What a way to end the Tour For Life. Our last stop in Syracuse, NY was our finish line for Route 2. It was a beautiful day, sunny and hot. We were working with Wayward Paws and the Tompkins County SPCA. Both of the groups brought some cats with them. All the cats were sitting comfortably in the air-conditioning waiting for their turn to find their permanent home. We also had a couple of other groups join us on this day. There was a Basenji Rescue, French Bulldog Rescue Network, and a Pug Rescue. We had some live entertainment with some volunteers who also doubled as musicians. There was quite a crowd all day. People were stopping by, and if they couldn’t adopt, they were willing to donate to the local groups, which is always helpful in every way. By the end of the day, there were 6 kittens and 1 cat who found their new homes.

As the event was ending, we were packing up the unit to make our way back home. We had to make sure everything was secure since we had a few extra passengers for the ride home. Wayward Paws and Tompkins County SPCA are groups we work with on a normal basis. They bring us cats and kittens so we can put them up for adoption and find them loving homes. Both groups brought us some animals to bring with us to our Port Washington shelter. On our final day, we were able to rescue 67 felines, 26 cats and 41 kittens.

What a great way to end this Tour For Life. We believe this was the most successful one to date. Let’s hope next year will be even bigger.

Glad to be home
Jen and Deb

Well what can we say about the second stop in Ohio? Better weather? New group? The number of adoptions? We would have to say all of the above. It was a bright sunny day with a very light breeze, a good start to a promising partnership with the Northeast Ohio SPCA. This was this group’s first time working on the Tour For Life.

When we arrived at the shelter they came out and greeted us with open arms. We parked right in front of the shelter, set everything thing up and loaded a bunch of puppies on our Rescue Unit. The shelter was open for a little while before we got there and were already processing adoptions. They had rescued some puppies and dogs from Tennessee that needed to be rescued.

The day was nonstop all day. From the time we placed puppies on the unit to the end of the event, we couldn’t keep the puppies in the cages for very long. Every time we cleaned out a cage there was another puppy to be placed in it. Most of the adult dogs were kept in the shelter, but throughout the day we saw them being walked by potential adopters. A great sight.

By the end of the day there we were all amazed at the number of adoptions. A grand total of 42 adoptions. Someone said this was a new record set for a single day of adoptions. What an inaugural event for the Northeast Ohio SPCA. We hope this becomes a permanent stop on the Tour For Life.

Well one more stop on Route 2 in Syracuse and then back home just in time for Pet Adoptathon.

See you in Syracuse, NY
Jen and Deb

The winds sweeping across the plains certainly apply to Ohio. It was one of the craziest weather days we have encountered on Tour For Life. The day started out sunny and a bit breezy, it then turned to high winds and rain. There were even a few moments where the mobile rocked back and forth. All in all it was an OK day.

There were people who stopped by and seemed to be interested in what was happening, but we all thought the weather kept others away. Even with the weather as it was, we still managed to adopt out 1 dog and 2 cats. The Humane Society of Madison County was a ray of sunshine on this day. They posted the event on their website, made sure an announcement was in the local paper, and even invited a local news crew to come down and take some video. The segment was to air on their nightly broadcast. Hopefully it will draw people in to adopt this weekend.

The Humane Society has a bright future ahead of them. During the day they were informing us of the many plans they had for renovating a trailer on their shelter grounds to fundraisers in the near future. The renovations for the trailer include a spay/neuter clinic, cleverly named “Neuterville - A Great Place to Spay”. Also they are making changes to their rooms which house the cats. They are now going to make two separate rooms, one for healthy cats and one for sick cats. A fundraiser which sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun, “Slobberfest” is going to be held in June. It is going to be a big adoption event with the Humane Society and other local groups.

It was great to catch up with this little shelter. Every year they welcome us with open arms and the give an all out effort for the events. We believe this partnership with the Humane Society of Madison County with be a long lasting one.

See you Parma, Ohio.
Jen and Deb

There is a saying which goes “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” but alas it did rain on the day of the event. We thought it might turn people away from the event. Once the gates open for the event there was a parade of people which came through to adopt animals that day. We were all very happy to see the amount of people who showed up. Since the weather was not on our side, instead of being on the front lawn we were moved into the truck bay. We made the most of our accommodations and had a great day anyway.

There were a few rescue groups there with us. There was Kentuckiana Pug Rescue, Chihuahua Rescue USA, Indy Homes For Huskies, Love of Labs Indiana, GRRACE (Golden Retriever Rescue and Community Education, Inc.), and even Ferret Rescue and Halfway House, Inc. Another group called ARPO, which stands for The Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership. A relatively new group, their main goal is to promote responsible pet ownership and to decrease the number of animals that are turned to the shelters. They are funded solely on donations and only have volunteers as their staff. Starting small can really turn into something big and we wished them luck on their journey.

Another group which joined us was Rescue Farm. This was the second year this group joined us for this event. They did really well with their adoptions. They adopted out 10 dogs and three puppies. There was one gentleman who had driven for three hours to come to the event to adopt a Schipperke. There was another family who drove from Chicago to adopt one of the boxer puppies. We could not believe how fast their dogs were being adopted. Every group did really well, even if they did not do adoptions, they got their name out there.

Also, we are glad to report the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control had a great day in adoptions. They adopted 13 puppies, 4 kittens, 14 dogs, 4 cats and even 2 ferrets. That brings them to a grand total of 37 adoptions. With the weather as it was, rainy and cloudy, there was a ray of sunshine when we counted how many adoptions for the day, the grand total for all the groups was 50.

Hopefully we get some better weather for our next stop.
See you in Ohio.

Jen and Deb

Today we begin our final event as we enter the Ikea Plaza in New Haven, CT, just off I-95. Working with old friends on familiar turf brings a warm feeling, considering we began our tour one month ago in Redding, California.

Having traveled over 7,500 miles, it’s great to be back in our own neck of the woods. As always, the folks at Ikea welcomed us and all the participants involved in our adoption event. Our thanks to you!!

The Tour For Life has taken us literally from coast to coast, California to Connecticut, with hundreds of pets finding new homes, bringing people and pets together, saving lives, and bringing happiness into the homes of so many. And educating people about the plight of a shelter animal, and the importance of spaying and neutering, has proven to be an accomplishment we are very proud of.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their participation in Tour For Life. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation, and its moral progress, can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

See you all again next year…….until then……..thank you!!
Claire and Warren

We are pleased to announce that, once again, the Rockingham-Harrisonburg SPCA is hosting Tour For Life 2009® partnering with North Shore Animal League America. Joining us for the event were representatives and pets from the Augusta Regional SPCA and the Page SPCA. They were all gearing up for the biggest and best Tour For Life adoption event ever, everything was ready to go!!
This year’s theme is “Adopt a Mutt-i-gree, it’s the right choice.“ Adopting a pet from a local shelter is indeed the responsible and right decision.
Our event takes place at the Market Square West PetSmart in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a day filled with dark skies, wind and rain. The Animal League’s mobile unit provided shelter and a warm place for the cats. A comfy blanket, water and food. Although the rain never let up, the dogs were having a ball frolicking and playing outside in the rain, seeming to not care what Mother Nature had in store.
All the hard work in preparation for our big day did not go in vain. A constant flow of potential adopters kept us all on our feet. Many pets found new homes, and by day’s end, congratulations were in order.
Our thanks to all the hard workers for braving the elements!! It’s always a pleasure to work with you !!

Claire and Warren

Hey all — glad to report another successful adoption event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Today we were working with the Cedar Valley Humane Society. This was the first time working with them and wow what a start to a great relationship. The Cedar Valley Humane Society chose a great spot outside a mall on a main street with lots of traffic. They were so into the whole event. They had tons of volunteers helping with all the adoption applications, walking the dogs and taking care if the cats.
The Humane Society had asked a couple of local animal organizations to come and take part of the festivities. There was one called AniMeals. Their cause was a great one. We all heard of the Meals on Wheels program for people where they provide food for people in need. AniMeals does this but for families who need help feeding their animals. They also help provide assistance to the elderly, disabled, and families in need with either spaying/neutering or transportation to and from the vet office.
There was the Iowa Humane Alliance who does a lot of promoting for local TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program. The last group that had joined was Witty Kitties, Inc. They are a shelter for special-needs cats and exotic reptiles. Their cats range from FIV positive to Feline Leukemia positive to cats with neurological problems to cats who have had a tough start to life.
Before we even opened our doors to start our event there was quite a crowd that had gathered. The event did not stop for a minute. People kept coming and going. Dogs were being taken out of cages like they were a hot commodity. I don’t think they spent more than 10 minutes in the cage at a time. The Cedar Valley Humane Society takes applications on the animals and brings them back to the shelter to make sure they are spayed and neutered and up to date with their vaccinations before they are sent home. They also make sure they match the right animal with the right family. On this the inaugural event for them they had taken 22 applications. With this kind of turn out and success I hope Cedar Rapids, Iowa becomes a staple in the Tour For Life.

See you in Indianapolis,
Jen and Deborah

Glad to be back on the Tour For Life®. Mike and I switched out in St Louis. I am glad to be back for my 4th Tour For Life and to work with the groups that I have worked with for the last few years. Deb has caught me up on all the previous events. Can’t wait to get started!

Well, the event in St. Louis was a success. This year, the APA of Missouri brought along their Mobile Adoption Unit to the event with their animals and that gave way to invite a new group to join us at the event. The group’s name is Vet-Pet Rescue. They are a group that was put together by a local vet in the community and it runs through foster homes. They have no shelter to speak of.

It was a beautiful sunny day on a busy street, so we had a lot of passer-bys come in and take a look at all the animals we had for adoption, and because of that, we had a few go home. Even the Pet Supplies Plus was grateful to be part of the event. They were handing out flyers and had posters and notes in the store stating when the event was occurring. To top things off, the manager was offering 20% off anything in the store to whoever adopted that day.

The animals were really great – friendly and sweet. I couldn’t believe how many people showed up to the event. Compared to last year where there was hardly any foot traffic and only 1 adoption, this year, it was packed and we had a total of 10 adoptions between both groups! The APA of Missouri worked really hard in setting up all of this and as always were really glad to participate again in the Tour For Life.

This year, they adopted out 2 puppies and a 9-month-old Pit Bull mix. They had a few other people that were interested and hopefully will go back to the shelter and adopt. The Vet-Pet Rescue had a great day. They adopted out 2 puppies, 3 dogs, and 2 cats. Oh…did we happen to mention that one of the dogs was an 8-year-old Shih-Tzu rescued from a puppy mill and one of the cats was a 7-year-old who had lost her home and found herself in a shelter? These were our top adoptions of the day. One of the volunteers for Vet-Pet Rescue told us when they hold adoption events, they are lucky if they can get one of their animals adopted and on this day. they adopted out 7. Like we said…the event was a success.

Till we meet again in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Jen and Deb

Our event is about to unfold as we enter the parking lot of the metro animal control shelter on Harding place near the airport in Nashville, Tennessee. Our dear friends have been at it again making sure everything is in order, in preparation for our big day.

Although the day started out cold and cloudy following the heavy rain the night before, the sun came out mid afternoon. The day was filled with music in the warmth of the Tennessee sunshine as the adoptions were taking place. Various artists took the stage – rock, folk, and country – a little something for everybody!! Once again, the stage lit up when the Judds look-alikes wooed the crowd. Kelly Nolf and Wyndi Harp are “unbelievable.” It’s hard to believe they are look-alikes and not the originals; they’re just that good!!

Their involvement goes beyond their musical performance, as their “Southern Cross Boston Terrier Rescue Group“ is dedicated to saving the unwanted and abused. An assortment of other rescue groups were on hand, including country music hall of famer Emmy Lou Harris” “Bonaparte’s Retreat.“ They are dedicated to providing nurturing foster care for shelter dogs when their allotted time at the shelter has elapsed – to prevent these wonderful animals from being euthanized and to find them permanent, loving homes.

Another group worth mentioning is the “Brown Dog Foundation.“ Their mission is to provide families in temporary financial crisis an alternative to euthanasia when their pet is diagnosed with a treatable, but life-threatening condition or illness, in order to maintain the bond between family and pets. In today’s economic climate, it’s good to know that help is available to those in need.

Thank you for touching the hearts of so many; it’s a pleasure to know we share the same passion for the animals.

As always, our friends at the Metro Animal Control Shelter remain in our hearts, and until next time…thank you for your warmth and your hospitality!!

Your friends,

Claire and Warren

Welcome to Arkansas, the “natural state.” We began our day meeting up with our host shelter the “North Little Rock Animal Shelter ” at the Lakewood Village Shopping Center on McCain Blvd. Before we could get set-up, there were people there waiting to adopt.

Micro-chipping and rabies vaccination services were available free-of-charge to the first fifty people. North Little Rock Friends of Animals support the belief that a wide-spread sterilization of dogs and cats is the solution to pet overpopulation. “Spay and neuter” license plates for your car or truck help promote clinics dedicated to achieving these goals.

The Jacksonville Animal Shelter, the central Arkansas SPCA, Bark in the Park, and the Maumelle Friends of the Animals joined us in welcoming the mayor of North Little Rock, Mayor Patrick Henry Hays. “You can save a life,” and “help save a homeless pet” were words that echoed by all!!

Our sincere thanks to Marilyn Hall, Billy Grace and all the workers and volunteers from the North Little Rock Animal Shelter.

Just a thought: “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.”

Can you feel the love?

Claire and Warren