ALL to Host Annual Fundraiser at Swan Club

While always a significant event in generating revenue for  (ALL), their is taking on a greater sense of urgency this year.

“The Animal Lovers have endured the most stressful year on record, due to a 40 percent increase in the number of pets being surrendered,” said Director Joan Phillips. “It’s due to the economy and those needing help with spaying and neutering of un-owned feral cats. We are hoping to raise enough money to be able to continue our outreach programs for pets and the community.”

The fundraiser will take place at the Swan Club in Glenwood Landing on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Tickets are $80 per person and include buffet dinner, open bar and raffle prizes.

This year’s event features guest speaker, Maria Milito of Radio Q104.3, an animal advocate and author of “Clarice and Friends: How They Helped Mend the Hole in My Heart,” a collection of letters and e-mails from Milito’s listeners, sent to her after her dog, Clarice, passed away.

The Animal Lovers League was founded in 1994, when Phillips answered an ad posted in local newspapers by then-mayor Tom Suozzi, who was seeking volunteers for the original shelter, a place Phillips found “desolate and depressing.”  She and two other women decided to organize a group to start an adoption program and improve living conditions for the pets while they awaited loving homes.

"I knew that I would never be able to get the faces of the poor animals in that old shelter out of my mind if I didn’t do something,” she explained.  “Ruth DiChiara and Ellie D’Amico felt the same. I purchased crates so we could take the animals to adoption events each weekend, and as people started to find their way to the shelter to adopt, we knew that we had inadvertently found our way into a very meaningful and lasting mission.”

In 1996, the shelter was privatized as the Animal Lovers League, making it the only not-for-profit group operating a municipal shelter in Nassau County, according to Phillips.

Stray and injured animals are rescued from the streets, lost animals reunited with their pet parents, and all pets are spayed or neutered and vaccinated prior to adoption. Within the next month, the Animal Lovers will pass the 12,000 mark for dogs and cats spayed or neutered.

“As a volunteer for 17 years, I have truly realized how important volunteers are to homeless shelter pets, as an adjunct to a very caring and talented staff,” she explained. “Responsible, well-trained and good-hearted volunteers bring love to the animals, ease the financial and work burden of the day-to-day operation of the shelter, and help us make frightened or rowdy ‘unadoptables’ into ready for prime time in a real home pets.”