Wags & Wine: Silent Auction and So Much More

Wednesday last week, LPNN had the pleasure of speaking with Natalie Ferrando with both Page Animal Control and the Page Animal Adoption Agency about PAAA and about their upcoming fundraising event Wags and Wine.

This is the 6th year for the event. Natalie let us know that this is going to be the largest event yet. The event is being held at a larger venue, which means more tickets are available than there have been in previous years, there will be a live band, and more items are up for grabs in the silent auction. “Everything’s just bigger this year” Natalie enthusiastically told us.

If you are like this reporter, and have not heard of Wags and Wine, or did not know Page has an animal shelter, here is some brief information about the event, what it is for, and what the shelter is and does.

Wags: the goal of the event is to raise money for the Page Animal Adoption Agency so they can pay their bills, take care of the animals, and pay for their largest costs: veterinary and transportation services for all of the animals. This event has been very successful every year in covering most of the Agency’s costs. The way they do this is through the sales of the tickets, the proceeds from the silent auction, and any donations that are made during the event. By the way, all the proceeds from the event go straight to the animals.

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Wine: There will be wine tasting throughout the night. What’s on the event list for this year? For the first hour, from 6pm to 7pm, there will be a presentation, and a few commentators. At 7pm the band will start and will play until 10pm. During that time, the silent auction will be going on, and as Natalie explained it, “it’s one big social gathering and party”.

For those who have been in Page a while, probably know that when an animal was taken to the shelter, most times than not, it was a death sentence. That is no longer the case. With the help of Natalie, the Page Animal Adoption Agency, and its volunteers, policies and procedures have changed. The Agency prides itself on being a no-kill shelter. From what Natalie told us, this is impressive considering not that long ago the Page Shelter had an 70% kill rate. They are now down to 5%, and these are only the extreme cases, such as animals who are so sick medication will no longer help. This reporter is an animal lover, to the point she almost started crying hearing about the high kill rate the shelter used to have, and in her opinion, it is more humane to put them down rather than to let them suffer. The overall goal for both Page Animal Adoption Agency and the City of Page is to save as many animals as possible and find the best and loving forever families for all the animals.

For those who are confused as to how this all works, you’re not the only ones; and Natalie was more than happy to explain how the partnership between the City of Page and PAAA works. To put it simple, most animals come in and are processed through the shelter, which is the City. If the animal is not claimed by its owner within a certain amount of time, they are then transferred to PAAA, which is right next door to the shelter. Once there, PAAA works to find loving homes for the animals, and sometimes that means they are transferred to a partner agency out of Page. This is only because of Page’s size; not enough people and families are able to take in the amount of animals that are taken into the shelter or the agency.

Natalie and PAAA are very protective of the animals that come into the shelter and will not let an animal go to just anyone. There is a process you do have to go through before you can adopt one or more of the cute fuzzies taking temporary residence there. The first part is to fill out the adoption application that can be found on their website at pageanimaladoptionagency.com. This actually makes the process go faster, and from there you can go to the PAAA facility and see all the animals in person and learn more about them and their personalities from the loving staff.

Other than filling out the application for your new fur-baby, there are other things you can do while on PAAA’s website. You can find information about how to volunteer your time helping out PAAA and all the animals. And you can donate (there are two links, one for a cash donation through PayPal, and one that will take you to PAAA’s Amazon wishlist of items the animals need). When it comes to donations, PAAA is always needing stuff for their temporary K-9 and feline residents. Their needs include toys, blankets, food, scratching posts, and the list goes on.

PAAA is also always in need of monies to ensure that all the animals are able to get the veterinary care they need, and the transportation costs to get them to PAAA’s partnering agencies, so they can find fur-ever homes. So please help them out. Donate, volunteer, and participate in the Wags and Wine event on April 28, 2018 at Blue Buddha. But you better hurry, there are only 100 tickets available for the event.

In this reporter’s opinion, there are a lot of worthwhile causes out there, but this one helps our four-legged community members, so you know exactly where your donation is going: staying in the community.

To get your tickets for the Annual Wags & Wine Event, call 928-640-1500 or email PAAA at pageanimaladoption@gmail.com.

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