[LAFF] New Year's Eve rundown

[Sema Sopoci]

Thank you to all who attended the LAFF New Year's Eve party this year!
It was one heck of a time and a good first experience for it's new
staff members!

Here's is the list of the attendees:

Riley West Wolf (Rex), Sema JayHawk (SemJay), Taren Nauxen, Lil' Blue,
Blazger, Frost Cat, Locket, Black Silver, Samii Tiger, Arazia,
Ranmaru, ElectroPaw, Bit, Hazardous Roo, JMFoxFire, Nihaler, Rayven
Wolffe, Swann, Edmon, Timoran, Navajo, Socks, Axle, Yuppy, Graywolf,
Alkali, Zane, Selenia, Steel The Warrior, Yugo, Seiichi, Firewing,
Drake, Xander the Blue, Shale. Tybis, Splain, Neikrao, Jim Groat,
Silverhair, 7, Orion, Pepper, Leon, Ken Redtail, Luxater, Chi, Angelo,
Aiden, Mr. Moggy (Ultima)

There was a total of 50 people who attended, not as many as last year
- but still a good turn out. We took in a total of $780.40 (that
includes the donations in the charity donation jar) and the total
amount spent on the party was $698.40. That means that a total of
$82.00 will be donated to the Almost Home Foundation - a wonderful
local rescue that I have worked close with this year. Let me just say,
their volunteers are some of the BIGGEST animal lovers you will ever
meet! They hit a patch of rough water on Friday October 13th (yes, I
know, the irony of that day) when some of their kittens and cat's had
been exposed to panleukopenia (feline distemper) and had to be
isolated at (my now former place of work) Banfield the Pet Hospital of
Schaumburg, IL. We all watched helplessly as kittens and cats ranging
from 10 days to 10 years fell victim to this deadly disease. It seemed
every time we made it to the end of the two week quarantine, we would
lose another one and a new two week quarantine would start. When they
finally had more than two weeks without a case of it, the surviving
kittens and cats were allowed to go to foster homes and are now
available for adoption. This outbreak cost the foundation over $3000
even with the discounts we gave them. Not to mention that one of the
founders, Claire, was at the hospital two times a day EVERYDAY taking
care of all of them. She is a really wonderful woman, and she stayed
strong through even the hardest of times. If you ever are considering
adopting a dog or cat, please check out AHF. You can read more about
them (and possibly donate more to them) on their website
(http://www.almosthomefoundation.com)

I want to thank all of you who attended, and extra thanks to those who
RSVP'd - it helped us a lot. Big thanks to Riley for making this event
possible this year and picking a WONDERFUL staff. I also want to thank
all the people who helped clean up last night, you were really a big
help!!

We hope to see you all at the 2007 New Year's Eve party! More details
to follow - but probably not until after Midwest Furfest 2007!

-Sema JayHawk "SemJay"