By Cathy Adams
Journal contributor
“A Night of Golden Opportunities” is the theme for Adopt-a-Golden Birmingham’s second annual live and silent auction fundraiser on Sept. 24 from 6-9 p.m. at Iron City Grill on 22nd Avenue South.
The evening of food, drink and music will also include chances to bid on offerings ranging from luxury vacation packages to football tickets, fine wines and even a year of home plumbing maintenance.
The event supports second-chance opportunities for an increasing number of surrendered and stray Golden Retrievers and Golden mixes finding “forever homes” through AGB.
In just under 18 months of existence, Adopt-a-Golden Birmingham has accepted 179 Golden “orphans”–averaging an intake of a dog a day in July alone–and has placed almost 150 in permanent homes.
The nonprofit group is staffed entirely by 40-50 volunteers who each donate 10-30 hours weekly. AGB must raise approximately $130,000 per year in operating expenses, most of which address medical conditions. Just over one third of dogs nurtured by the program are heartworm positive. Fatal if untreated, heartworms are preventable. Treatments cost up to $500 per dog.
“We have fixed hips, torn ACLs, severe mange, spayed and neutered, vaccinated and rehabilitated,” AGB President Lorraine Donald said. “Seeing the sparkle in their eyes and the stress lines disappear for dogs that are now happily thumping their tails and rolling over for belly rubs in forever homes says it all.”
Donald and John Sellers co-founded the local group at the urging of Adopt-a-Golden Atlanta, which was on intake overload with dozens of Alabama Goldens surrendered to Georgia each year.
The Birmingham-based rescue organization functions on a statewide basis, with teams of volunteer drivers ferrying rescues from shelters from Huntsville to Mobile.
The program is carefully structured, according to organization leaders. In addition to thorough medical evaluations and treatment, all Goldens go through professional behavior analysis and spend a period of time in transitional foster care fine-tuning personality traits.
Prospective adopters know up front whether a dog gets along with cats and children, fears thunderstorms or loves to swim and chase tennis balls, resulting in a return rate of less than five per cent.
The program deals with dogs carrying a variety of “back stories.” AGB dispels the misconception myth that all rescue dogs are cowering victims of abuse and neglect. The majority of surrenders are good dogs, immediately ready to take center stage in family life, given up due to circumstances beyond owner control. Transfers out of town, housing shifts, allergic children, divorces and deaths or serious illnesses of owners are some of the situations forcing individuals to relinquish beloved pets, organization officials said.
There are, of course, the tragic cases of abuse, neglect and abandonment, and it’s in these instances that the volunteers double their efforts to rehabilitate and find the perfect placements.
AGB met its “poster child” last May, when a 14-month-old Golden with a broken leg was thrown from a boat into the Coosa River to drown. Watching her try unsuccessfully to swim after the boat, a Good Samaritan pulled her from the water, and when “Coosa’s” story went viral on Facebook, donations toward her necessary orthopedic surgeries poured in.
Lovingly nursed through several months of physical therapy by an AGB foster family, Coosa’s happily-ever-after story’s conclusion with doting and devoted new parents brought cheers from a legion of faithful fans on the Internet, organization leaders said.
“Every day I am in awe of our volunteers, most of whom have full-time jobs and families, who give unselfishly to transport, foster, work with potential adopters, coordinate Adoption Day, post updates to social media, raise funds and meet any and all needs,” Donald Sellers said.
Tickets to “A Night of Golden Opportunities” are $100, with all proceeds going directly to AGB orphans.
To purchase tickets or to meet the currently more than 30 adoptable AGB Goldens, visit www.adoptagoldenbirmingham.com or phone 205-290-7788.
