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The Abbey

Spring Fund Raiser Updates

By Bill Betz

The May 16^th Rocky Mountain Foundation’s Spring Fundraiser was a huge success thanks to the tremendous help and support of our volunteers, auction donors, every one of our guests and the people at The Abbey in Canon City. Special thanks go to auctioneer and Master of Ceremony John H. Clements of “Benefit Auction Services” for making our first fundraiser a fun and profitable event; and to Michael J. Collins from Calvary Christian School who saved the day by providing a projector at the last minute so our presentation could be shown.

Guests from as far away as Arizona, Illinois, Montana, Missouri, and California joined those from Canon City, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fairplay, Guffey, and other places to meet, mingle, dine, and celebrate their common love for wildlife and without a doubt the WOLF. Guests listened to Dakota Blonde (four member band) while enjoying the wine tasting and a silent auction. As a gourmet lunch was served Mark Johnson, the owner and caretaker of the Foundation and its’ wolf pack members, gave a presentation to the guests. Mark started the presentation showing how the wolves interact with visitors to the sanctuary and with each other. The presentation ended with a photo and musical memorial tribute to Cheyenne, the wolf that started it all. Cheyenne will live in the hearts of 22,000 visitors and especially those 1700 she favored with a wolf kiss, some of whom being present talked about how she touched their lives.

When it was time for the live auction to start, John H Clements took the guests to a new level by dividing the room into groups to see which group could out do the other in shouting PAHU the loudest. PAHU is a word used by the volunteers when a significant event takes place for the RMWF. At the end of the live auction John asked the guests to do something special for the RMWF in giving cash donations for the worthy cause. He started at $500.00 and went down to $50.00. This in itself raised $1100.00 for the Foundation. Once again Dakota Blonde played for the group and many stayed beyond the 3 pm event time to enjoy this outstanding band. Thank you Dakota Blonde for a great time and fantastic music.

As our guests left the event we received comments from “this is the best event I have ever attended”, to statements such as “I first thought $35.00 was a lot to spend but you proved me wrong, it was worth every penny and more”, and “you are doing a wonderful job and keep up the good work”. It was rewarding to have friends of the wolves and new guests make such heart felt comments to the RMWF volunteers. It just made our day PAHU!!!!

© 2009 The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Foundation
Original design by Andreas Viklund