Bow Wow Bonus

CHESTERMERE – There are some lucky pooches and pussycats that are about to benefit greatly from some very generous people. The Chestermere Car Nutz held its Annual 11th Show and Shine on July 28 this year and collected a sizeable chunk of change – and they’re giving it away. The money is spoken for so don’t get your hopes up that you’ll get some. No there are 3 wonderful charities that are sharing the dollars that these hard working and selfless individuals are helping. Two cheques of $2000 each was given out, one to AARCS which is short for the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society and the other cheque went to Pound Rescue based in Okotoks. Both of these organizations are non-profit and suffer from the high veterinary bills associated with many of the animals they have rescued for various reasons. Check out their websites and you will find it difficult to turn away after seeing some of the pets that are up for adoption and read about the animal rescue stories some of them have gone through. Deanna Thompson, spokesperson for AARCS said ” We have about 1000 adoptions every year; we are currently operating out of a new facility in NE Calgary where the pets can spend between 2 days to 2 weeks in the shelter”. With both the organizations they rely heavily on foster homes for the animals until they are adopted. This is the place to look for a family pet if you would like to adopt one but before you can take one of these precious pets to your home, you will have to go through a 6 step adoption process. Often these pets have gone through enough stress already the volunteers only want what is best for the animals. R.J. Bailot from the Pound Rescue said “We have over 200 animals in our care at any given time and we strictly use foster homes until the pets get adopted.” “Our veterinary expenses are costly at any time of year” he added.
There are about 15 similar deserving charities but you will see why these two charities were chosen for some of the cash if you go their websites.
You can find them at www.AARCS.ca and www.poundrescue.com
President Mike St Cyr of the Chestermere Show and Shine said this was the 11th year for the annual Show and Shine that they have held in Chestermere and is amazed at the turnout for the show. “We’re a non-profit organization and we like to give back to the community so the Show and Shine works great for fundraising”. Mike is a member of the Chestermere Car Nutz Club as well and he says you can stop by and take in a car show every week if you want. Rain or Shine (no hail thank you very much) these folks meet every Tuesday in the summer at the Chestermere Station parking lot near the British Isles Fish & Chips and in winter it’s the last Sunday of the month in the afternoon at the West Creek Pub. There are always different vehicles that show up and lots of people stop and take a whack of pictures and talk cars to the NUTZ.
The President of Car Nutz, Ryan Piche, said “there are so many nice vehicles in Chestermere and a lot of them don’t even leave the garage”. “We advertise all over the place for the car show so I’m not surprized how large the show is getting”. He added “We want to take the club in a new direction and do even more community work; they’re just a nice group of community minded people to hang around with and raise money”.
The third cheque from the Show and Shine is going to the Food For Thought Program and there will be a presentation at the Chestermere Lake Middle School September 10th; more on that in another article.