PACCC is a non-profit on a pet safety mission through independent certification of pet care professionals. We exist – and are succeeding – thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteers and sponsors like Canine Cabana in Riverview, Florida. This premier dog daycare, lodging and training facility recently held a fundraiser for PACCC that not only brought in much needed funds but also helped educate pet parents on the mission and important of PACCC. We asked Canine Cabana co-owner and PACCC board member, Angie Pickren, about how the fundraiser came about, and its positive impact not only for PACCC, but for the facility as well.
How did the idea for your fundraiser come about?
Since May was National Pet Month, we decided to utilize it as an education opportunity for our pet parents at Canine Cabana.
Can you share details about what when into the fundraiser?
To raise money, we had a raffle of Canine Cabana services offered at a variety of level of donations to incentivize our pet parents to participate.
$10 – Enter raffle for free day of play
$25 – Enter raffle for free day of play and free bubble bath
$50 – FREE day of daycare and enter raffle for two free days of fun and bubble bath
$75 – FREE day of daycare and enter raffle for free 5 days of fun and free Premium Bath
$100 – Two FREE days of daycare and enter raffle for 10 free days of fun and a Premium Bath
The Canine Cabana fundraising “wall tree” for PACCC
Because we’re all in this pet safety mission together, fellow PACCC board member Kari at Dog Tired Daycare in Alaska designed customizable heart tags for the fundraiser that said: “I’m (dog’s name inside heart) and I’m safer in a PACCC.” Our pet parents would make a raffle donation and receive a tag to write their dog’s name on the heart. The hearts were placed on a decorative “wall tree” that everyone could see. The tree also featured photos of “Cabana Family” team members to show support of each other in raising awareness for PACCC. All pet parents who donated also immediately received their option of a Canine Cabana chip clip or tennis ball as a thank you. As part of the PACCC-dedicated display, along with the wall tree, pet parents would drop their raffle tickets in the appropriate container.
We made the PACCC “rack cards” available on the display so our pet parents could read the highlights of what PACCC is about. It was also important to us that we speak with each customer personally and talk about PACCC. This took a little time and our manager, Kara, was amazing in this task. We also had a team member incentive as well. We gave $100 to the team member that promoted PACCC the best (got the most donations). We also have a monthly fundraising event in-house for a non-profit group donation. We used the proceeds from that event to go to PACCC.
Our final total raised for PACCC was $2,020.
In addition to helping PACCC, did the fundraising event have a positive impact for Canine Cabana? If so, in what way?
I spoke with several customers who commented on how happy they were to know that we were on PACCC’s founding board and were impressed with the commitment we showed to PACCC’s pet safety mission. They all know what great care we provide for their pets, but I believe it was great for them to see how much we are committed to all pets.
We are located in a military community as well. So, we do have families that often relocate. I believe that they will look for facilities with individuals that are PACCC certified when they have to relocate.
Thank you, Canine Cabana! For information on how you can become part of the PACCC as a sponsor, donor, or volunteer visit paccert.org/get-involved.