At Paws Animal Rescue, our volunteers and board members are constantly looking for new fundraising ideas. On Saturday, October 7th, we had the privilege of bringing a wonderful event to our community for the first time: Raise the Woof.

Raise the Woof is a comedy tour that works with local animal rescue groups to spread awareness and raise money for their cause. Three of their comedians traveled to Pierre to entertain us – and with great success!

TIME TO LAUGH

Local radio host DT Meyer of Todays KCCR was our EmCee for the night, introducing the schedule of events. This included the dessert dash, comedy acts, silent auction and raffle drawing.

Raise the Woof comedian and host Dan Juola kicked off the comedy act, followed by Ron Lamprecht. Ron’s irreverent observances of his own self and audience members resulted in one person literally sprayed their drink across the table with laughter!

Left: Ron Lamprecht, Right: Lamont Ferguson

Ron Lamprecht

Our headliner was Lamont Ferguson, who has opened for many well-known comedians including George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Steve Harvey, Larry Miller and Garry Shandling. Lamont managed to fill the room with laughter with an intelligent, original and insightful act.

DESSERT DASH

14 delicious desserts were donated by Paws supporters for the Dessert Dash, including a beautiful cake by Jen Uecker of Sugar Momma’s Custom Cakery. Jen is on the Board of Directors of Paws and also had the immense task of organizing the event from start to finish.

SILENT AUCTION

The Silent Auction consisted of 23 “baskets” generously donated by supporters. Here are the successful bidders for each:

• Corn Hole Boards  – Kyle Manning
• Cat Tower  – Lisa Stanley
• Purdy on the Patio – Steph Noll
• Salon Basket – Jodi Owen
• Margarita Fiesta – Jodi Owen
• Feline Wine – Jodi Owen
• S’mores Fire Pit – Jodi Owen
• The Bark Side – Jodi Owen
• Hunter’s Survival Kit – Jodi Owen
• Relaxation basket – Jodi Owen
• Cattitude – Sarah Eddie
• From Farm to Table – Hope Smith

• Purrfect Day – Sarah Eddie
• Cat decor and mug – Kay McLain
• The Growler – Branch Wolf
• Lucky Dog – Lisa Bondi
• Welcome Gnome – Gerry Kaufman
• Dog decor and mug – Gerry Kaufman
• Turkey Fryer – Caroline Uecker
• Fall Wreath – Lauren Laird
• Dog Lover – Jenny Seidel
• Whisker Away (Deadwood) – Kathy Hammond
• Family Fun Pack – Maureen Droz

GRAND PRIZE RAFFLE

The grand prize for the night was a Traeger Wood Pellet Smoker/Grill, won by Laurie Gustafson! The prize included front shelf accessory, cleaning supplies, wood chips, and a large Prime Rib donated by Chops. Thank you to Karl’s for giving us a great deal on the grill.

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who donated time and effort, auctions items, desserts, money, meeting space and anything else that went towards making this event a success! Here were our main sponsors:

• Raise the Woof – the main stars of our event!
• Ramkota – hotel rooms for the comedians
• RedRossa – meeting room and discount food
• DT Meyer – our wonderful EmCee
• Modern Woodmen – very generous matching funds donation
• Karls – discount on the Trager Grill
• Dakotamart – generous GC donation and advertising on board

Now here is the best news: after expenses, we raised $7681.15!

We hope to return with this event next year, bigger and better than ever. If you missed out this year, make sure to purchase your ticket around the same time in 2018.