Weather holds for Paws for the Cause Walk
By Liz Farley
Board Member
Despite all of the recent rain we have received, Saturday, May 18, was a beautiful day for our annual Paws for the Cause event. The sun and slight breeze allowed for near-perfect conditions for everyone involved, especially our four-legged walkers!
Paws for the Cause is a two-mile benefit walk held at the Central Aroostook Humane Society where families and friends — many along with their dogs — make monetary donations to our shelter, take a quick two-mile jaunt and enjoy refreshments, prizes, dog washes and the company of other community animal supporters.
This year we had 81 people in attendance along with 63 dogs and one cat. Yes, you read that correctly, one cat! Tara Soucy brought her cat, Shadow, for the walk and he was amazing. He walked nearly the entire route. This was definitely a first for our event. Shadow was also previously adopted from our shelter! We are so happy he has a loving owner and that they were able to make it to our walk.
The walk raised a total of $1,959 this year, all from donations made by our generous walkers and people supporting them. One special donor at our walk every year is Colby Ouellette. This young man collects and returns bottles and cans all year round solely for the purpose of donating the proceeds at our walk. Colby yet again won the Biggest Donation Collected award and we are so thankful for his continued support. Way to go, Colby!
Our Biggest Dog award went to Bruno and his owner Hanna Plourde. Bruno is a sweet St. Bernard and he too was adopted from our shelter.
The Smallest Dog award was a tough one to decide. Carol Allen was in attendance, as she is every year, with her teeny tiny miniature Dachshund dogs. Her little “Mimi” took the award this year.
The Oldest Dog award went to another adoptee. Dudley is 14 years old and was adopted from the shelter nearly 13 years ago. Owner Jessica Buckley walked him. On the other end of the age spectrum, the Youngest Dog award went to 3-month-old Australian Shepherd Audie and owner Kim Sebold.
As many people know, dogs like to shed hair all over the place and our Hairiest Dog was no exception. Duster and owner Susan Roberts took this award for Duster’s very hairy style.
Of the 63 dogs in attendance this year, 29 of them were adopted from our shelter at one point or another. Many other dogs were adopted from other shelters around the state.
We love seeing our longtime supporters and their animals as well as meeting new ones. Seeing your animals grow and learning their stories keeps us going!
Thank you to everyone that made this event possible. We hope to see you again next year!