Pooches parade for a good cause at Arcare Hope Island

It was a ‘pawfect’ day at Arcare Hope Island when resident Puggy, Miss Maisy, invited all of her doggy friends and their families to share a fundraising morning tea with our clients.

Maisy is the fur baby of Lifestyle Co-ordinator Allison Ferguson.

Members of the community joined in the fun to support and raise awareness for registered charity PUGS SOS, a nationwide rescue organisation dedicated to rescuing, rehoming and keeping pugs out of puppy farms and rescuing dogs of other breeds.

And Debbie Cox is this year’s spokesperson for PUGS SOS QLD. Along with her pug, they gave us an insight into how the organisation operates and shared with us how overwhelmed they were by the community’s generosity.

With support from the local Coles, Kmart, Woolworths Helensvale, Target Helensvale, Woolworths Hope Island, along with clients, families, friends and team members, our donation basket was overflowing with blankets, leads, harnesses, beds, toys and food. Together, we also raised $320.00.

During the morning tea, there were plenty of activities for the furry ones. This included hugs, pats, licks, snuggles, smiles, sniffing in the garden and lots of delicious treats.

Led by our own Miss Maisy, ten other pampered pooches and their owners strutted their stuff in front of our residence judges, Margaret Redler and Heather Lane.

The decision was hard to make so in the end, all participants received a prize kindly donated by Oodlle & Co, Coles Runaway Bay and Furtrition

The ‘Cutest Pooch Award’ went to Huey, a Japanese Spitz Chihuahua owned by Lia & Kathy, family of client Chris Sanders.

While the overall winner was Ruby, a Shiatzu/Maltese owned by Perry James, son of client Neville James.

I want to say a huge thank you to all who participated, especially our community visitors and Debbie Cox with her pug Winston.

A special thank you to our family members including Jackie Van Creveld and her Toy Poodle Ebony who performed a few tricks for us, Kylie McInally and her Golden Retriever Haley, Samantha Harher and Gizmo, a Long-haired Chihuahua and Allison Ferguson, fur grandparent of Frankie the Pug.

With events like these, our clients have the opportunity to interact and have fun with a variety of dogs.

And we also encourage their families to bring their pets into our residence, as we know it brings joy and companionship to everyone.

This was a wonderful opportunity for the clients to gain a sense of purpose as they contribute to such a worthy cause. And who doesn’t love the opportunity to show off their fur babies?