Michele age 12 and Sunny age 4
Michele's Story... As she tells it!
When I was 8 years old my mom surprised me with a puppy! We named her Sunny because of her blonde coat. Sunny was adopted from the Jefferson County Animal Shelter in Port Townsend, Washington on September 9, 1999; they estimated she was only 2 months old. Her breed was a
My brother, who was 7, and I learned all about the responsibilities of pet ownership. We fed her, bathed her, played with her and helped with training her. We were also able to teach her tricks like speak, shake paws, rollover, and to beg on up on her hind legs.
Over the years we moved many times. Our constant companion was our dog Sunny. My mom taught us very early on that pet ownership is a lifetime commitment and is to be taken very seriously. Sunny would always be a member of the family and not ever given away because of the inconvenience of a move.
Sunny grew to be a large dog. At her strongest point, she weighed 123 pounds. Although she was too strong for us to walk her, mom and dad had too, we sure enjoyed playing with her at the beach, in the rivers and hiking in the hills.
About two years ago the vet told us she had diabetes. This is when my brother and I learned the meaning of sacrificing to care for a pet you love. Sunny had a new, special diet. She had to receive two injections a day of insulin. We never left her alone unless it was absolutely necessary because she would sometimes have seizures and she needed us.
This past January we kissed our Sunny goodbye. It was very difficult for all of us. I missed her so much that I decided to return to the Jefferson County Animal Shelter to not only thank them for the precious gift of Sunny, but to see if I could share some of my love for dogs with the homeless animals at the shelter.
I became a volunteer at the shelter and the staff was grateful for my time and efforts. I decided to take my advocacy a step further and I gained permission from my school to change my senior project to fundraising efforts for the animals and raising awareness of the needs of this shelter in the community. In Sunny’s sweet memory I am happy to be a voice for the homeless animals.
I am pleased to announce that I am teaming up with Michele in her efforts to raise money for The Jefferson County Animal Shelter. For every "Woof" necklace, which can be customized or for each NEW Pet Tag that is purchased I will donate 10% of proceeds to the Jefferson County Animal Shelter.
Many of my readers already know that each month I select a charity or foundation that I create a necklace for and donate a portion of proceeds to the group for each sale. The donations do not stop at the end of the month but continue through out the year. The main reason I do this is to raise awareness and also raise funds for these groups.
I am pleased to announce that the charity that Kristen's Custom Creations will be featuring for the month of February is Apraxia-Kids.
Thank you to Kim Rieck for providing resources for Apraxia-KIDS. I have designed a necklace specifically for this organization and will have it available for viewing on my blog next week. As I have mentioned before my goal is to bring awareness and raise money every month for a different charity. Below is some information on Apraxia KIDS. Please also visit their site http://www.apraxia-kids.org/
Apraxia of speech, also known as verbal apraxia or dyspraxia, is a speech disorder in which a person has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently. It is not due to weakness or paralysis of the speech muscles (the muscles of the face, tongue, and lips). The severity of apraxia of speech can range from mild to severe.
p.s. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions this was a tough decision.
Kristen's Custom Creations gives back!!!!
