns over to two awesome, hard working, dedicated people who want to help make a difference for the animals at HHAS.   

Who's Sleeping with the Dogs?  You may know him as one of the stars of North Woods Law, but I know him as a dedicated game warden, friend, dog lover and Special Olympics supporter.  He’s Kris MacCabe, and this year he and his beautiful, talented and generous wife, Emily, will take over Christmas Eve Shelter sleepover 2016 to help Harvest Hills Animal Shelter raise much needed funds to directly and positively affect the animals waiting for loving homes. 

If you donated to this fundraiser last year, we hope you are happy knowing that your donation has gone towards the construction of the living room, where over the last 7 months, dogs and cats, together with staff and several volunteers (young and old), have spent many hours out of their kennels and condos, enjoying a comfortable, quiet space where they could relax and forget about shelter life for awhile. 

It’s Cool to Donate!!!   This year, Kris and Emily are hoping your generosity will continue and help pay for a much needed, efficient air conditioning system for the dog kennels.  As you all know, this past summer was long, hot and humid!  It was an exceptional summer, but certainly not the first…or the last.  If you’ve ever walked through the dog kennels at HHAS during the summer, you know that they can be stifling, and that’s no exaggeration.   When it’s hot and humid outside, the dogs are miserable and have no place to get away from the heat.  And though we all know that panting helps a dog to cool off, in a relatively small space filled with several dogs, all that panting seems to do is heat up the room even more.  There’s no escape from the misery unless we can properly and efficiently air condition the space the dogs are forced to call home until they find their forever homes.

Kris and Emily are giving up a special evening normally spent with family or simply relaxing with their own dogs, to be with a lot of stressed out dogs in a less than comfortable environment.  I hope you will thank them for this generous act with a donation to this year’s Christmas Eve Shelter Sleepover.  Once again, your donation will go DIRECTLY towards making shelter life more bearable for the animals.   This annual campaign...now Year #3...will always work to make life easier on the animals at HHAS.

As in recent years, watch the HHAS Facebook page for posts, pictures and videos on Christmas Eve!

Thank you, and have a blessed, beautiful and bountiful Christmas and New Year!

For the love of dogs,
Deb Cloutier