b'doginspiredI Look At You, And Im Home. From Disneys Finding NemoA Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. And Thousands Of Dollars In This Case.Story and photography by Anna Cookearea businesses are crucial components to successful fundraising.Recognizing those businesses with gratitude is imperative inordertocontinuenurturingtherelationships.Makingafundraising event fun while showcasing the good work of theshelters and rescue organizations, encourages people and poten-tial donors to want to be involved.Bill Stevens and Bob Brings with their dog, Nemo pose in front Pairingfoodand/orwinewithfundraisingusuallygoesof bottles of My Best Friend wine with Nemos picture gracing hand-in-hand. Having already created a limited edition wine tothe label. help raise money for Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando, QuantumLeap, a Florida-based urban winery, knew they wanted to bemore involved with the community that helped to make thema success. Kaley is our winery dog, who visits a couple of daysa week, said Jill Ramsier, co-owner of Quantum Leap Winery.I adopted her from New Spirit 4 Aussie Rescue. Fifty percentof the proceeds from the sale of Kaleys Rescue Red is donatedto Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. When Sean Hawkins with the Pet Alliance called us, weknew just what we wanted to do for them, said Jill.QuantumLeappartneredwithbrandingexpertsGreatBigCircle ofMaitland to create one of the most unique fundraising vehiclesfor Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando, to date. Early in the fourthquarter of 2014, a call was put out to Central Florida animallovers in search of a spokesdog or spokescat to appear on thewine label of Quantum Leaps newly created 2015 blend, MyBest Friend Rescue Red Wine. Participants who believed their pets likenesses were worthyof being on a wine label were encouraged to send in photos onadesignatedlandingpageofthePetAllianceofGreaterOrlandos website. Friends and family were asked to vote fortheir favorite animal at a dollar donation per vote. There were103 entries submitted with 6449 votes raising $6449 for the firstpart of the fundraising project. Only 23 cases of My Best Friend Rescue Red were pro-duced,usingablendofgrapesfromWashingtonStatesColumbia Valley.As sales continue, proceeds continue to bene-fit Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. To date, the total raised dur-Creating a new and witty way that will inspire people to donate ing this project is around $11,000.money to the multiple animal welfare causes in Florida is no So, what dog is worthy of a wine with a taste that might beeasy task. First of all, there are countless worthy causes that have described as big, bright, bold, buttery and perhaps a little com-the attention of philanthropists. Then consider all of the animal plex? Maybe the real question is, what wine would be worthyadvocacy issues, shelters and rescue groups in need of donations of a dogs likeness, perhaps sporting the same characteristics, onin order to continue running their programs.its label? Fortunate are those organizations that have several benefac- Nemo, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, was a one-year-old,tors who are always willing to help with money at a moments whothrough no fault of his own, found himself at Orangenotice. Also fortunate are those organizations that have a group County Animal Services (OCAS). His bright eyes and big smileof volunteers to champion the cause and rally the message that attracted potential adopters until they discovered a complexity thatinspires others to give. made him a little different. Once people noticed Nemos upside-Involving the community and tapping into the resources of down left rear paw, sadly thats all they saw.(Continued on page 34) g |Winter Park, FL 32789|P407.998.8090|F407.998.8091w34 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com'