Festively decked out in elegant black and white, the Heritage Center was filled with music and conversation recently as stylishly dressed people and pooches mixed and mingled at H.A.L.O.’s 10th Anniversary Party, celebrating the decade-long success of the No-Kill Animal Rescue and Adoption Center.
Welcoming guests with enthusiastic tail-wagging and nose bumps was a team of on-leash official pooch greeters and their H.A.L.O. escorts. Each pup, its coat shiny and immaculate, was dressed for the festivities in a snazzy, sparkling neck piece. The irresistible bunch included Maple, a Staffordshire terrier mix, with her trainer/escort Jeff Boling, who said “My 7-year-old daughter Kalista loves her.”
There was also 5-year-old Zoober, a blue pit/boxer mix who escort Kaitlin Holland said loves cats and kids. Two other enthusiastic greeters were Nemo, a handsome brindle pit/basset mix, with his escort Hailey Nottage, and Bubbles, a 12-year-old Australian shepherd sporting pillow-soft angel wings, escorted by H.A.L.O. employee Anna Carlson. All were perfect party participants – friendly and well-behaved.
Baby, a young dachshund from the Bahamas with long shiny black ears, was holiday-ready with a glimmering collar. Board member Rebecca Grohall explained that H.A.L.O. has a strong relationship with an animal rescue in the Bahamas that helped relocate several canine victims of Hurricane Matthew, Baby among them.
Guests shared lively cocktail-hour chat and inspected the numerous beautiful gift baskets, life-sized animal portraits and other silent- and live-auction items. Round tables filled the hall, sporting a black and white décor with centerpiece trios of slender white vases and lighted winter branches. From the stage, musician Greg Vadimsky kept the mood lively.
Spotted in the crowd were sponsors Kim King and George Powers, of Backwoods Farm, Wesley and Tanya Davis with daughter Taylor, and ranchers Tiffany and Ron Tripson, who said “we are supporters of dogs. We’ve got five at least; cow dogs, horse dogs, a 3-legged dog.”
Also attending were Tanya Chrzan with friends Jackie Sabell and Sara and Ryan Jones; board member Jan Howington with her niece Allyson Bootes; Rob and Taylor Kyzer; and Mike Abbott, proud dad of H.A.L.O. founder Jacque Petrone.
The bountiful buffet offered a dazzling array of choices from not one, but five popular cuisines – American, Latin, Greek, Asian and Italian. With everyone well-fed, the pups dozed as the guests danced into the night.
From its inception, the mission of H.A.L.O. has been to create a no-kill, safe haven for abused and abandoned animals. In its first year, H.A.L.O., a nonprofit organization, saved 225 animals and now rescues more than 2,000 annually. In January, the shelter’s expansion dreams came true with the gift of a 3/4-acre property adjacent to its current Sebastian location. Funds from the event will help fund a new Fences for Fido program to clear and fence in the area. Their vision is to create a training field and rescue/relief center, allowing greater dog and cat rescue capabilities and helping to close the gap of animals being euthanized in Indian River County.
