BOWL-A-RAMA 2008

On Saturday, August 2, AZGRC members and volunteers, along with dozens of animal rescue organizations across the Valley, gathered at AMF Shea Village Lanes to celebrate Bowl-A-Rama Animal Rescue Day. 

There were great raffle prizes, a silent auction, and of course bowling!  Sheriff Joe came out to show his support for animal rescue, and Baxter, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ mascot, gave some free bowling lessons! 

This year, AZGRC held some drawings of our own, awarding $50 Target gift certificates to members who collected the most donations, as well as a special drawing of a gift basket with a photo shoot by Heather Murphy of Southpaw Fine Photos.  There was also a grand prize of a custom pet portrait by April Howland of Howland Studios for single largest contributor. 

In all, $13,485 was raised to help AZGRC to continue saving Goldens, providing them medical care, and finding them forever homes!  On behalf of  Lewis, Lucy, Jesse, Jackson, Gabby, and Freckles, this year’s six wonderful Bowl-A-Rama dogs, thanks to all our members and supporters who showed how much they care!

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SWIMFEST 2008

On Saturday, May 3, over 100 AZGRC members and 79 of their canine kids welcomed in summer with a BIG Splash!  Camera’s were flashing as “moms and dads” took pictures of dozens of Goldens jumping into the pool, rolling in the grass, and greeting friends, both canine and human!  It was a day for our beloved pets to have the kind of fun we always want for them.  It was also a time for AZGRC volunteers fosters, and adopters to once again visit and share stories of the great dogs rescued over the past seven years.

The fun began at 10AM and continued through a delicious lunch of grilled chicken, bratwurst, hamburgers, and hot dogs with all the trimmings, prepared and cooked by Chefs Terry and Al.  

Thanks to Candy, Audrey, Fran and Chris we had several beautiful baskets filled with goodies to raffle off to those holding the lucky numbers.   Of course, AZGRC made sure everyone went home a winner with Good Doggie bags filled with toys for every dog.

Linda introduced Bowl-A-Rama 2008 to our members and several folks took home “spare change” cans to collect funds for their favorite Bowl-A-Rama Dog in Need.

A special tribute was made to ex-Board Member, Mike Nash for his long-time dedication to AZGRC.  Although Mike’s job now requires a great deal of travel, Mike still attends as many AZGRC events as he can and helps with our rescue mission whenever time permits. 

As our dog-gone tired pups headed for home, their Moms and Dads promised to bring them back for more fun next year! 

A huge Thank You to the following volunteers and board members for all their hard work and dedication to make SWIMFEST so much fun for everyone! 

• Al & Onzie for hosting this great event

• Terry and Al for cooking up the great food

• Sue & Joy for greeting everyone and handling the sign-in table

• Eileen, Debbie, Audrey, Lisa, Sue G., Margaret, & Linda for setting up and working at the Golden Boutique, Raffle baskets and Bowl-A-Rama tables

• Shirley and Heather for taking Golden for Golden Photos

• Bob, Debbie, Terry, Al, Onzie, Candy, Lisa, Peachy, Audrey, Brenda, Heather, Steve, Chris and Eileen for working late Friday and early Saturday preparing for the event and later, for the clean-up

• Bob for his role of Golden Lifeguard.  One Golden especially is very thankful for Bob’s diligence and fast action

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DUCK AND DECANTER

What do you get when you spend the day with more than a dozen goldens, a trio of puppies, some wine and add a generous helping of yummy snacks?  You get the Tax Day Gathering at Duck and Decanter, of course!

There were at least three certified golden therapy dogs, several other beautiful goldens and, well, a few golden wannabes.  Our fearless dog-loving Adoption Coordinator is doing double duty as a foster for Four Legged Friends.  Her 12-week-old foster boys were the talk of the event.  Dodger, Mikey and Ziemer were three pooped pooches when they got home.

There was plenty of affection to spare for Kaylie, Chloe, Samantha, Tanner, Bodie, Chrissy, Chelsea, Austin and Jake as they performed miracles as ambassadors for the rescue group.  Everyone had a good time, good food, pleasant conversation and yummy treats!

Now if only we could change the tax code so all contributions to AZGRC counted double...  At least you know that all contributions to AZGRC are tax deductible and will be repaid by years of love and affection!

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BEANS, BOOKS AND BARKS

On Saturday, April 5, AZGRC joined Arizona Border Collie Rescue, Boxer Luv Rescue, and Wild At Heart, at Beans, Books and Barks Outdoor Paw Patio Grand Opening.  What a fun and busy day! Phoenix Vice Mayor Peggy Neely cut the ribbon to open the dog friendly patio promptly at 9AM

Phoenix Area Disc Dogs (PHADD) demonstrated how to train dogs to catch a Frisbee.  Easier said than done! Tail Wagg'n Barkery, PU Inc., Ani-Motions/Healing with the Animals and Travlehounds USA were also on hand to celebrate the day. 

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FEBRUARY

Golden Hike Sunday, February 24 turned out to be a perfect day to get out and enjoy the Arizona desert.   AZGRC members and their Goldens took advantage of the somewhat cloudy day and met in Usery Mountain Regional Park in Mesa for a hike on the Wind Cave Trail .   As we walked along the trail, lots of people stopped to admire our gathering of Golden Retrievers.  Of course, that meant lots of petting for our "kids"!  Be sure to take a look at our photos of the hike. The desert wildflowers were just starting to bloom and the desert hills were in their green spring finery!    So, if you missed the hike, take some time in the next couple of weeks to get out and see the desert in full bloom!  For you less adventurous types we will meet at Duck and Decanter in Central Phoenix for AZGRC’s annual Tax day outing in April.  Check out our Events Calendar for more details and we hope to see you and your 4-legged deductions there. View a slideshow of this event

Heart To Heart AZGRC attended PACC911 Heart to Heart event this weekend at Indian Steele Park. AZGRC Rescue Captain along with our wonderful volunteers were on hand to meet the public and show off the Golden breed.  Captain met several potential forever families by showing his lovable self. There were agility events including Frisbee toss, flyball, an agility course and the Great Dane Drill team.   Thanks to our volunteers who gave up a weekend to help us spread the word at the events. Please volunteer to help out at our adoption events we always need people to work at our booth and spend quality time in the Arizona sunshine with our goldens.   View a slideshow of this event

AZGRC Wine Tasting and Charity Auction On Feb. 9th AZGRC held our first annual Wine tasting event a D’vine Wine.  The event was a great success for the organization and we received many complements on how well everything was run.  There was wine tasting provided by D’vine Wine, yummy treats, silent auction tables and the highlight, a live auction of some very incredible items including Coyotes tickets in the owners box and a meet and greet with Wayne Gretzky. AZGRC would like to thank deeply all of our members and friends who donated items for the auction, D’vine Wine for hosting us and our volunteers whose hard work made it come together.  Most importantly thanks to all who attended and helped us with our fundraising.  The proceeds will help us to continue our rescue efforts to place healthy Goldens in happy homes. View a slideshow of this event