The Westy Bar and Grill, Hamburg, once again had a long line of greeters excited for all guests who walked into the restaurant on Saturday, April 26. It was hard for attendees to resist stopping to offer one of the four-legged greeters a pat on the head or a good belly rub.
Animal Rescue League and The CatWorks Inc. once again partnered up for an adoption event at the restaurant. This time it was the ‘Spring Adoption Event & Dip Off.’
After the success of the ‘Souper Bowl’ earlier this year, the groups this time held a dip contest inside while various dogs available for adoption waited outside the entrance and on the deck for visitors and new friends.
As guests walked up the steps to enter the restaurant, they passed by tables lined up full of animal and pet themed baskets that were part of the raffle. They also passed by a table of baked goods that were available for purchase. And of course there were plenty of dogs ready to greet incoming restaurant-goers with one even offering kisses for a donation.
‘The proceeds are going to go towards the animals,’ said Nikki Mengel of CatWorks Inc. at the previous event the groups held at The Westy. ‘The CatWorks is a foster to adopt program. If we come across an animal that needs extra care such as a broken leg, if the rescue who has that animal can’t afford to fix it, we will put it towards that and hopefully then take the animal in to our foster care program, fix it up and find it a forever home like we do for others.’
Not only were the dogs able to show off for their new friends, but the foster parents and other volunteers were able to answer questions for those interested in possibly adopting the dogs on their personalities and other traits. If someone was looking for a certain dog or cat that was not at the event, the volunteers were able to give them a long list of others that would fit what they were looking for and information on how to get more information.
This specific event was held to help the ARL Grey Muzzle and other 501C3 rescues fix the broken legs and other surgical repairs that are above and beyond the daily regular veterinary costs. The end goal is to find the animals forever homes.
After passing the welcoming committee, the guests went inside and were able to test the dips that were part of the dip off. Inside, on one of the bulletin boards, were pictures and descriptions of other animals available for adoption that were not there at the event.
‘We would hope someday by continuing to have these fundraisers we can raise more and more money to give to other rescues for their dogs and cats that need extra medical care. We want the money to go to the animals specifically not the day to day costs of the organizations,’ said Mengel after the previous event. ‘We find forever homes for 300-400 cats and about 20-25 dogs that we pull from these organizations each year,’ she added on The CatWorks Inc. organization.
The CatWorks Inc. was founded in 2002 and works with many animal rescues such as ARL and Animal Care and Control Team out of Philadelphia. They were recently named the top 100 rescues that ACCT works with and received top honors for their adoption at Petco in Wyomissing. The group has adoptions twice a month at Petco in Wyomissing and is always looking for donations and volunteers to help with fundraisers, adoption days and foster. For more information on The CatWorks, visit their website at www.thecatworksinc.org.
Animal Rescue League of Berks County was founded in 1952 and provides shelter and care to unwanted and abused animals in the Greater Reading area. At any given time, they care fore 175 animals a day at their facility in Birdsboro. Between May and September the shelter receives 900 cats and 300 dogs a month. For more information on ARL and how to volunteer or donate, visit their website at http://www.berksarl.org/.
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