Cindy's Shelter Slumber Pawty Fundraiser

At the end of every day — good or bad — I look forward to one thing: my reset. Most nights I fall asleep next to someone I love, in a quiet room, in a comfortable bed. It’s something I take for granted every single day (and so do my two dogs who join us  at 7am).

But what if that reset never came?

What if every night you had no blanket, no quiet, no comfort — just the sounds and smells of a hundred other dogs, most of whom got outside for maybe 15 minutes that day?

That’s shelter life. And it doesn’t stop after one night.

These animals do it day after day, night after night — holding it together, hoping today is the day someone chooses them.

Saturday April 18th, I’m trading that all in and spending the night in a kennel at Cincinnati Animal CARE as part of the National Slumber Pawty — one night to shine a light on what so many animals live with every single day.

Laugh at me for missing my pillow. But please CARE with me about the animals waiting for a family to call their own.

I’d love for you to be part of it — whether that’s donating, sharing this post, or just cheering me on.

THANK YOU!!!

When I’m not sleeping in a kennel, my work with CARE is anything and everything to improve the lives of dogs in the shelter. Yes, that looks like a lot of hands on work walking or taking day trips, fostering or silly promotional type events like dressing as elves and handing out pup cups and homemade meatballs.  

I’m fortunate that I’m also able to do some larger scale projects along with my husband, Ray Compagna, and our nonprofit The Benny Fund - like the new play yards almost ready to go at Dane! 

But behind all of those things is the physical and emotional strain of working in the shelter system that volunteers and staff alike face as well as the intangibles - identifying both positive attributes and barriers to adoption - as well as either highlighting those or helping to eliminate them. Finding creative ways to treat each animal individually and give them what they need to succeed.

ADOPT TREY - IN FOSTER WITH SUNSTONE!

Also - adopt Trey! He is a collaboration between my work at CARE, our nonprofit The Benny Fund and my husband’s nonprofit Sunstone. Sunstone is recovery housing where the residents foster dogs from CARE. Right now they have Trey living the good life but ready for a family of his own. He is friendly with people big and small, potty trained and good in the home.