It was called “A Furry Tail Evening”.  Marisol and Rob Thomas wanted to do something to support Pets Alive.
Coming into last night, we literally had $5000 in our checking account.
Without this event…..Pets Alive would have been saying goodbye.
Matt said it best in his speech, I think.   Pets Alive will save almost 1000 animals this year.  99% of them were on euthanasia lists at other shelters that are forced to put dogs down.  We pull them, vet them, love them, and then find them a home.  One THOUSAND animals this year.  Think about that.  Then think about how that 1000 would be in the ground today if not for people like Rob and Marisol, who put on an event like last night – ..for us.

(Pets Alive staff – don’t they look BEAUTIFUL??)

Marisol and Rob spoke at the event.  She said that she has always loved animals, from a very little girl and her parents ENCOURAGED that love, rather then discouraged it.  That stayed with me all night.  I know Marisol’s mom, Maria.  She is so amazingly wonderful.  Every time I see her I want to hug her and not let go.  For so many reasons.  Mainly for loving her daughter (and animals too!) so much that she never tried to kill or dampen that enthusiasm, which brought Marisol (and that love) as a gift to Pets Alive and to the 1000 animals this year that sleep on beds and couches and romp at the dog park. Maria is so loving – she opens her heart, bares her soul, and in a room she is such a light and such a presence.  You are so very drawn to her, her spirit and her enthusiasm and excitement. I truly adore this woman, and I think often how special she and her husband must have been to raise a woman like Marisol.
At the event, Scott Shannon said that he meets a lot of famous people that are “one way on camera” and “another way off”.  He said how amazing Rob and Mari are – that they are TRULY the people that they claim to be and they put their souls into what they believe in.  I can tell you honestly that this is not “lip service”.  I’ve had the tremendous pleasure to meet Marisol and Rob on a number of occasions and you simply can not FAKE loving an animal.  You see Marisol’s eyes absolutely light up when she spots Meeshka or a dog comes to her to be pet, or when she cuddles a new kitten or puppy.  It isn’t fake.  She LOVES them.  I know because I recognize it.  I feel the same way.  I see that same thing in our staff and many of our volunteers.   Rob will look at a dog and then immediately crouch down to be on it’s level …and the smile he offers that dog is so warm and tender, it touches my heart so deeply.
You can’t FAKE that.  They are truly what they say they are.  This isn’t about THEM.  They have never asked us for ANYTHING.  They could have said “Hey this event is a bear to run, we need you to do this and that and the other thing” but they recognize that we are a staff of 10 and that our days are so swamped that some nights we crawl into bed still smelling of animal and dirt because we’re too tired to drag ourselves into a shower.
Have any of you ever run an event?  I have.  It’s a nightmare.  Yes, parts are fun and the result is always worth it, but the day to day, and dealing with all the things that go wrong and all the things you didn’t THINK of until the VERY last minute and all the problems that arise that day and all the people that let you down in the process or want to do MORE than you need or ask and you need to pull in – oh my.  It is so time consuming and so enveloping that you truly have no life for MONTHS but for the event you are putting on.   But she did.  This beautiful, soft, tender woman was fierce as nails and pulled together an event worthy of Hollywood or the White House.  She didn’t hire a company to do it.  She dragged (I mean….errr…politely asked) her friends to help – and they did.  They all stepped up.
Sheelah – who is Marisol’s assistant – was there every step of the way from what I understand.  I have met Sheelah.  She is a tiny little thing but she is another one that you KNOW is in the room.  She’s got great ideas and opinions and will voice suggestions and step in to take over or take notes or follow up on anything needing to be done.  I detect she isn’t a person that gets coddled a lot but may do a lot of coddling to get results.  (smile).  Sheelah is the nicest person.  She has been amazingly gracious to Pets Alive with her gift of time and support.
Then there is Rob’s tour manager, Jason.  The whole night, anything we needed it was “Jason, is it possible…”, “Jason, can we…”, “Jason, where are the…”, “how do we…?”…all night.  The poor man.  He never lost his cool.  NEVER showed us any exasperation or discourtesy and followed up with us all night, later that night and the next day.  He then sent me all his contact information so we could be sure to contact him if we ever needed anything.  I’m speechless.  That doesn’t happen too often.  (Shut up Matt).
Dejan is a friend of Marisol’s.  What a sweet man!  I loved him the SECOND I met him.  He has the most effusive and engaging smile.  You FALL into his smile and there is NO WAY you can not smile back at this man.  He is always UP and HAPPY and so amazingly kind.  Every time I see him I just want to hug the snot out of him.  Total doll, and Mari said he helped keep her sane through this whole thing!  Thank you Dejan.
I had never met Chris Daughtry or Andre Agassi or Steffi Graf before.  Matt was sure to thank Andre and Steffi and I made sure to stop Chris and thank him.  Now I understand they are friends of Rob and Marisol’s but they didn’t HAVE to do this.  Andre and Steffi manage their own charity event and it had just ended a few days before.  They were probably exhausted…but there they were.  Chris put on a fabulous show.  Just him and his guitar and the whole room got so silent when he started to play that you could have heard a pin drop.  He was astounding and beautiful, but he was also funny – bantering with Rob and others and making the audience laugh and feel comfortable.
I guess it is not surprising that good people are also surrounded with OTHER good people. My mom always says that what you put OUT in this world, is what will come back.  If you put OUT good or kindness then that will be returned to you.  I was struck by that thought when Mari thanked Pets Alive for her Tyler.  Thanking US.  Can you believe that?  Then I thought.  My goodness.  There is nothing in the world that gives ME more joy than my dogs…it won’t be different for anyone here either.  How true.We put out good things in the world and are rewarded perhaps with the most amazing four legged companions and two-legged friends.  Truly…we are all very blessed.

So let me tell you more about the night.  The word “enchanting” comes to mind.  The rooms were so beautiful.  It was like we were outside in a forest.  Animal topiaries (that were auctioned off) were all about the room – life-size dogs, squirrels, cats, horses, pigs – it was so amazing.  The lighting was low…but not that annoying low “you can’t see what you’re eating”…it was low as in “ambiance” and mood shaping.  The lighting was spectacular.  No idea who did that but it totally made the mood for the night and created a mystical, magical atmosphere. Table linens were dark olive and the flowers were gorgeous greens and lush pink and burgundy petals.  It was truly stunning.
The night started with a cocktail hour in one part of the room where all the auction items were set up and the Pets Alive table.  All night long we had people coming up to us, thanking us for what we did, talking to us about Pets Alive or asking us if they could help and offering us help.  Some people would give us their card and say “This is what I do.  If I can ever help, CALL ME.”  Or “I have xyz.  How can I get it to you, I know you can use it”.  We were really all floored.
People would also walk up and give us donations.  Kim Tompkins is a long time Pets Alive supporter and she handed us a check for $500 from her parents.  She said she wanted to help Pets Alive in the future in any way she could. She’s been a major fund raiser for other organizations in the past, so this offer from her was quite welcome.  Someone came to us and handed us a $4000 check from their Day Spa. No big fanfare – they were not looking for recognition or a comment, they simply handed it to us and moved on.
Then we went inside the other room where the tables were set with such beauty that I wished I had gotten a picture of it before everyone settled down.  Glassware and linens and – sigh.  It was just gorgeous.  Scott Shannon spoke, then Rob and Marisol, then we showed the Pets Alive video that Don Bruce had put together for us (you can click here to see it!).  The video was obviously our amateur attempt at showing a little of the emotion and love behind Pets Alive but it was so sweet and I think very well done.  Don did the voice over for it and the filming and everyone “awwwwww-ed” in all the right places.  Then Matt spoke (text of his speech can be found here).  Dinner, then Chris played, then Rob.
I had never seen Rob play, in person before.  He had been fighting a very bad throat and when he spoke that night his voice was very froggy but amazingly he SANG – he complained it wasn’t going to be good but I thought he was FABULOUS!!!!  I was so impressed with his live performance!  BLOWN AWAY!  I told Mari that, and she laughed an said I HAD to come to one of his shows, that he is amazing.  Well, I was blown away that night, and I could tell so were so many others.  When he did “Smooth” with limited musical instruments and just his voice, I was out of my seat dancing.  There is video of that but if it ever hits YouTube I’ll kill that staffer! (grin).  Rob put on such a great show.
All day today I have been getting text messages and emails saying how AMAZING and WONDERFUL and EXCITING it all was last night!  How magical and how touched people were to be a part of it and be included in it.  Angela Huffman, one of our biggest supporters was there all the way from Oklahoma and Bill and Colleen (from the Tennessee transport) came all the way up from North Carolina for the event and people came from as far away as England and Scotland!  Karen was there but she didn’t bring Bisquit (which we all complained about – we all agreed he would look wonderful in a little tuxedo!) and so many people I never met that knew us from the website or these blogs that stopped to say hello.  There was even a table of NYC Firemen there.
During the night one of our staff turned to me and said…”I can’t believe this.  All of this.  For US.  For little old US.  For Pets Alive.  All of THIS.”  She said it with shock and wonder and I realized that was exactly how I felt.
Little old us.
Ten staff strong – trying to move mountains.
With help and love like this…we will.
Thank you to everyone.  To all the people who sponsored the event, showed up, ran it, volunteered at it, donated items for it – THANK YOU.
Pets Alive is so ‘furever’ grateful to you all.
We’ll be alive another year thanks to you.
To Rob and Marisol – you know how I feel. Words can never tell you enough. Every time I look into an animals eyes as it comes off a truck I think of you and all you do for us.  Thanks for saving us for another year.