Newsletter: JULY 2010 NEWS & EVENTS

EVENTS

Coming up this Sunday, July 11th, is the C.A.R.L. Pooch Parade at the San Buenventura State Beach Park in Ventura. It's an all-day fun affair and Forever Friends will have a booth there. Silent auction, vendors, games, contests, demonstrations, and, of course, the Parade of Dogs at 10 am. Click on the poster for more details.

Yard Sale at 895 Jasper Ave, Ventura from 8 am to 2 pm Saturday, July 17th. Bargains galore! Everything you expect to see at a yard sale and then some. Help our Goldens while you help your pocketbook.

Looking ahead: C.A.R.E.4Paws' Wags n' Whiskers Festival, August 29 at Girsh Park in Goleta.

NEWS

Our surviving "Parvo Pups" have all been adopted and are thriving in their new homes. You can read their intake and recovery story at The Golden Infirmary and go to our Forever Homes page to see how Daphne, Phoebe and Angela are stealing the hearts of everyone they meet. You can also see little Iris, the only puppy not to survive this terrible virus, on our Rainbow Bridge page. Thanks to the 24/7 home care by three dedicated foster volunteers, Forever Friends was able to contain the medical costs to a little over $2,600. Our Major Medical Fund (The Scarlett Fund) has been depleted so donations to help rebuild it will be greatly appreciated. Angela before and after:

The Birdie & Bogey story is currently featured on our home page. This pair of 5-year-olds was brought into rescue June 28th in terrible condition. Both are nearly twice the weight they should be...Birdie at 112 lbs. and Bogey at 109 lbs. They were so matted that they couldn't stand to be touched, it hurt so much. Bogey is basically blind, and Birdie has a torn ACL on her right back knee, but she can't have surgery until she loses 60 lbs. Both had ear infections and need dental care. After their vet exam at Anza Animal Clinic, they were whisked off to the groomer for a complete shave and bath. We thank Paula's and Veronica's Bark Avenue Grooming for donating their grooming services and going above and beyond with this pair. You can tell from their beautiful faces what stunning Goldens they will be when they get back into shape. ACL surgery for Birdie will be costly, so again, we need to rebuild our Major Medical Fund to be ready when Birdie is ready.

In March, we promoted our Golden Friendship Monthly Donor Program. For as little as $10 a month, you can be a Loving Friend and as our thanks, you'll receive custom note cards featuring our rescued Goldens. Of course, you can still make one-time donations at Donate.

Forever Friends is now part of the Ralphs Community Contributions Program. Just register your Ralphs Reward Card online and follow the instructions at the link above to select Forever Friends as your Nonprofit Organization. Then shop and generate funds for FFGRRescue! It's that easy.

Don't forget our ongoing Eco-Recycling fundraiser. Now that the iPhone 4 and iPad are out, donate your old handhelds, cellphones, laptops, inkjet cartridges, and digital cameras to Forever Friends and we'll convert them into funds for the dogs.

Do you like statistics? In our first six months of operation (plus a little bit of December 2009), Forever Friends took in 49 Goldens and found homes for 40 of them so far. Because we did not have the resources to deal with their issues, 3 were transferred to the Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue & Sanctuary. We lost 2 to the Rainbow Bridge, have 2 on medical hold, and 3 recent intakes are actively interviewing prospective families. During that time, we received 157 adoption applications, but only 103 were within our service area. For various and sundry reasons, 59 of those were closed but the rest found their perfect matches and we have 17 applicants waiting for family visits or dogs.

If you haven't visited the Forever Friends website lately, you'll see some new formatting and organization, especially on our front page. And as you can tell from all the links above, you can do just about anything at the website....enjoy the heart-warming stories of the adopted dogs, see the available goldens, Volunteer, or apply to Foster a Golden. We really need foster homes! Take a peek...we think you'll enjoy it!

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to seeing you at the Pooch Parade and Yard Sale.

Forever Friends Golden Retriever Rescue

Some favorite "ever after" photos