First place winners Shelby Roberts and Cookie

APET enjoyed the first annual Woofin’ Waggin’ Walk-A-Thon on April 24. Held at the Mineola Civic Center, the Walk was a fund raising event with school-aged kids walking their dogs around the perimeter of the Center (about a mile) for sponsorship of their participation. Even with threatening weather, the walkers turned out, not in great numbers, but generous in contribution!

Our grand prize winner, Shelby Roberts and her pooch, Cookie, raised $400 to help APET continue invaluable outreach programs such as our low cost spay and neuter as well as community outreach for abandoned, neglected and abused animals Shelby was awarded $100 savings bond donated by the Mineola Community Bank, which she unbelievable turned around and donated back to APET in an unprecedented show of maturity and generosity.

Second place winners Ashton Baucum and Sadie

Our second prize winner was Ashton Baucom, with her adorable dog Sadie who collected $139 and won a $50 gift card donated by our local Mineola Wal-Mart.

Our parade marshal was Scott Hazard with his local celebrity, Gumbo the Poodle. Everybody received an APET baseball cap and our sincerest appreciation for a job well done. APET volunteers were on hand to distribute water, and clean up bags as necessary. Also, we were striving to ensure that the dogs remained under control, but they were all well behaved and seemed to enjoy the event.

The Walkers

We netted about $1000 from the effort and plan to repeat the event next year. Next year, we would like to open the Walk up to participants of all ages, and would appreciate any other ideas.