Supporters wagging over Pets Lifeline

Paws for a Cause raises more than $120,000 for pet rescue center|

Despite – or maybe because of – the dust kicked up by Grass Valley’s Animal Place over the Pets Lifeline’s Paws for a Cause fundraising dinner menu (because it included meat) and a removed auction item (because it included foie gras) the July 30 event was a grand success and raised about $120,000 in the fund-a-need alone.

One of the most exciting moments was when always generous Rick Miron suggested that the James Garner auction lot become a verbal auction item. Donated by Garner’s daughter, it included the jacket he wore in “The Rockford Files,” his original Polaroid camera, and many other super collectible pieces. Of course, Miron ended up with it, boosting his donation to Pets Lifeline.

Guests parked in the field behind Brian Ness and Michael Weiss’s Vintage Kennel Club and wandered past penned pigs, camels, sheep, goats, and other farm animals on our way to the big tent set up for the cocktail phase before dinner served in the immaculate barn decorated to the hilt. Everyone felt pain for the resident pig who was supposed to have delivered her piglet in the heat of that day.

New Pets Lifeline board member Marchelle Carleton brought in Julie Atwood Events to decorate what they called the “VIP stalls” with old country farm outfits, hats, artwork and other materials.

Throngs of guests gathered under a big white tent to sip wines or indulge in tasty vodka cocktails. Sharon Cohn donated her Breathless sparkling wine, while emcee Bill Jasper gave his Jasper Ridge Syrah and Chardonnay “grown and bottled in Sonoma city limits.” Others donated Garnet Chardonnay, Viansa Zinfandel, Hanzell Sebella Pinto, Parallel Cabernet Sauvignon, Eleven Eleven Rosé Syrah, Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Pinot and Pangloss Chardonnay.

There was plenty of food for diners who chose not to eat meat, despite the concerns of Animal Place, whose campaign to remove all meat from the Pets Lifeline menu was reported upon by media outlets from the Index-Tribune to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pets Lifeline, a rare no-kill shelter, rescues, treats and finds “forever homes” for dogs and cats with tremendous and loving success.

The dinner catered by Stellar Catering included shared dishes of grilled zucchini ribbons, golden beets, eggplant and feta as the first course. The main course offered sautéed greens and watermelon radishes with a 6-minute egg, porchetta, chicken Veracruz with house dried tomatoes, Patch Romano beans with olives and pearl onions, and farro with celery and crème fraîche. Dessert came from up Arnold Drive with Watmaugh strawberries and Glen Ellen Star ice cream. It was all good.

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