The location was a mystery and finding it meant having to ask a stranger or a Hale's Ales employee.
"I'm looking for the Life and Tails auction?"
"Oh, just go back out to the right and follow the yellow brick road."
"The yellow brick what?"
"Yeah, just out and to the right."
Sure enough, spray-painted into the sidewalk outside the popular Fremont brewpub was a yellow brick road. It ran west the length of the brewery at 4301 Leary Way N.W., and veered north until it came to a door, the entrance normally reserved for the unusual and risqué Moisture Festival. But inside the refashioned warehouse tonight would be a concert/silent auction benefiting PAWS and Operation Sack Lunch.
The event was organized by Bobbie Lyons and Magnolia resident Paul Harvey McLaughlin. The two have been friends since grade school and both are Queen Anne High School alums. McLaughlin is a real estate agent for John L. Scott and Lyons is a marketing manager for Northwest Cascade Inc. Over a pitcher of beer, the two friends were pondering ways they could give back to the community in some way. They considered several ideas but when McLaughlin mentioned a rock concert, that seemed to stick. But it had to benefit an organization or two.
"We talked about it and chose PAWS and Operation Sack Lunch (OSL) because we like pets and it's all about feeding people and taking care of animals," McLaughlin said just prior to Saturday evening's proceedings. "This is the first time we've ever done anything like this."
The collaboration between McLaughlin and Lyons was formalized as a nonprofit called Living Life Larger for Others, whose vision is to raise awareness and the importance of volunteering.
About 200 people showed up at the $25-a-head benefit. Each visitor was given a ticket for a beer from Hale's Ales. Hales was also selling beer and 50 percent of the proceeds went to PAWS and OSL.
There were 35 items up for auction; several were evenings at restaurants or getaways. There were high-end seats at upcoming Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders games, tickets to concerts, a handmade quilt by Nina Johnson, a $1,200 camcorder provided by Comcast, and an acrylic painting of a woman holding two small dogs by Magnolia artist and cartoonist Molly Norris. The bidding for her painting started at $400. In all, McLaughlin and Lyons had raised corporate and private donations valued at more than $4,000. They also gave the night's guests a considerable packet of alternative nonprofits in the Puget Sound region they might consider volunteering for or donating inkind services.
Also up for bid, in a way, was a Rottweiler/pit bull pup that PAWS events coordinator Eleanor Blackford brought onto the stage. She said there were many dogs and cats waiting to be adopted at PAWS headquarters in Lynnwood or the satellite Cat City office in Greenwood.
Blackford also dispelled rumors and provided guests with education about the scope of PAWS' efforts. The organization has more than 7,000 animals from 200 different species. She said that coyotes and raccoons are indigenous to the area and that there are ways for humans to coexist with them - one being to not feed them.
PAWS also looks after wild animals and prepares them for reintroduction into the wild. In the Lynnwood location, PAWS has five black bear cubs, a bald eagle and two beavers. PAWS also has a seal and some raptors.
"We want to educate people about animals native to our area and how we can share our space," Blackford said. "We want to give animals in the area a chance to live."
Entertainment for the night included music performed by Dave Ellis and the Hopeless Sinners, Andy Coe In Lake'ch, Jaguar Paw and Double Hockey Sticks.
For more information about Living Life Larger for Others, visit www.livinglifelarger.org. PAWS is at www.paws.org and Operation Sack Lunch, which is in its 21st year and has since served more than 2.7 million meals, can be found at www.opsacklunch.org.
"I think it's fantastic," said Doug George, who was running the event's reception table and is himself a former Magnolian who went to school with both McLaughlin and Norris at Queen Anne High School. "It's a win-win situation."[[In-content Ad]]
