A Ticket Home

Bark Madness Donation

As March was coming to an end, many of you were probably feeling similar emotions to what we were feeling. Slightly worried about our parents and grandparents. A little excited to be working from home full-time (in Ryan’s case). Definitely bummed that the March Madness tournament had been cancelled. Nervous of what was going to happen in the coming weeks. But looking forward to an event Metazoa Brewing Company was putting on during what was to be the NCAA tourney.

The competition was modeled slightly after the basketball tournament whereby two dogs were pitted against each other in an online voting contest. Whoever received the most votes in a twenty four hour period moved on to the next round. Talk about a rollercoaster! Our very own Six Pack ended up being the champion! But not after some closely heated match ups. We even ended up becoming friends with one of Six Pack’s competitors after all was send and done.

So what gave Six Pack the edge? Well, aside from being ruggedly handsome and charming, he also photographs well. So it helped when a week before the tournament, Six Pack had posed with a four pack of Metazoa beer at the Metazoa tap room. That got him a first round win, which made all of his Prison Greyhounds friends and supporters super excited. But we knew he would have to step up his game to win the whole thing. So that’s when Erin came up with the idea of us donating a dollar for every vote he received to Prison Greyhounds. With a haul of thirty greyhounds arriving soon, we knew the organization could use the donation. So after Six Pack’s big win became official, Erin contacted Mary, the president of Prison Greyhounds, regarding the donation we were ready to make in Six Pack’s name.

The Race To Bring The Dogs Home

Unselfishly, Mary suggested that we use the donation to start our own fundraising page for the “A Ticket Home” fundraiser. As many of you may know, Florida recently voted to end greyhound racing by the end of 2020.  So, we knew that there would be a large number of retiring greyhounds that needed to be moved by the end of the year.  However, what we didn’t realize, is that due to COVID-19, many Florida greyhound racing tracks permanently closed months earlier than anticipated.  This meant that the kennel we work with, Sunburst Kennel in FL, now has a critical need to find forever homes for their greyhounds immediately.  Thankfully, the organization we volunteer for, Prison Greyhounds, has partnered with The Greyhound Alliance in Illinois to commit to bringing up at least 200 dogs from the Sunburst Kennel during the next few months.

The campaign is a peer-to-peer platform where individuals create their own page and invite friends & family to make donations. Each individual sets their own fundraising goal. And since each greyhound costs $100 for the haul from Sunburst Kennel to Indiana and the most greys that a hauler can hold is thirty dogs, we set our fundraising goal at $3,000!

Consider donating to the “Friends of Fostering Follies” fund for A Ticket Home.  At the time of this posting we’ve been able to raise $1,590. We’ve made incredible progress but still need everyone’s help to reach $3,000. We know that these can be tough times for many people, so even the smallest amount – $5 or $10 helps.  If you are unable to make a donation, please consider sharing our fundraiser page so we can help get these greyhounds a home.