Kiwanis Gift Wrap

Posted by TeamCharlie on December 21, 2008 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment

Since both Wags for Hope and Kids Are Heroes presented to the Kiwanis of Suburban Frederick a couple of times this year, we have become good friends.  Many of the Kiwanis people have been volunteering for well over thirty years.  They meet every single week which is even more amazing.  It is rare that you find as open and friendly a bunch of people.  They asked me if Charlie would appear at a Keys game to help attract people to their table.  He happily obliged and of course it worked – “like buddah”.  They also asked if we would help with the gift wrapping season.  Every year their major fundraiser is having volunteers wrap gifts at the mall for donations.  They have to invest in a wrapping paper and other accessories, so it takes a while for them to simply break even.  With the economy dipping this year, they were fearful of the results.  So they thought that if there was a dog there from time to time then we might bring more people over to their stations. I put out the word to the Wags folks about this opportunity.  They responded in droves. So far I see on the schedule that 46 pet teams have committed to at least 92 hours – and many stay over the allotted time because it is so much fun.

I had done this last week with Charlie.  Yes we got plenty of visitors, and when people asked why we were there I explained that we were just trying to get more people to wrap their gifts.  There was no way to quantify how much of an impact we were making.  Yesterday I was scheduled to go back with Charlie.  Team Emma Jean (English Bulldog) was there.  Emma Jean is not happy unless she is dressed for the occasion. Donning her festive collar and flashing reindeer horns, she was ready for anything.  Her owner Terry came up with the ingenious idea to charge $1.00 for “Kisses for Kiwanis”.  When I got there she raised over $70.00!  She stayed on during my shift and people started giving me money as well. One person handed me a ten dollar bill!  Thanks to Terry I think we have a new plan for next year.