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Ron delivers the pretzels, fresh from the oven, to Di for placement in the warmers. They didn't stay in there long before the customers took them!

Roy serves up the super delicious brats at the 2009 Fest-of-Ale!

Tanya manages the Coatcheck operation. Thanks to a great team of volunteers that keep everything running smoothly!

I Love Animals

Critteraid is assisting one of our members, Theresa Nolet, in a project regarding the Native horses. A very courageous and organized woman, Theresa Nolet has been feeding a herd of 17 horses at her property on the West Bench. She has been in touch with the Band, her MLA and the Regional District on the management and care of the horses. She has a few in her herd that are in foal and a few that are on the thin side but for the most part they are in fairly good shape. She only feeds them a bale or two a day as she wants them to keep foraging and she does have a large trough now for them for water. Her goal is to work with the owners of these horses (Native or non native) and start using a contraceptive vaccine to control the ever growing population of them. Then she wants to see if the young ones can be captured and trained using non violent methods (parelli type) and adopted out to good homes or donated to therapy riding centres.

Donations for this project are appreciated. Hay is the most important item to start distributing throughout the herds. Grass hay would be the best as these horses are not used to a high end feed that may cause intestinal upset to them. We will be distributing the hay to the horses that are in the poorest condition and of course, we will be contacting the Penticton Indian Band in advance of distributing the hay as the majority of the horses are residing on Reserve Lands.

Those wishing to make financial donations can be assured that their contribution will stay within the Project Equis and be used to make the difference that everyone is looking for. Tax receipts will be issued from Critteraid.

All those involved want to do what is best for the horses now and in the long term. The Penticton Indian Band wants to take the steps to resolve this public safety issue and to help alleviate the suffering of these horses and give them a secure future and we want to help in any way we can to make it a reality. There are many options in resolving this problem and we want to work together to explore them all and find the one or ones that work for the horses here. Critteraid is great at fundraising and we have some promising information on a contraceptive vaccine that is safe and effective at keeping horse populations in check. Perhaps this is an option. Time will tell and our group is committed to keep working on this until a practical and effective solution can be found.

Read the Penticton Western News article of February 8, 2009 for more information.

I Heart Animals Banquet

I Love Animals This year, Critteraid held its inaugural "I Heart Animals" banquet on Friday, Feb. 13 at the Penticton Lakeside Resort. Our emcee for the event was Megan Rutherford. We will also honoured our volunteers.

This year, the banquet raised funds for particular projects which are:

Deeohgee: A blind Great Dane cross dog that needs eye surgery to help her see. She is now in foster care with Critteraid.
Faith: The geriatric mare that was found frozen to a driveway. Faith now lives at Critteraid Farm.
Feral Cat Projects: One in Penticton and assisting with spays/neuters for colonies in the South Okanagan and in Peachland.
Legacy Fund: Through the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan, the Critteraid Legacy Fund was started by our Director, Anne Brewster.
Education Program: We reinstated the Education Program in 2008.

Our guest speaker was Mr. Rob Laidlaw who is probably one of Canada's greatest natural resources. He founded the group Zoocheck Canada and he has just authored "Wild Animals in Captivity." He is a kind and compassionate human being. To learn more about Zoocheck Canada, visit www.zoocheck.com.

We also showed the Johny Reid video that honours the volunteers at Critteraid. There was live entertainment by the award-winning Elvis tribute artist, Adam Fitzpatrick.

At the end of the evening announced our Critteraid Volunteer of the Year for 2008. Believe me, that committee wishes they could hand out a dozen or more presentations.

Coins for Critteraid 2008

Dec. 19, 2008

[Coins for Critteraid organizer Holly Miyasaki and her two furry helpers — former Critteraid cats, Bronson and Arnold — show off $522.15 in donations for this year's fundraiser.]

Coins for Critteraid 2008 (October 15-November 15)

The numbers are finally in for the third annual Coins for Critteraid fundraiser. This year $522.15 in pennies, nickels, dimes and some larger monies were donated, rolled and taken to the Bank of Montreal in exchange for a money order.

The fundraiser sees organizer Holly Miyasaki collect unwanted coinage from donors and then spending countless hours separating and rolling them.

While Coins for Critteraid is over for the year, Holly is always looking for extra paper coin rolls and accepts donations for the upcoming fundraiser. For more information about making a donation, or about the fundraiser e-mail us.

Weekend update

Dec. 8, 2008

Jane Curtin of CDART with Pen High students Kirstie Lougheed, Alise Blais and Sarah Hotson at the Cookie Walk fundraiser held Dec. 6.

Cookie Walk and Santa Claus Parade
held Dec. 6.

The Cookie Walk, a fundraiser seeing donated batches of cookies sold by the pound, raised $731.23 — $654.71 in sales and $102.01 in donations. Just one tray was left over and benefitted patrons of the Soupateria. Thanks to all the volunteers who donated their time and baking skills to make this fundraiser a success. Proceeds benefit Critteraid's Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team.

The 11th annual Santa Claus Parade saw colourful floats and many locals in the Christmas spirit with the streets and businesses decorated for the holiday season. Critteraid's float won First Prize Santa's Choice, which was celebrated afterward, by both humans and their best four-legged friends, with hot cider, hot chocolate and dog treat packages (supplied by the Pet Pantry) in the lobby of the Penticton Lakeside Resort.

Thanks to everyone who made this weekend such a great success — we couldn't have done it without you! Special thanks to Jane Curtin for all her hard work on the Cookie Walk and to Laura and Brian Dean for the Santa Claus Parade.