Thank You For an Amazing BARCStoberfest
We are so excited to announce that this year’s BARCStoberfest raised an incredible $363,000 for our shelter! It was a beautiful day in Patterson Park—we dressed up, we ran, we ate, we drank, we celebrated, and we raised money to save lives.
The rescheduling of the 14th annual festival due to unsafe weather conditions on the original date was a blessing in disguise. Not only did the new date yield beautiful fall weather, but also two very generous donation challenges. We’d like to recognize our last minute match donors, Bill Miller and his dog Jake, along with an anonymous friend of BARCS who came 'to the rescue' to be sure we met our fundraising goal. Thank you, Bill, Jake, our anonymous friend and all those who donated during the match!
As you know, BARCS is not an organization of “extra.” Each year, our shelter cares for 12,000 animals on half of our recommended budget. We’ve been underfunded since day one, and we continue to save lives each day against all financial odds.
We'd like to recognize our top team and individual fundraisers for their tremendous efforts in making the months leading up to our festival a major success for the animals:
Top Five Fundraisers:
1. Michelle Green
2. Adrianne Bayle
3. Chris Stickel
4. Kassy Mattingly
5. Carol Hyman
(All BARCS Volunteers!)
Top Five Fundraising Teams:
1. BARCS Volunteers, Fosters and Staff
2. Bees for BARCS - Calvert School
3. KatzAbosch
4. PUSH for Paws
5. Von Feinstein
Because of your generous donations and successful peer-to-peer fundraising over the past several months, BARCS’ live release rate in August and September was 90%—our highest ever!
This is a true testament to all of your hard work and fundraising! Thank you to each and every one of you who donated, raised money, participated in the 5k/one mile walk and attended the festival. You are true lifesavers, and we are happy to have you on our side.
We’d like to recognize our 2018 BARCStoberfest sponsors who helped make this year’s event such a great success. A big thank you to our presenting sponsor, Pet Valu.
Our other major sponsors include Chesapeake Veterinary Surgical Specialists, PayPal, Walmart Foundation, Chipotle, Emergent Biosolutions, Pet+E.R., Blue Pit BBQ, Dalco Medical Products, Inc., Gasket Guy of Baltimore, IDEXX, Matthew and Maria Wieters, ProMD Health, Reliance Fire Protection, State Farm - Cyndi Kuhn, Mount Carmel Animal Hospital, 98 Rock, Advance Relocation Systems, Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, The Baltimore Sun, Bmore Photography, Brewing Good Coffee, Harbour Sign & Graphics, Maryland Dog Magazine, MWR Investigations, Inc. and Pikesville Animal Hospital. Thank you for your commitment to our community and the welfare of Baltimore City’s animals.
A special thank you to Baltimore City and Charm City Run for being great partners and working with BARCS patiently on the rescheduling of BARCStoberfest.
This was the third year for our beer garden, which was a tremendous success. While setting up that morning, several of our beer garden vendors rallied together and decided to give all profits and tips to BARCS. We’d like to thank Freixenet Wines, Heavy Seas Beer, Hoop Tea, Key Brewing, Monument City Brewing, New Liberty Distillery, Peabody Heights Brewery, RAR Brewing, Tito's Handmade Vodka and Union Craft Brewing for such a generous gesture. And thank you to all of our festival vendors who made the shopping market, food area and beer garden enjoyable for our attendees.
Eight dogs and cats found homes at BARCStoberfest, including several cats with special medical needs. Some adopters came with the intention to meet our furry friends, while others found unexpected love. Thank you to our BARCS fosters for planning the adoption tent and bringing your foster babies.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteer event planning committee, the 100+ BARCS volunteers and community volunteer groups that gave their time and hearts to make the festival a great success.
On behalf of the BARCS team and the animals, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. We can’t say it enough. Each and every one of you is responsible for lives saved.
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