It was raining cats and dogs last Tuesday evening as more than 300 animal lovers battled their way through a torrential thunderstorm to the Oak Harbor Club to attend the Cause for Paws 2018 fundraiser to benefit the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County.

Soggy but determined guests were flooded with puppy love as a pack of canine goodwill ambassadors greeted them with tail-wagging enthusiasm. The quartet of furry friends included Nala, a shy 7-year-old; Fernando, who fancies himself a lapdog; 2-year-old Charlotte, who is seeking a running partner; and Chance, the couch potato of the crew.

After dutifully bestowing back scratches and belly rubs, attendees took in the broad array of silent-auction items and, electronic bidding paddles in hand, entered into a good-natured bidding war over animal-centric items, jewelry, art, wine, golf outings and entertainment packages. The bidding continued after dinner, where guests had a barking good time competing for an exceptional lineup of live-auction items.

Michael Mandel, HSVBIRC executive director, showed a brief video that highlighted dogs on a playdate in the Play Dogs Play canine behavior program and gave an update on the progress of the pooches rescued from Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. As the emotional reunions of families with their dogs played out on screen, he noted that the shelter will soon initiate a third reunification.

“We’ve had people come from as far as Atlanta to pick up pets. There are only two shelters now in the state that do this,” said Mandel.

Mandel also provided information about several new programs in the works such as their cat and kitten foster program, which has enabled the shelter to put more cats up for adoption than ever before. Last month the HSVBIRC hosted Real House Cats of Vero Beach, successfully adopting out more than 40 kitties.

Through a grant from the Indian River Community Foundation, the Humane Society will be taking their show on the road with a new Pet Spot Mobile Adoption Unit and Clinic. The mobile outreach unit will enable them to host offsite adoptions and bring clinic services to South County and Gifford.

The Humane Society has worked to keep animals “out of the Shelter and in loving homes” for 65 years and, having been held for more than three decades, Cause for Paws is one of the longest continuously running fundraisers in the county, according to Mandel.

Commenting that the event was very successful, he added, “our overall goal for the event is to raise in the neighborhood of $300,000, which is our biggest fundraiser of the year. It’s really just a terrific group of supporters that come out year after year to support the Humane Society that makes this possible. We literally couldn’t do it without them. All of the new programs that we have are supported by this group of people.”

HSVBIRC will hold its annual Blessing of the Animals, May 5 at 10 a.m. in the Volunteer Pavilion. For more information, visit hsvb.org.