Please join me as I raise money to save Philadelphia's homeless, abandoned and orphaned animals at the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). Receiving nearly 30,000 homeless, abandoned, and orphaned animals each year and seeing the highest volume of unwanted and unloved animals in the region, PAWS is working to end the killing of healthy and treatable pets in the City of Philadelphia.

Will and I have successfully fostered and adopted out 27 dogs.  I will be raising money and walking in memory of one dog in particular: Curtis the Moose. We took him home because he was malnourished, underweight, and had an open wound on his belly (he also had two really cute "cherry eyes" which you can see in the picture). He was happy as can be and loved everything! He was perfectly playful with Maya and Reno, the random foster dog in the background of the picture, and was such a loving and trusting dog for all he had been through. His favorite thing was to give kisses. In the picture, he is actually on his way to giving me a kiss. We had him for a week and then  he began showing signs of sickness. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Parvo, a potentially fatal disease that affects young dogs who aren't vaccinated. Curtis would have lived a long and happy life had his owner paid to get him vaccinated.

Unfortunately, Curtis was euthanized on Friday, July 11, 2008. 

On Saturday, October 25, I will participate in the PAWS Mutt Strut, which will bring animal lovers and their pets together for a 1.5-mile scenic walk through FDR Park. We will raise badly needed funds for PAWS’ lifesaving programs including adoption outreach, spay/neuter clinics, and low-cost vaccination services. We will also raise awareness of the harsh reality that thousands of healthy and treatable animals are killed in Philadelphia each year, simply because they do not have homes. The money that is raised will directly help save the lives of dogs like Curtis.

The Mutt Strut will offer us a day of companionship and celebration, and will enable PAWS to give countless more animals the chance to experience that companionship and safety for themselves. Please give whatever you can, and consider joining me on October 25!