Champion of My Heart Honored for Community Engagement

A couple of weeks ago, I got a funny voice-mail message from Kim Sporrer, who handles communication stuff for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (where we adopted Lilly in October 2004). She asked me to call her and, in the meantime, to keep the evening of February 24 open. She was a little cryptic.

Well, here’s the thing … February 24 is my birthday.

Not that I’m big on big birthday celebrations, but I do like to do something a little special with Tom and/or the pups. BUT, I thought if the humane society held some fun event that night … that easily could serve as a my birthday hoohah.

So, I told Tom, “If it’s something really good, you’ll just have to come with me.”

Such a Birthday Gift

It turns out that February 24 is the humane society’s annual awards ceremony, and they want to give me (and Lilly) their first-ever Community Engagement Award … as thanks for our:

• Never Shock a Puppy campaign, which raised more than $2,600
• Support of their No-Choke Challenge
• Support of their winning efforts in the ASPCA $100K Save More Lives Challenge
• Efforts to share their work/messages via social media

Once I got past the surprise and reeled in feeling misty, I said that indeed I would attend and be so honored to accept the award.

Truly.

All of you play a part in this, so thank you, thank you, thank you. We are so honored and grateful for your support and enthusiasm and encouragement.

Locals, We’d Love to See You

We haven’t yet decided if Lilly can/should attend the event, but I would love to see any of our local friends there, if you have time to join the celebration. Here are the details!

Thursday, February 24, 2011 — 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Humane Society of Boulder Valley
PETCO Education Center
2nd Floor of the Shelter
2323 55th Street in Boulder

Hors d’oeuvres, wine, and awards will be served.

RSVP by Monday, February 21, to elissa.smith@boulderhumane.org
or call 303-442-4030, ext. 634.

Everyone Else, Stay Tuned

I’ll put Tom on photo and video duty, and we’ll get something posted soon after.

Surely, This is a Sign

When I connected with Kim by phone and heard the news, I was literally minutes from sending off our book pitch letter to an agent in NYC. Seriously, minutes.

So, I quickly added in a bullet point about how we’d now been honored TWICE — first with the 2010 DogTime Media Best Dog Blog Award and now this Community Engagement Award.

When it came time to send our book idea out for consideration, Lilly was playing in the upper pasture, so I called her into the house. I asked her to sit in my office chair, where she could better reach the computer mouse … and together we clicked SEND … paw in hand.

Yes, I’m THAT kind of girl. I believe in gestures. I believe in infusing ordinary moments with meaning. And, I believe in the magic that seems to be inside our canine heroine.

This award, along with the other recent successes (like the essay about Lilly being published in this book), surely provide a confluence of energy and oomph toward our goal. At least, that’s what I’m pretending.