Oh, what a night!
by Rachelle Pagé
| All photos found in the article are courtesy of PhoDOGrapher extraordinaire, Brittany Veinot www.phodographer.ca |
“The meal was excellent and the speeches were very informative. The table decorations were just awesome … The only hard part was that I fell in love with the St. Bernard and would have loved to take him home. It is now my new favourite dog.”
– Bette Dubas |
On April 12, 2011, Ottawa Therapy Dogs held the first Annual Member & Supporter Dinner at Temple Israel. “Good Food to Support Great Dogs” was the tagline, and while the food was good – well amazing actually, thanks to Buffet Charbonneau – the night was about so much more! Wonderful food, compassionate and giving people, courageous stories, open sharing of experiences and generosity - all made this night a huge success. We exceeded our expectations in fundraising with over $7,000 in fellowship, fun and participation! I think our Chair, Carole Eldridge, summed it best when she said “WOW!”
Four of our therapy teams were working the crowds prior to the dinner: Dee Brasseur & Kari (Afghan Hound), Susan Anstey & Liam (Border Terrier), Doreen Doré & Brutus (St-Bernard) and Rochelle Greenberg & Aussie (Labradoodle) – always the stars of the show!
Our Master of Ceremony, Kevin McComas, did a wonderful job in ensuring that spirits were high and that everyone was in a good mood. He took the opportunity to very accurately describe the various tables that were labelled with different dog breeds such as “Beagle” or “Retrievers.” Many of us were told to “sit” and “stay” patiently before we could file up to the buffet for our meal.
There was a silent auction open for most of the evening with various packages – from dog-related items to clothing, floral arrangements, books and restaurant gift certificates – all waiting for the highest bidder to take home!
Carole Eldridge welcomed everyone to the event and then introduced Bud Johnston to talk about his experience in soliciting a $2,000 donation in 2010 from Co-operators Group in Guelph.
Kevin then introduced Julianne Labreche, past Chair, author and master gardener, who explained her floral table arrangements and how one lucky person at each table would win one and take it home!
Then our first speaker was introduced. Sarah Dalby, from the music group Waking Sarah, spoke from the client perspective on how an OTD team helped her during recovery from Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). And then … she sang a song she wrote about Xecel, Sandra Myers’ yellow lab - and an OTD theme song was born! Stay tuned for the video of Sarah singing I Love That Dog on our web site: www.ottawatherapydogs.ca.
“I was at the dinner last night and it was amazing.”
– Whitney Habib, Ravines Retirement Residence |
After Sarah’s moving story and song, it was time to eat that “good” food!
Our next speaker was Lisa Hans, a social worker and OTD partner at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (ROHCG), who spoke about what OTD means to her in her workplace.
Next up, Dee Brasseur took the mic – well, she attempted to until Bob Simpson helped her with that one – and talked about the power of EVERYONE and how it can make a difference! She stressed the importance of raising money for OTD and gave a few examples of how people can contribute: one way is through the revenue from the “One in A Million” Limited Edition Challenge Coin (http://www.oneinamillionunlimited.com) that she developed which will provide annual funding for research, education and treatment to support those who serve and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make last night such a success. I had a great time meeting many of the members and hearing about their volunteer experiences. I thought all of the speakers were excellent and provided a well rounded account of what OTD is all about. More importantly I think we now have a new theme song for the organization!”
– Sandra Luken |
Wow! It was amazing to have so many great speakers all in one room; truly, a great experience.
Finally, Margot closed the evening by acknowledging the dinner donors and volunteers who all contributed their time, money, services or energy to make this night a HUGE success.
| “After tonight – all of my friends want to attend next year because of who we are!!!”
– Carole Eldridge |
It will be a tough act to follow, but we’ve seen what this great organization can accomplish when it pulls together its resources. We will be back next year, bigger and better!
See you all next year!
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