Introduction
This newsletter covers the fourth quarter of 2010. We had another terrific Bingo night, continued with our (now quarterly) yard sale and had several interesting adoptions. As always, we have many Thank Yous to mention. No AARF newsletter would be complete without some of our success stories (we call them Happy Tails) that we’d love to share with you. Finally, we once again foist an attempt at some humor upon our reading public (we can hear the boos and hisses already).
Note: images with a thicker gray border around them may be clicked to see an enlargement or another web page related to the photograph.
Feedback about this newsletter is always appreciated; please use our contact us page.
A Bingo–tastic evening
Bingo fans and AARF friends and supporters once again gathered at Roy’s Bayside Grill on the evening of November 27th, 2010 for our annual Bingo fundraiser. It’s becoming a nice tradition to play Bingo on the beach (or in the covered dining room), win great prizes, enjoy food and drinks and meet and socialize with AARF members.
Prizes included airline tickets, dinners, golf, spa treatments, hair cuts, lunches, gift baskets, gym membership, car and ferry services and even a cash prize — all donated by our fantastic supporters!
While the Bingo games (some 18 of them) started at 7, a Happy Hour started at 5:30, and an optional dinner (a panko crusted chicken or a fish dinner with all the trimmings) was offered at 6. Many, many thanks go to Mandy and Roy for providing the venue, helping with setup, offering and making the two dinners.
The Bingo games were fast paced. Players had the option of using just one card or buying extras — as many as they could handle. But they had to be on the ball as the numbers (coming from a real Bingo machine) rolled quickly as the team of Gayle and Rebecca generated the numbers and called them out through the sound system.
The highly desired grand prize — requiring a full card blackout — was donated by Cape Air, who gave us two round trip tickets between Anguilla and San Juan.
Special thank yous go to our donors and supporters:
- Cap Juluca (Pimms)
- Cap Juluca (Spice)
- Cape Air
- CuisinArt (Café Mediterraneo)
- Funtime Charters
- Geraud’s Patisserie
- Gumbsie car rental
- Kim’s Signature Baskets
- Louis Price Gym
- Malliouhana Spa
- Nagico Insurance
- OSSIA Massage and Esthetics
- Pumphouse
- Rainbow Airlines
- Straw Hat
- Temenos Golf Club
- Un Amore
- Zimzala Hair Salon
AARF Bingo night continues to be one of our biggest and best fundraisers. Look for the next one around the end of November in 2010. Come early, visit, have dinner, stake out a place on the beach or inside and have great fun playing Bingo!
Bingo players
Bingo players
Bingo players
Bingo winner
Bingo winner
Bingo winner
Kim’s Basket
Bingo machinery
Checking winner’s card
AARF Yard Sale
Yard Sale shoppers
The last quarterly yard sale of 2010 was on Saturday, December 18th, and once again, we are pleased that the venue at Roy’s Bayside Grill and the nice selection of goods made for happy shoppers. Those shoppers came to get great deals on good quality secondhand goods such as clothing, shoes, electronics, toys, books, housewares and more. And they had the comfort of shopping under a covered roof by the beach, with open sides letting in the light and breeze. Refreshments were available too
The next sale, in 2011 is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th at 9 a.m. with future sales coming roughly once a quarter after that (check here for our upcoming 2011 dates).
Yard sales are on Saturday mornings and go from 9 until about noon. Here are directions to Roy’s Bayside Grill. We highly suggest getting to Roy’s at opening time (or slightly before). The quality goods get snapped up early.
Many thanks go to Roy and Mandy, who allow us to use their nice covered space at their restaurant in Sandy Ground for the sale (and Bingo. And our meetings. And more!). They even show up with coffee and help with munchies.
We continue to receive donations of goods, and ask that you donate good that are in good condition. Please drop them off at the shelter (here are directions to the shelter) or at our container at Anguilla Techni Sales (in North Hill). Please send us an email or call for more information.
Omololu Christmas Fair
Althea at the fair
On December 10, Sally, Althea and Suzie represented AARF at the Omololu Christmas Fair.
They sold AARF tee shirts, hats, bottle bags, wrist bands, collars, and leashes.
The big hit was the mountain bike raffle (see below). The attending kids were all hoping to win the bike.
AARF didn’t make much money but it was good public relations and the volunteers had fun spending the afternoon with lots of children. Santa was there, there was a bouncy castle, face painting, food & drinks, and crafts booths.
Thanks to the volunteers, including Mark for helping with setting up the booth.
Bike Raffle
The mountain bike
The winner is picked
Last year, Ken G. donated a mountain bicycle to AARF (along with a carrier and a big, big bag of change), and it was decided that raffling off the bike would be a fun way to raise money. Raffles are popular on Anguilla and many organizations use them as fundraisers.
On December 14th, AARF chose a neutral person to draw the winning ticket, after which we had a very happy winner, and over US$200 to show for it.
Ken, thanks go out to you for this most generous donation!
New T–shirts and Hats
Long dog shirt
New 2011 design
Long time AARF supporter (and pet adopter) Steve Stanczyk of Kramer Printing near Madison, Wisconsin has come up with a new design that is so great looking we had to put it on our new shirts and hats.
Steve previously designed AARF’s Long Dog t–shirt that is very popular and a big seller.
Get yours at:
- The AARF shelter
- SeaSpray which is near the roundabout leading down to Sandy Ground; it is by the smoothie stand (and used to be called Bartlett’s)
Also check the other things we have for sale, such as our reuseable beverage bags and other nice items.
Use the Goodies for Sale link in the navigation bar to the left to see everything we’ve got.
Thank Yous
This quarter, AARF again received many wonderful donations of funds, supplies and other goods (some of which caring friends bring in their luggage, which in this day and age of stingy airline luggage rules is amazing!) and we’d like to send special thank yous to them. Those goods are priceless, and we mean that, because many of those donated goods just can’t be found here. Of course, we especially appreciate the cash donations; they have helped us with adoptions, spays and neuters, and food for our puppies, kittens, dogs and cats.
All donations go 100% towards the welfare of AARF animals.
To protect internet privacy, we choose to use initials.
Thank yous go to: Ms. Penny B., Bonnie & Ira B., Suzanne B., Kathy B., Theresa E., Jeanette G., Mr. and Mrs. Myron G., Imogen G., Karen G., Celia G., Allen G., Jennifer L., Mark & Monica L., Kenneth and Vesta L., Jacques & Susie M., Michael M., Janis M., Alice M., Dr. Allison N., Tara P., Peter Q., Ms. Marcia R., Ms. Susie R., Ariane St. C., Phillip & Darlene S., Rebecca T., Dan and Jane U. and Rick V.
It helps the volunteers to know that we have so many near and far people who love our animals and appreciate our work. That emotional support can’t be expressed, but to hear positive feedback makes it easier to do what we do.
Thank you again.
Annual General Meeting on March 9th, 2011
We will be holding our AGM on Wednesday, March 9th at 5:30 p.m. at Roy’s Bayside Grill, and we invite everyone to attend.
At this yearly meeting, AARF summarizes the events and accomplishments of the last year, votes on new officers, and presents awards for special people and accomplishments. It is a great time to meet board members, volunteers, friends of AARF, ask questions, give feedback and more.
Happy Tails
This quarter’s Happy Tales, er, Tails feature types of cats that are very, very difficult to get people to adopt. These cats probably have 10 lives!
Read on for the stories.
Millie
Millie
Black kittens and cats in Anguilla are not at all popular. Perhaps it’s because of the many superstitions or simply because they are so common — at any rate, AARF always has challenges placing black cats.
And when you add the word “female” to the description, it gets worse. Males are heavily favored. In this case we had both in one cat.
Thankfully Jo isn’t superstitious and wanted to save a life – so she agreed, sight unseen, to adopt Millie who had run out of time after many days at the shelter.
Sweet and gentle, she sat on the shoulder of the volunteer who drove her to her new home, settled in nicely with her two “brothers” and now likes to think she is the queen of the house (this from a cat? Go figure.) Jo reports she is very funny and loving!
Thank you Jo for giving Millie a forever home and also for donating her surgery fee back to AARF.
Sage
Sage
Sage came to the shelter in early December having been abandoned by his previous owners when they left the island.
A week after his arrival, Jane called to ask if we had a mature cat that was friendly and would enjoy being a lap cat! The volunteers had all fallen for Sage and thought he might be the one.
Jane came out to meet him and it was love at first sight!
After his neuter surgery he was introduced to his new home and now is Jane’s official greeter anytime she is away. She can see him thru the window as he races to the front door to say “welcome home!”.
Thanks Jane for giving Sage a forever home – he is a lucky guy.
On a Lighter Note
Halloween fell during the fourth quarter and a search of the web for Halloween humor showed that there are tremendously creative people out there and pets who tolerate this particular creative outlet. We found more dog costumes than cat ones, but think the cat owners to be particularly brave to even attempt dressing up their felines. So we’ll put dogs first, and the cats will be the headliner act to close this show.
Want to find more of these yourself? Search for "why dogs hate halloween" and "why cats hate halloween".
Ok, here we go:
Dogs
Cats
We are compelled to lead off with our favorite, the crayfish kitten, whom we happen to know...
Thanks for working you way all the way through this newsetter; we’ll see you next quarter.
