Alison Nakanishi is the originator of this email. It was forwarded to me by Beth Hamilton bhamilton@orangecova.com, please contact Beth if you can help.
About a month ago while riding in Sandy Point State Forest we found two beagles who had been dumped there. They were starving, just skin and bones, so we brought them home. They are healthy now and have been treated for heartworm and had all of their vaccinations but we cannot keep them. Unfortunately these were hunting dogs and so have not been socialized or trained as pets which makes it very difficult for them to be placed. I have lost count of the number of rescue organizations that I have contacted and everyone is full. My local animal control in Hanover will take the dogs but only to put them down. Since we have already invested considerable time, effort and money we do not want to see them just thrown away. Besides, they have already suffered enough as I am pretty sure besides being starved they were also abused based on their fear of people. They are very cute dogs, 2 males, around 2 yrs old who deserve a chance. We have named them Corky and Lenny after our favorite deli in Cleveland where we moved from last Sept.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikkis_refuge/2454434105/
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HELPING ANIMALS AT OUR SANCTUARY AND AROUND THE WORLD!
RIKKI’S REFUGE IS A MULTI-SPECIES LIFE-CARE NO-KILL SANCTUARY
FOR THE MEDICALLY AND SOCIALLY CHALLENGED
SUPPORTED BY DONATIONS FROM KIND AND GENEROUS PEOPLE LIKE YOU !
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Sponsor Appreciation Day!
Sunday April 27th 2008, Noon-4 PM
Rikki's Refuge
In appreciation for all of Rikki's Donors and Volunteers. Please come out and join
us for fun all afternoon. Refreshments and veggie bar-b-que-ing. Tours leave the
Gift Shop every half hour. You will get to interact with the friendly cats and dogs,
feed the pigs (bring apples) and sheep and goats and rabbits (bring carrots). Wear
waterproof shoes, old clothes, long pants, sun lotion, hats, etc; dress for the
weather, it's all outdoors and you will get wet, muddy and slobbered on!
Warning - lots of prickles and hooves so sandals and shorts aren't recommended.
Visit our gift shop. Buy a Rikki's Wear T-shirt. Bring your camera and get great
shots of the critters!!
2008 OPEN HOUSE DATES
Summer with the Animals - Sun 6/15 (12-4 pm)
Halloween with the Animals - Sun 10/19 (11am - 3pm)
Fall in Love with the Animals, Sat 11/15 (11am - 3pm)
2008 TOURS DATES
Sun 5/18 1 pm, Fri 7/4 11 am, Sun 8/17 11 am, Mon 9/1 12 pm, Thur 12/25 12 pm
Rikki's Refuge
In appreciation for all of Rikki's Donors and Volunteers. Please come out and join
us for fun all afternoon. Refreshments and veggie bar-b-que-ing. Tours leave the
Gift Shop every half hour. You will get to interact with the friendly cats and dogs,
feed the pigs (bring apples) and sheep and goats and rabbits (bring carrots). Wear
waterproof shoes, old clothes, long pants, sun lotion, hats, etc; dress for the
weather, it's all outdoors and you will get wet, muddy and slobbered on!
Warning - lots of prickles and hooves so sandals and shorts aren't recommended.
Visit our gift shop. Buy a Rikki's Wear T-shirt. Bring your camera and get great
shots of the critters!!
2008 OPEN HOUSE DATES
Summer with the Animals - Sun 6/15 (12-4 pm)
Halloween with the Animals - Sun 10/19 (11am - 3pm)
Fall in Love with the Animals, Sat 11/15 (11am - 3pm)
2008 TOURS DATES
Sun 5/18 1 pm, Fri 7/4 11 am, Sun 8/17 11 am, Mon 9/1 12 pm, Thur 12/25 12 pm
Thursday, April 17, 2008
First Ever Rikki's Refuge Golf Tournament
The big event was yesterday at Cannon Ridge Golf Club. And it was one huge, tremendous, fabulous success. Thank you Cannon Ridge for allowing us to be there. Thank you to all our sponsors, especially Xerox. And please remember leave all your reproduction to Xerox, neuter and spay your pets today. A big thank you to all of our volunteers who worked so hard to coordinate it and begged for the gifts and prizes. And thank you to all the donors who forked over prizes large and small. There were so many prizes and gifts, I think everyone got at least one.
Cannon Ridge Golf Club is a lovely facility. I suppose most of you live with running water, but out here at the ranch, we're just happy when Larry's Loo has toilet paper. So we really enjoyed the accommodations!!!! I guess they must expect those golfers to get just as dirty as their sheep shearers do.
Cannon Ridge Golf Club is a lovely facility. I suppose most of you live with running water, but out here at the ranch, we're just happy when Larry's Loo has toilet paper. So we really enjoyed the accommodations!!!! I guess they must expect those golfers to get just as dirty as their sheep shearers do.
Even Vincent Was Impressed With the Facilities
He'd never seen such a large litterbox. This was heaven on earth! We scurried to clean up his little boo-boo, before we got caught and evicted. Every second he got he kept trying to sneak back to the best litterbox he'd ever seen.
Duke and Vincent Take a Moment to Share Some Affection
Both campaigning hard to be the winner of Dogs vs Cats, or Cats vs Dogs as Vincent prefers to call the event, behind the scenes, they've always been, and always will be, best friends.
There Were All Kinds of Categories to Win All Kinds of Prizes
In addition to those shown here, there were stacks of gift certificates and wonderful things in the goodie bags that everyone got. I didn't hear anybody complaining about not winning something. Door prizes, Raffles, 50 / 50s, a good time was had by all.
Boss Hogette & Howiette of the Washington Redskin Hogettes Picked the Winners
Boss Hogette & Howiette of the Washington Redskin Hogettes Picked the Winners
Originally uploaded by rikkis_refuge
Tom Sabol, Chairman of the Event, Announces Golf Winners
As they came up to claim their prize they got to meet and shake hands with Mikey T. & Howiette.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
VINCENT, EVER THE HAM, CAMPAIGNS IT UP!
That sand trap, was absolutely irresistible to poor little Vincent. Usually on his best behavior, every time we turned around, he'd vanished. After the first frantic search ... we always knew where he would be!
DUKE THOMAS PEABODY MET SOME OF HIS SUPPORTERS.
Tofi came back for a visit after visit. All of Duke's loyal fans bounced away with wonderful things to say about him, and their wishes for success in the month-long campaign, Dogs vs Cats. Most expressed their absolute horror, that Cats, had always been the winners in the past. We're certainly going to set out to change that this year!
Meanwhile, Vincent rolled around in the background, saying, "Gag me, I'm sure glad nobody comes out here, expecting me to lick them!"
Meanwhile, Vincent rolled around in the background, saying, "Gag me, I'm sure glad nobody comes out here, expecting me to lick them!"
MAGPI STUDIOS IS OWNED BY OUR VERY OWN KERRI WILLIAMS
Of course, the subjects that have inspired her over the years, are the wonderful animals at Rikki's Refuge. She started photographing them for fun. Then she became the photographer, the creator, and the editor of Rikki's Refuge's own newspaper, Reflections. Visitors at tours and open houses began begging for copies of her creations. Soon they were asking that she have Creative Sessions with their pets to produce beautiful Portraits. Kerri was having so much fun, she even realize how good she was. Until one day someone said, "You should open a studio!" And Magpi Studios was born!
One lucky person one drawing for a free Creative Session with Kerri. The photos you're seeing here are mine (Kerry), and not at all in keeping with what Kerri can do. Watch for the next issue of Reflections, to see her photo shoot of the Golf Tournament.
In the meantime you can call Kerri Williams today at Magpi Studios, for your own Creative Session, photographing pets and their people. 540-760-2388 www.MagpiStudios.com
One lucky person one drawing for a free Creative Session with Kerri. The photos you're seeing here are mine (Kerry), and not at all in keeping with what Kerri can do. Watch for the next issue of Reflections, to see her photo shoot of the Golf Tournament.
In the meantime you can call Kerri Williams today at Magpi Studios, for your own Creative Session, photographing pets and their people. 540-760-2388 www.MagpiStudios.com
NO MATTER WHERE THE CAMPAIGNING TOOK THEM
Vincent and Duke were never far apart, and stopped to check in on each other frequently.
NANNY HAD TO TAKE A BATH
on Sunday so she would be squeaky clean for Monday's Golf Tournament.
She was quite less than pleased with this procedure. Though she didn't gore anyone too seriously. Poor Nanny has developed age related irritable bowel syndrome, and so she frequently has the runs. Goats, even at the best of times, produce a lot of methane. Needless to say, this is a messy problem. Bathing her was quite necessary before she could be presented in public.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday morning as we began to prepare the animals for the long trip to the Golf Tournament, we noticed Nanny was having another bout of IBS. Uh oh .. she got a quart of Kaopectate for breakfast. Once loaded into the truck, she virtually exploded, had to be unloaded, hosed off, and her crate scrubbed out. She downed four giant size antidiarrhea tablets, carob flavored. Back on the truck, and kapush .... After the third event, we decided that perhaps she was too ill to make the trip today.
But everyone was waiting to meet Nanny. What were we going to do? Darrell had a flash of inspiration. Why not take Gruffy? So here we were at 6:30 a.m. in the morning (I am really sorry I forgot to get my camera out) driving around the fields in the half light trying to lasso Gruffy. Finally we captured him!
His horns are spread much wider than Nanny's, and it was quite a challenge to get him in the crate. But we managed. Duke Thomas Peabody only threw up once, delaying us for stop and clean up. Vincent pooped his brains out three times, and if you've ever smelled Vincent poop, you know why I stopped to clean him up each time!
We arrived only an hour late, well maybe an hour and a half, I know it wasn't more than two.
She was quite less than pleased with this procedure. Though she didn't gore anyone too seriously. Poor Nanny has developed age related irritable bowel syndrome, and so she frequently has the runs. Goats, even at the best of times, produce a lot of methane. Needless to say, this is a messy problem. Bathing her was quite necessary before she could be presented in public.
At 5:30 a.m. Monday morning as we began to prepare the animals for the long trip to the Golf Tournament, we noticed Nanny was having another bout of IBS. Uh oh .. she got a quart of Kaopectate for breakfast. Once loaded into the truck, she virtually exploded, had to be unloaded, hosed off, and her crate scrubbed out. She downed four giant size antidiarrhea tablets, carob flavored. Back on the truck, and kapush .... After the third event, we decided that perhaps she was too ill to make the trip today.
But everyone was waiting to meet Nanny. What were we going to do? Darrell had a flash of inspiration. Why not take Gruffy? So here we were at 6:30 a.m. in the morning (I am really sorry I forgot to get my camera out) driving around the fields in the half light trying to lasso Gruffy. Finally we captured him!
His horns are spread much wider than Nanny's, and it was quite a challenge to get him in the crate. But we managed. Duke Thomas Peabody only threw up once, delaying us for stop and clean up. Vincent pooped his brains out three times, and if you've ever smelled Vincent poop, you know why I stopped to clean him up each time!
We arrived only an hour late, well maybe an hour and a half, I know it wasn't more than two.
GRUFFY WAS THE HIT OF THE SHOW.
Everybody just had to get a chance walking Gruffy. And he was extremely well behaved. I have to admit I was completely shocked that no one got butted in the butt !!!
BOSS HOGETTE & HOWIETTE
did a special fundraiser in conjunction with Kerri Williams Magpi Studios. For a donation to Rikki's Refuge, you could get your photograph taken with the Hogettes.
LOTS OF VISITORS STOPPED IN
all day to meet the candidates Vincent the Spokes Cat and Duke Thomas Peabody the Spokes Dog. It's a fierce battle, April is Cats vs Dogs month. Will cats win again this year? Or will Duke beat Bandit's past performances? Tofi, begged and nagged and jumped up and down, he barked and barked and barked and jumped up and down, and begged and begged and begged and finally his chauffeur, Dr. Cohen, brought him out to the event.
VINNEY CONSULTS WITH DUKE,
trying to convince him to lie down on the job, take a nap, stop drumming up so much support.
THE WINNER IS UP TO YOU
cast your vote with a donation. Mailed in donations prior to the golf tournament were in favor of Vincent. Sorry dog folks, but by a long shot.
But at the golf tournament Duke doubled the number of votes given to Vincent. So cat people, stand up and be counted. Make your vote known, by sending in a donation for Vincent or Duke. PayPal, cash, credit card or check. Any way you want to do it, it counts as a vote.
THE WINNER IS UP TO YOU
cast your vote with a donation. Mailed in donations prior to the golf tournament were in favor of Vincent. Sorry dog folks, but by a long shot.
But at the golf tournament Duke doubled the number of votes given to Vincent. So cat people, stand up and be counted. Make your vote known, by sending in a donation for Vincent or Duke. PayPal, cash, credit card or check. Any way you want to do it, it counts as a vote.
HEY VINCENT !!! READY FOR LUNCH???
Vincent is more of a chow hound than most of the dogs I've ever met. No polite nibble for him! He crammed his head in and gobbled what he could.
RELAXING AFTER LUNCH
Gruffy ruminates and chews his cud. Lori ruminates on what a successful event today has been.
CANDY ERHARD
a Super Shopper who is always on the watch for great products at a great price for Rikki's Refuge, used her super shopping skills, to get many of the prizes and gift certificates donated. Candy, along with her husband Paul, maintain Rikki's Refuge's memorial garden. She is also the founder and sponsor of Puppy Pals, where you can adopt one day of the month, and with recurring $15 a month donation, feed all the dogs at Doggy Downs canned food for the day.
COURTNEY DEVORE
works at Confederate Ridge Animal Hospital where she knows Jan Chetnik. She was there to help out in all kinds of ways during the entire day. You might have seen her riding around on the golf cart helping out and selling raffle tickets.
DEBRA BARRETT
is another hard-working Super Shopper. She rounded up lots of gift certificates and prices and even donated a piece of her own pottery works. She founded Morgan's Munchies to keep people up to date on when the cats need more supplies. Her most important job of the day was caring for Vincent. She keep him out of trouble, and cleans up the messes, gives belly rubs, and helps him purr.
DELORIS QUICK
who was majorly instrumental in pulling it all together, organizing, inventorying and preparing the prizes, having tickets on hand assigning duties and tasks, and overseeing that all went well. As a Super Shopper she helped to round up prizes. Deloris is probably best known for her calming ability to organize and manage. She is the Goddess of the Gift Shoppe at Rikki's Refuge. She had a table of items for sale. You can be Deloris and check out the wonderful Gift Shoppe, April 27 at Sponsor Appreciation Day from noon until 4 p.m. Deloris has a special place in Vincent's heart, she's the one who sees that the shipments of cat litter come in on time! Little Rob and the other pigs love her too, they call her the Produce Lady, because she brings them fresh fruits and veggies on Wednesday.
DONNA WINANS
is a relatively new volunteer to Rikki's Refuge, and already proving invaluable. Every Tuesday morning, bright and early, she shows up to lend a hand. Whatever we need, gets done. Right now we're special project is organizing the office, catching up on the filing, and just overall improving my life! She ran hither and thither helping out all day at the Golf Tournament.
DUKE THOMAS PEABODY
is also relatively new to Rikki's Refuge, having been in residence less than a year. When the residents of Doggy Downs held their annual meeting they voted unanimously for DT Peabody to be Bandit's successor as the Spokes Dog of Rikki's Refuge. DT Peabody's special personality, puts him in a perfect position for this, he is the most loving, sweet, gentle soul you have ever met. Born blind, or almost so, with a seizure disorder and a bleeding disease, he was abandoned on the streets of Baltimore before he was six months old. Fortunately for all involved he came to Rikki's Refuge. He asks for your vote is your during the month-long Dogs vs Cats event during April.
FRED FRIEDMAN
has been a major supporter from day one. He takes care of all the business at home, so I can be on duty at Rikki's Refuge close to 24/7. He supplies computer work, attends events, and occasionally even helps vaccinate goats wearing flip-flops. (That's Fred, not the goats.) And he's often stuck lugging animals back and forth, or picking up donated supplies.
GRUFFY
has been at Rikki's Refuge about a year and a half. If you recall what he smelled like over Christmas of 2006, you know why his previous owner disposed of him. A little neutering job soon took care of that problem. This was the first event he attended as Spokes Goat. Nanny was too ill to make the trip, so at the last minute Gruffy was "roped" into it. Literally, with a lasso. And he did an outstanding job. Not one single butt was butted. He rammed and smashed nothing. He was extremely well-behaved. I suspect to be seeing him at more Rikki's Refuge events.
HOWARD CHURCHILL
aka Howiette of the Hogettes, posed for photos, helped with prize drawing, and had an all around good time with the participants. In real life he is a Commercial Real Estate Consultant. As a kid growing up in Manassas, Virginia, he started collecting Redskins players football cards and now has over 100,000 Redskins cards. This is a man who's serious about what he does. And helping to raise funds for organizations is one of those things.
JAMIE MORRIS
works at Confederate Ridge Animal Hospital where she knows Jan Chetnik. She helped with all sorts of things the entire day. She and Courtney were the ones riding around on the golf cart helping out and selling raffle tickets.
JAN CHETNIK
is a very important and pivotal person in the success of Rikki's Refuge. She wears five official hats, and swaps a few others off and on from time to time. In her key role as Public Relations Director, she has moved Rikki's Refuge light-years ahead in just the last few years. Her irresistible bubbling personality draws media attention to everything she focuses on. Our Open Houses have gone from dinky little events run by one or two volunteers, to major productions, with a dozen or more helpers, all kinds of fun events and things to do, and hundreds of people arriving to participate. Jan did a tremendous amount of work rounding up both players and sponsors to donate prizes, and getting the publicity out. She was responsible for stories about the event and the Washingtonian as well as a Free Lance Star.
Jan invites you to her biggest annual production, Sponsor Appreciation Day on April 27 from noon to 4 p.m.
Jan adds, "I am so blessed to work with extraordinary co-workers who always help support Rikki's Refuge in so many ways! Five of my MARINE co-workers played in the golf tournament. Capt McEachin - sponsored a hole thru the National Naval Officers Association (NNOA). Alyce Smith and Kent Graham both sponsored closet to the pin. Also, Judy Saviola created beautiful afghan blankets for prizes."
Jan invites you to her biggest annual production, Sponsor Appreciation Day on April 27 from noon to 4 p.m.
Jan adds, "I am so blessed to work with extraordinary co-workers who always help support Rikki's Refuge in so many ways! Five of my MARINE co-workers played in the golf tournament. Capt McEachin - sponsored a hole thru the National Naval Officers Association (NNOA). Alyce Smith and Kent Graham both sponsored closet to the pin. Also, Judy Saviola created beautiful afghan blankets for prizes."
KERRI WILLIAMS
Rikki's Refuge's Official Photographer & Newsletter Producer, and owner of Magpi Studios, was, of course, on hand taking photographs. As a matter of fact I never snapped one photo without a camera in front of her face. Can't wait to see the photos. Our next edition of Reflections will be filled with her photos as well as her story of the event. Not only issue great photographer, she's the writer for Reflections, too. Without Kerri a lot of things would never have. And she didn't just cover the event, she put a lot of things together beforehand. She worked nonstop from the day Tom suggested a fund-raising golf tournament. She's the one who made all the lovely memorial signs. You can pick yours up at Rikki's Refuge anytime. They will all be on display at the Memorial Garden on Sponsor Appreciation Day. A big hand to Kerri for all her hard work. No matter how tiring and frustrating it gets, she keeps on going.
LAURIE KARNAY
is one of Rikki's Refuge's Event People. She loves to meet the public and tell them about Rikki's Refuge and has attended a number of events over the years. She worked rounding up prizes, and spent the whole day helping with the efforts at the Golf Tournament. Laurie was frequently the one you saw attached to the end of Gruffy's leash. Laurie also works with new volunteers and volunteer groups at Rikki's Refuge. We desperately need volunteers, but we can't turn green folks lose until I know their way around, because if they fell in the alligator pit .... well that would be bad news. So Laurie helps them learn what is where.
MARIZA SOLIMAN
has been with Rikki's Refuge for many many years. She first started coming to train dogs on the weekends. Being a natural magnet to kids, especially teens, she frequently had a few in tow. The first three years she was with us she only missed a handful of weekends. Mariza is, and has been for several years, our Events & Festival Director. Front Royal Wine and Crafts Festival, Reston Pet Fiesta, Richmond Vegetarian Festival, Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival, and more. She organizes events, picks up the supplies and animals that are going, sets up, talks to the public, packs up, brings animals home, and puts them to bed. On an ordinary day this doesn't usually take much more than 14 hours. And she's always looking for helpers for events!
MICHAEL TORBERT
Mikey T, Boss Hogette, founder of the Hogettes in 1983. Mikey played in the tournament, and was also on hand to have his photograph taken with visitors (for a donation to Rikki's Refuge, of course). His dedication to raising funds, especially for children's organization, is unbounded. Over the years he has raised millions of dollars. By day he is a Nuclear Waste Engineer for the Department of Energy. I wonder if he could help us with some of the waste at Rikki's Refuge!!! It may not be nuclear, but boy can it be toxic!
MIKE QUICK
is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. Once you see his photo, you know why I leave the photo work to the other Kerri!! Or maybe it's because Mike never stand still long enough to focus the lens on him. Mike helped with set up, tear down, and all kinds of running around. And here he is winning a prize!
MIKE WHITE
was out on the field playing golf most of the day. He sponsored a foursome, and they all had a blast. Sorry for the photo, I can barely see you peeking out from there. Mike also helped with set up and tear down. He's a frequent visitor at Rikki's Refuge, helping with fencing, and other kinds of repairs and improvements.
NANNY
didn't make it to the event. As Rikki's Refuge Spokes Goat it is her duty and responsibility to attend all events she is welcome at. I'm ill tummy kept her home today. When I got home she was laying in her Goat House, moaning about her tummy ache, with dribbles of Kaopectate running down her beard. She swore to me that she had been too sick to get up and eat all day, and that she desperately needed the energy a bag of Oreos would supply. However, I hear a completely different story from those who held down the fort at Rikki's Refuge, while I was it the Golf Tournament. Are you ready to fess up, nanny?
PAUL ERHARD
did a lot of photographing during the day. He supplied general all-around help at the Golf Tournament. Just like he does at Rikki's Refuge. A little gardening, a little fencing, a new floor here or there. As Candy's sidekick, he helped with rounding up prizes for the event.
TOM SABOL
our Chairman of the event, who taught the rest of us what we needed to know to help him put it together. With out Tom we'd still be sitting on the Putt Putt course !!! Thank you for putting up with us novices as we learned what a Golf Tournament was all about. Hopefully, next year, we can handle more of the load and let you rest a little. Tom also played in the tournament.
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