Annual Membership Dinner

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On Friday January 18, 2013, the CCSPCA celebrated their annual membership dinner at Tornino’s in Fresno. Attendees included the CCSPCA Board of Directors, members, donors, and staff.

The purpose of our annual membership dinner is to approve the new CCSPCA Board of Directors’ members and to thank our membership and donors for all their past and current support.

The evening began with attendees arriving, finding their seats, and socializing with friends and making new acquaintances. The approximate 90 attendees filled the dining room with much merriment and animated laughter. After everyone was settled in, the dinner buffet was served with a mouth-watering arrangement of salads, side courses, fried chicken, and roast. Each table was adorned with complimentary wine glasses with our new logo, as well as an arrangement of yellow begonias which each attendee got to take home as thank you gifts.

After dinner, the annual meeting commenced with a presentation by CCSPCA Board President, Vivian Vidoli. She began the meeting, moved, and passed our newly elected members, Barbara Roe, Nancy Volkoff, and Mike Urrutia. Vivian addressed the evening’s attendees with a synopsis of the past year’s activities and closed her presentation with a toast of champagne to the new Board of Directors.

As soon as the business issues were closed, the CCSPCA’s Executive Director and the Emcee of the evening, Linda Van Kirk, took the podium and the program commenced. She began by describing all the changes and improvements that were made to the CCSPCA in the year 2012. Following her presentation, a video featuring staff members was shown that reflected on the past year’s achievements and improvements.

After looking back on the year and thanking the support of our members, the festivities truly began. First we started off with door prizes. We raffled off many assorted prizes including plush dog houses, cat beds and toys, wine and cheese baskets, movie and dinner tickets, and the grand prize of two tickets to our annual fundraiser Bets for Pets! Winners of these great items were Ken Jorgensen, John Brechmann, Carol O’Brien, Brian Calhoun, Kim Yrigollen, Verna Austin, and Raven Rozier.

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A special highlight of the evening was the live auction for the opportunity of your pet to be the “centerfold” of the CCSPCA’s spring issue of the new quarterly magazine, “Playmate.” The centerfold will be the photo of the winning bidder’s pet taken by a professional photographer. And winning that opportunity at the highest bid of $350 was Board Member, Dr. Charlene Hagus. Congratulations, Dr. Hagus!

After dessert was served, the entertainment of the evening captivated the audience. This year the entertainment was provided by the staff of the CCSPCA, featuring animals from the Foster Care Program in a Fashion Show. The specially dressed staff members, with their matching outfitted animal in hand, danced, stomped, swayed, and pirouetted across the stage to an assortment of lively and moving music. The audience laughed, cheered, oohed, and awed at the cute fluffies being paraded around the room. After each pair made their debut, they walked through the crowd showing off the animals, hoping to find a new forever home or foster home. Members and their guests got to pet and love on all the kittens, puppies, and dogs.

With the conclusion of the Foster Fashion Show, the evening ended with many of the members saying what a wonderful time they had and how they enjoyed the new style of entertainment.

“The most inspiring thing about the CCSPCA,” said Caroline Stevens, a 7 year member, “is the great staff and hard work they do.”

by Sasha Bell

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