CAWL's annual event a success, despite bad weather

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Excuse the pun, but it rained "cats and dogs" on Saturday, Oct. 17, for the Calvert Animal Welfare League's 16th Annual Pet Walk at Annmarie Garden.

This has always been a rain or shine event. Coupled with being locked in to a specific day with our host venue, the date could not be changed.

We had no choice but to go with the flow.

This was an especially hard blow to take on many levels. CAWL's annual pet walk is our largest fundraiser of the year. Add the poor state of the economy for the last year or so into the mix and CAWL will feel this for a while.

Even though the day didn't turn out exactly how we planned, there were certainly many bright spots to be thankful for.

CAWL would like to thank our sponsors for their support and who helped get things started this year: Allied Partners Veterinary Emergency Service LLC; Lucky Duck Pet Stuff, Food & Groom; Perfect Pet Resort; Solomons Veterinary Medical Center; J. Lamberson Signs; Bayside Toyota; Calvert Animal Hospital; Chesapeake Animal Clinic; Dunkirk Animal Hospital; Maertens Fine Jewelry and Gifts; KNC Marketing; Scanlan Fleet Service Inc. — Automotive Repair; and Interlude Kennel LLC.

Believe it or not, this would have been our biggest and best event in all of our 16 years.

We had more vendors and food vendors than ever before.

CAWL would like to thank those vendors who braved the weather and stuck out the day with us: APVES; Audio Plus; Calvert County Animal Control; Calvert Kettle Corn; Chesapeake Animal Clinic; Darnell's Mobile Veterinary Service; Doggiestylez; Humane Society of Calvert County; Lifelong Pets; Papa John's Pizza; Perfect Pet Resort; Primary Colors; SPOT; Sweet Sue's; That Pottery Place; and Thousand Word Images.

CAWL would also like to thank a small group of hardy souls who brought out their dogs to support us on our day.

Yes, we really did have a few die hard supporters come out to participate.

Of course, we must thank Annmarie Garden for yet again hosting CAWL at their beautiful grounds.

Last, and absolutely not least, I would personally like to thank CAWL's very dedicated and hard working volunteers.

Months of preparation go into an event like this and our volunteers gave their all for a very long time to make this day happen. It is because of our dedicated volunteers that we will be able to tuck this loss away, regroup and keep going to keep CAWL's doors open.

Our volunteers will continue to provide help for the homeless, neglected and abused dogs and cats of Calvert County and beyond.

If you haven't been to the Calvert Animal Welfare League's Adoption and Education Center, we invite you to visit our dogs and cats that are available for adoption.

We are open Friday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 410-535-9300, or go to www.cawl.us.

Terry Walker, Huntingtown

The writer is the president of the Calvert Animal Welfare League.