Sixth Annual Lasagna Dinner and Silent Auction big success

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The sixth annual lasagna dinner and silent auction, a fundraiser to benefit A Second Chance Animal Shelter, was held Saturday evening at Manning United Methodist Church in the fellowship hall. A total of 154 tickets were sold with proceeds at roughly $6,000. The event included dinner prepared by Chef Ted Brownell. On the menu was three-cheese lasagna with rich meat sauce, steamed spring vegetables, Caesar salad with grilled chicken and sundried tomatoes, garlic bread and a choice of dessert. This year’s fundraiser included door prizes and a 50/50 raffle with the main raffle item being a PAWS of Valor wall hanging/lap quilt that depicted three actual K9 Service Dogs. Featured on the quilt is: Gabe, a yellow Labrador who served in over 200 combat missions in Iraq, Treo, a black Labrador who served in Afghanistan and Saigon, and the third is a German Shepherd that could be either Capa or Lucca, both of whom served as patrol dogs sniffing out explosives and bombs. The quilt was made and donated by Linda Keefer. Nanci Foster had the winning ticket for the quilt. A Second Chance Animal Shelter is a no-kill, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization that works hard to eliminate the problem of unwanted animals in the county through its sheltering, adoption, low-cost spay/neuter and rescue programs. Board Member Donna Stegmoyer stated “all of our local businesses here in Manning do a great job supporting us by donating many items which we raffle off at the silent auction.” ASCAS receives no state or federal funding and relies solely on individual and business donations, proceeds from benefits/fundraisers, and profits from A Second Chance Thrift Store. Stegmoyer further stated, “In August of 2012 we established this low cost spay/neuter clinic and to date we have done over 2,125 spays or neuters.” Since 2014, 457 dogs and 116 cats have been adopted from the shelter. At the present time, 1,632 unclaimed dogs have been rescued from animal control resulting in a 99.97 “save rate” percentage of animal control dogs adopted from the shelter or sent to approved rescue organizations for adoption elsewhere. Stegmoyer shared a heartwarming story about two female cats that lived at the shelter for over seven years, named Pip and Paloma. They were not sisters but they had lived together for a long time. When one of them was adopted and left, both cats became ill. The person who adopted the one cat ended up bringing her back and when the two cats were reunited, they both perked up and fully recovered. A few months ago a family came in and adopted them both. The new adoptive parents attended the dinner and shared videos and pictures of their two happy cats. Stegmoyer would like to give a public thank to all who helped make this year’s Lasagna Dinner and Silent Auction a total success.