Sunday, 2/26/12, Emily Smith (our newest Board Director) and I tabled for ARAUNY at the RIT Feral Cat ‘meet n greet’ event. We were in the Grand Ballroom of the Radisson on Jefferson Rd (near RIT).The $25 we paid for table rental was refunded in full, that day, by This Old Cat (Paul Dewey).
We bought a $25 gift card from PetSaver for our Raffle. That, along with one of our (green) magnetic bumper stickers “Teach Respect for All Living Beings” is the raffle prize – winner: Karla Barkley.The room was great, location great, but we felt the crowd was sparse. This could be because there was a $25 charge to all who came … until 2:30 when suddenly it was free. Event from 11am-4pm, we did see a sudden surge around 2:30 when people suddenly began to buy ~ but only had 1.5 hours left.
Others tabling were: GRASP, Lollypop Farm, Greyhound Rescue of Rochester, ASL, Pitty Love Rescue, some other animal-groups who primarily sold cute animal beds, etc. But also there were jewelers there.
We also had a petition – to Ban Puppy and Kitten Mills in Monroe County (not that we know of any here, but to be proactive and prevent them). Many people signed it, and many took our literature ~ led to great talks with these folks, most know nothing about anything animal except TNR. ARAUNY was the ONLY voice there for AR, for all nonhumans, so that mainstreaming was worth it (imo).
Event ran smoothly, a bit more costly than it should’ve been, and yet we reached many people – lots of new folks on ARAUNY list now – and managed to make $38 in the process. Plus a fun day Emily and I spent together.
Good mainstreaming.
~Lois