News and Updates
RAISE THE WOOF UPDATE:
UPAWS kicked off our Annual Event Fundraising Friday, January 18th with a night of fun to benefit homeless pets! Supporters helped raise over $7800 as they were entertained by comedians who put the “fun” in fundraising! Tommy Bayer, Ryan Kahl, and Derick Lengwenus had everyone laughing their tails off! We had such a great time sharing laughs together at our SOLD OUT 2019 Raise the Woof Comedy Show held at River Rock Lanes and Banquet Center in Ishpeming, MI.
We would like to thank everyone for starting off the New Year in good company and laughter and by supporting UPAWS. The money raised from this event goes straight towards the care of our animals and helping them find their forever homes. Tables were lined up with photos of past pets who benefited from this type of generosity and received care from UPAWS wonderful staff and were adopted by our incredible community. This year we were able to raise more funds by adding an exciting raffle drawing which gave attendees access to our candy buffet! Thank you to our donors Meijer, Yooper Shirts, Blackrocks Brewery, The Crib (Crappie Coffee Roasters), and UPAWS friends for helping make this special raffle drawing a success! That candy buffet sure is popular! And of course, a huge Thank you to our 2018 Platinum Partners Mares-z-Doats, Iron Range Agency, and Honor Credit Union who also helped sell Raise the Woof tickets for us!
The event wouldn’t have been possible without our fantastic volunteers. Thank you to Jim Kinnunen and Ashley Kinnunen for your wonderful job doing registration. Thank you to Shelly Malay for your phenomenal job selling 50/50 tickets. River Rock Lanes generously allowed us to bring in volunteer cocktail servers who were able to donate their tips to UPAWS, Jes Morrison, Ashley Kangas-Smith, Tabra Carley, and Laura Jones did a fantastic job serving our guests drinks and pasties all night! They really worked their tails off! We even had additional guests lend a hand when things got busy, and many attendees who stayed to help clean-up!
I’d like to also thank River Rock Lanes for the tremendous amount of work they do to provide an excellent venue, and the talented Raise the Woof Comedians for putting on such a great show!
Thank you for Raising the Woof with us!
-Amber Wetton Fundraising Chair
