2014 Bark for Life SWLA

This past weekend, our area held its 2nd Annual Bark for Life event with the American Cancer Society.

Just like humans, our canine friends can be affected by cancer, too. This event is to fight back against all forms of cancer and honors the caregiving qualities of our sweet and loyal furry friends.

Bark for Life is a much smaller version of Relay for Life  and involves animals. Our Bark for Life is a 3 hour daytime event and includes fun and games for dogs and kids alike. (If you aren’t familiar with Relay for Life, it’s a worldwide event put on by the American Cancer Society and is the largest overnight event in the world, raising millions of dollars for cancer research each year.)

Leading up to the event, I was incredibly worried about the weather. Last year, it was misty/rainy the entire time, so I was hoping for a better outcome this time around.

Friday night, a huge storm rolled through our area and stopped us from setting up ahead of time. Thankfully, we allotted plenty of time on Saturday morning to set everything up and before I knew it, we were well on our way into the event!  The only hitch with the weather this year was the wind. Tents that were held down with tent stakes were even uprooted from the ground. It was craziness. At least the sun was out – it was definitely nice to see the sun!

Pixie came out to play this year!

The city declared March 29th as “Bark for Life Day”!

Our emcee for the event was a local news morning show meteorologist – he did an awesome job!

This is Lil Bit. She’s our official 2014 survivor pet and was diagnosed with breast cancer several months ago.  Our pet/human survivors walked the first lap of the track and were followed by the caregivers/supporters.

We had a boneyard set up to honor and remember our special canine friends who have crossed over to the rainbow bridge.

The winner of our pet costume contest was Buddy. He’s a rescue and is one of the sweetest dogs you will ever meet…the total opposite of his costume!

Throughout the morning, we had several guest speakers – a local Pet Therapy group and the K-9 Unit. Both were great!

We also had egg races and an Easter egg hunt for the kids!

Lil Bit won the raffle basket and is completely deserving of every item inside. My heart goes out to this sweet baby and her momma.

My work group was a huge support – they are awesome and I was glad to have them out there at the event!

We would not have been able to hold this event without our wonderful volunteers and committee!

I appreciate each and every one of them, more than they will ever know!

Another year down…can’t wait to see what Bark for Life 2015 has in store!

Have you ever participated in Relay for Life?