Uptown Westerville is a Place to "Paws" to Celebrate Dogs

Outside Envy, 15 N. State is hosting a special book event beginning 6 p.m. on August 28th during Fourth Friday's Dog Days for a very good cause!

Outside Envy's Kriss Rogers shares...

The evening's activities benefit The Capital Area Humane Society, and we are hosting the author of The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes, Marlane Kennedy, who will be giving a reading/signing at the Otterbein College Library (4:30 p.m. in Sarah's Corner on the lower level of the Courtright Memorial Library at W. Main & N. Grove) . We hope to raise enough money to giveaway upwards of 100 copies of The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes based on contributions from the business community and private donations.

The whole community seems excited by the possibilities: Otterbein College has given us the venue for the reading; members of the Westerville Uptown Merchants Association are participating in the event and the Westerville Visitors and Convention Bureau will help us promote it. The local press has also expressed interest in covering the event.

Our purpose is twofold: first to get books in the hands of kids; second to raise awareness of Animal Rescue, and the plight of animals. As Mahatma Ghandi said: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

In the current economic climate, not only people are suffering, but so are their companion animals. People are having to make the difficult choice to give up their pets. Some dogs and cats are abandoned or dumped. Shelters are overcrowded. The Dog Days of Charlotte Hayes addresses the issue of finding the 'right' home for a dog in ways that are educational, heartwarming, and humorous. Its audience may be middle school readers, but the lessons are there for us all.

The beneficiary of the book donations will be the Capital Area Humane Society, which not only provides education about adoption, health, spay/neuter, etc., but offers opportunities to volunteer, gives help with training animals, and generally raises awareness of a number of animal issues (including abuse). It is an advocate for animals, and investigates instances of animal cruelty. It's clearly a worthy cause. We're trying to promote reading as well as awareness. When you have an informed and empathic audience (and when you reach them as children), both animals and children benefit--you end up with responsible pet owners. Books, children, and animals--that's an unbeatable combination!

We plan to give the books (signed by Marlane Kennedy at the event) to kids who bring a donation to rescue. We're asking for monetary donations as well as new dog toys, leads, bowls, biscuits, crate pads, blankets, etc.

Thank you for considering a donation and we hope you'll be able to help us out. Donations should be received by August 12th, 2009 to assure that your sponsorship is recognized at the event. Any donation amount would be greatly appreciated and we will list sponsors at these levels:

$25 to $49 Bronze Sponsor
$50 to $99 Silver Sponsor
$100 to $249 Gold Sponsor
$250 + Platinum Sponsor

The Dog Days of Summer will be held on August 28th. We can be reached at the Outside Envy outside.envy@sbcglobal.net or 614.895.3689.

Sincerely,

Kriss Rogers,
President, Westerville Uptown Merchants Association
Owner, Outside Envy

Candy Canzoneri
Adjunct Professor of English and Integrative Studies, Otterbein College