Walk for the Animals

I'm doing something for the first time ever - I've signed up for a fundraiser walk. The Seattle Humane Society is on every week with an adoptable pet on a local news channel I watch every morning and about a week ago, they mentioned they were having a fundraising event at the end of September called Walk for the Animals. I don't know what got into me, but I signed up. I think with the economy being what it is and with some changes that have taken place that affected animals and pet owners here locally (the shelter where we got Frank was closed down by the city), I know various rescue organizations and the Seattle Humane Society could use some help raising funds.

Although I've contributed to fundraisers that people I know have participated in, I have never been directly involved in one before, so I wasn't sure whether I could get people to donate at all. I'm actually rather shy when it comes to interacting with people (especially those I don't know), so I thought I was in over my head and that I had made a big mistake signing up for such an event, because I'd have such difficulty approaching people and asking them to donate. I thought I'd let all the animals down if I didn't get even one person to sponsor me. But it was too late to back out now. The recommended fundraising amount was $500. I thought to myself that there's no way in hell that I could reach such an amount and decided that I'd be lucky if I could reach half that amount, so that's what I chose as my personal goal.


Well little did I know that this evening, as I'm typing this blog post, that I am $8 freaking dollars away from hitting the $500 mark.... and I'm #9 on the list right now for Top Fundraising Individuals! on the Walk for the Animals website! In the top 10 - I am giddy, folks! I really cannot believe it! I'm so freaking happy and proud of the generosity shown by my family, friends and co-workers. My cousin who is currently stationed in Germany also helped, making it my first overseas donation!

What I've quickly learned is, you just have to ask people - you have to get past the fear of approaching someone. The worst they could say is no, right? So this is where I turn to you, my blog readers, and hope you can help.

I am so close to the recommended fundraising amount that I want to step it up a notch: I want to knock my goals out.of.the.freaking.park. Any amount helps. Truly. My walk is not until Sunday, September 26th. If you can spare what you'd spend on a morning latte or pint of beer one day this week and donate online, Bear and I (along with our cat Frank of course) thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.
(Frank says "donate please! Meow meow very much!")

Please visit my personal page HERE and donate today! Or go to www.seattlehumane.org/walk and click on the donate button and search under my name Emiko Knowlton.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider making a donation to help a good cause!