It was a wild night out two Saturdays ago-St. Patrick's Day-but not in the way you might think. I'm talking about the PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) annual fund raising dinner held at the W Hotel.
PAWS is a unique organization that started in the Northwest in 1967, and is celebrating 40 years of saving animals that have been abandoned or injured, and either returning them to the wild or finding good homes for domesticated animals.
Not to be confused with the more militant PETA, PAWS promotes the welfare of animals through educational programs and peaceful means, as well as working with elected officials to bring about animal-friendly legislation. In their 40 years, they have helped more than 200,000 animals.
Saturday night's gala affair, like the Humane Societies Tuxes & Tails, involves wine and cocktails, a silent auction preceding dinner and a live auction after dinner, if you eat quickly.
The menu is vegetarian, and while some percentage of supporters are vegetarians, or vegans, and the very capable W Hotel kitchen can produce a tasty repast made of all veggies, I suspect that some diners, as this writer did, high-tailed it to a local eatery for a bit of meat protein after the event.
I'm sure the folks who run PAWS would like to see us all forsake animal flesh, but they don't pressure anyone to do that. Personally, I accept that we are omnivores. The idea of consuming meat, fowl and fish, while at the same time advocating for the humane treatment of those animals is a logical position in my mind.
This year's event was, as near as I could tell, a huge success raising money for PAWS. Discussions with several of the people in the organization indicated they had met, or exceeded, their goal for the night. Last year's event raised more than $160,000-$40K over the goal-and this year likely surpassed that number.
One always-popular auction item is having your pet's picture on next year's calendar. Saturday night, the cover page went for more than $2,000, and each month went for an estimated average of $1,800, raising in the range of $25,000 just for the calendar.
Various trips, a collection of wine for either a beginning or growing cellar, art work and dinner events had bid cards waiving frantically in the air. The Fund A Need auction that supports the feeding and care of the animals, during which bidders raise their cards at donation levels starting at $50 and going up to $5,000, was another huge success. Last year this part of the evening alone raised $40,000, and I'd guess that number was exceeded as well.
All in all, it was a wonderful evening in support of a terrific organization that cares about the fuzzy little critters that share our homes and our beautiful environment in the Northwest.
We didn't get around to any Irish pubs to celebrate the day, but I suspect St. Patrick would cut us some slack when he realized that we were involved in trying to help save our little friends-even the snakes.
If you want to read more about the event, or if you want to donate time or money to PAWS, you can go to their website at www.paws.org. The story and pictures of this year's event should be on the site soon.[[In-content Ad]]
