Cause for Paws Gala tickets available now
There are animals at the Tuscarawas County Humane Society in need of your help, and the Cause for Paws Gala is the shelter’s largest annual fundraiser, helping to finance daily operations for the coming year. Cause for Paws will be April 27 at the Tool Shed at Breitenbach Winery near Sugarcreek. Tickets for the gala are $65 per person and are available through April 17 online or at the shelter.
“This is the 16th year for this fundraiser,” TCHS Shelter Director Haley Predragovich said. “It funds operations for the entire shelter for one full year. That’s medical expenses, animal care and the overall expenses for the shelter for daily operations.”
Cause for Paws has a long partnership with Breitenbach Winery, which has hosted the event for the past several years. “They really do a fantastic job of helping and supporting us, especially for this event,” Predragovich said.
Numerous sponsors have been secured to help make Cause for Pause successful. Appetizers, wine and dinner are part of the evening, along with silent auctions and raffles for gift baskets and prizes that have been donated by local businesses and individuals. Large ticket items will be auctioned live near the end of the evening.
“Our goal is to raise $130,000 through Cause for Pause,” Predragovich said.
The shelter has seen a slowdown in the number of animals brought to the shelter and adopted, Predragovich said. But it’s a lopsided success story.
“We have seen fewer dogs coming into the shelter, but cat intakes have really been through the roof. With so little really cold winter weather, cats are having more than the usual number of kittens. We’ve been at maximum capacity for cats for the past two years straight. We really don’t get much of a break in that,” Predragovich said.
About 600 animals were adopted from the shelter in 2023, a number Predragovich expects to grow in 2024.
Though all kinds of animals end up in the shelter for various reasons, Predragovich said the explosion in designer dogs crossed with Poodles has led to a disproportionate number of such crosses at the shelter.
“The doodles, we see a lot of those — Goldendoodles, Labradoodles and those kinds of things. It seems that any kind of dog that can be crossed with a Poodle, people have done it, and there are just way more of them than there are homes to take them in,” Predragovich said.
Cause for Paws is usually a sellout every year, Predragovich said.
“We’re hoping for that to happen again this year. The people who come out for Cause for Paws are helping to care for the abused, neglected and abandoned animals in Tuscarawas County. Everything we make that night goes 100% to the shelter and caring for the animals here,” Predragovich said.
The shelter does not receive any county, state or federal funding, so it must rely entirely on community support.
The $65 ticket includes a bidding number and the full dinner, silent auctions, grab bags, a wine toss and live music. Reserved upstairs tables are available, each seating 10 people at $850 per table. Catering for the event is by Kathy Stotzer.
A link to purchase tickets is at the shelter website at www.tuschumanesociety.com. The Tuscarawas County Humane Society is located at 1432 Tall Timber Road NE in New Philadelphia. The Toolshed at Breitenbach Winery is at 5773 Old Route 39 in Dover.
