People of all ages are invited to Redwood Pals Rescue’s upcoming “Storytelling Fundraiser,” which will feature a series of heartwarming, family friendly stories and poems about furry friends and their journeys to their forever homes.
The event is set for Sept. 7 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Six Rivers Brewery, 1300 Central Ave. in McKinleyville. Tickets are $5, payable at the door, and those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP at https://redwoodpalsrescue-storytelling.godaddysites.com.
Storytellers will include event organizer and adopted dog owner Elizabeth Gahm; Brookey Haskell, who has been rescuing dogs for many years and says she has “a soft spot for the seniors”; Libby Mikles, longtime dog owner; Jim Steinberg, local storyteller; Megan Mendivil, animal control officer; and Mara Segal, Redwood Pals Rescue board member.
“There’s quite a variety in the stories and the poems in mood and in style,” said Segal, who has been volunteering with Redwood Pals Rescue for about 12 years.
“My favorite parts of rescue,” she said, “are helping scared or shy dogs reach their full potential and go up for adoption, and helping potential adopters find the right match for a good companion.”
Proceeds from the “Storytelling Fundraiser” will be used by the nonprofit, all-volunteer Redwood Pals for pet rescue and rehoming efforts.
“Just this year alone,” Segal said, “we have helped over 100 dogs get spayed and neutered and we have helped transfer well over 100 puppies to the Portland area where they have a better opportunity for adoption.”
In addition to the animal stories, the fundraiser will also feature a Dutch auction. Food will be available to purchase separately through Six Rivers Brewery. Those who cannot attend, but would like to donate to Redwood Pals Rescue can go to https://redwoodpalsrescue-storytelling.godaddysites.com.
According to its website (https://redwoodpalsrescue.org), Redwood Pals Rescue was founded in 2010 by a group of animal lovers who saw a need to support the most vulnerable animals in the Humboldt County Animal Shelter. Since then, Redwood Pals has grown into a busy rescue organization, offering myriad services.
“Virtually everyone involved with Redwood Pals is a volunteer here (at the Humboldt County Animal Shelter) also,” Segal said. “Redwood Pals and the shelter have a mutual relationship where we are all volunteers here, we all walk the adoptable animals and handle them. When the shelter decides the dog needs extra help in some way — it’s shy … it’s scared, it’s too guardy with its toys, something like that — then they will ask us to help.
“One of our big goals is to help those dogs then become adoptable through the shelter,” she said. If a dog doesn’t meet criteria for adoption through the shelter, Redwood Pals will then care for that dog until he or she is ready for adoption and a permanent, loving home is found.
“Say we work with a shy dog and we just couldn’t get it up to the point that it’s going to work for adoption through (the shelter) … so we take those dogs on,” Segal said, adding, “We try not to create a backstory. We just look at what is going on now (and go from there). We’ve had some great results.”
In addition, Redwood Pals provides exercise, training and enrichment for shelter dogs, as well as coordinating several forms of fostering. For instance, it arranges fosters for puppies that are too young for adoption, dogs that require a quiet environment to recover from medical treatment and dogs that can benefit from time outside the shelter. When the shelter is over capacity, Redwood Pals tries to find fosters who will keep a dog until he or she is adopted.
“Our fosters do not need to be volunteers at the shelter,” Segal said. “That’s a big way people help us if they’re not volunteers. Many of the fosters are repeat fosters, which we find amazing and we are appreciative of. … We generally supply food for fosters if needed — and toys. If they are fostering a Redwood Pals dogs, we do all the vaccines. … Our fosters shouldn’t have to pay for anything that they don’t want to. We love our fosters.”
Redwood Pals Rescue is always looking for potential foster homes, Segal says. Foster situations last for a few days up to a few weeks typically, with dogs recovering from medical situations sometimes requiring several months of foster care.
Over the last decade or so, Redwood Pals Rescue has also expanded its activities to provide spay and neuter assistance, puppy vaccines and supplemental dog food and leashes, collars and harnesses for dogs in need. Redwood Pals volunteers also work with the homeless community, providing vaccines to unhoused dogs and referrals to veterinary care, if needed.
Another service Redwood Pals Rescue provides is the transport of puppies and some adult dogs to other shelters and humane societies to create space at the local shelter and speed up the adoption possibilities for those animals.
“We work with some shelters in Oregon,” Segal said. “… Mostly that’s for puppies. If we can send them somewhere where they’ll be adopted in a few days, that’s better for us.”
For more information about Redwood Pals Rescue and how to get involved, call email redwoodpalsrescue@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 707-633-8842.
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