Pies fly for puppies: Jordan's Way raises funds with AARF
Jun. 15—ASHLAND — The Ashland Animal Rescue Fund (AARF) filled with employees, volunteers and friends Tuesday evening as Jordan's Way took over for a live fundraiser.
Kris Rotonda founded Jordan's Way after he lost his dog Jordan, whom he found in a shelter, to cancer. Jordan spent four years in a kennel and overlooked.
Rotonda couldn't handle the thought. He not only adopted the dog, but went on to honor his pet through advocating and raising funds for pups in similar situations.
His business partner, Greg Edwards, gathered the people and shared what was about to happen. Pies were going to fly, dogs were going to be shown off and volunteers would be heading to the dunk tank.
"It's very fast," said Edwards.
From the moment the Facebook live show began, pies started flying into faces. Donations drove the night.
Kim Napier, who processes adoptions and manages the AARF website, stepped up first. A donation came through, and Rotonda chucked a plate full of whipped cream in Napier's face.
Napier was joined by Blaine Hicks. Hicks and Napier were paired for a slap fight. Then they traded more pies based on donations they could secure via the livestream.
When someone stopped in to give a donation in person, Rebecca Fairchild took a pie to the face. When her group reached a monetary goal, she took the first plunge into the dunk tank.
Volunteers held their phones tight and typed away. They worked to tag people and businesses in an effort to secure donations. The goal for the four-hour event was $20,000 for AARF.
Rotonda asked a donator to hold on to a dog treat. Then, he shocked the donator by saying if they received a donation, the dog Calvin would get the treat, if they didn't receive the donation, the person would have to eat the treat.
Weiner Mania is a game that when a donation mark is met, all the dogs in the kennel would get hotdogs. Dogs got doggy-friendly popsicles. AARF Executive Director Cathy Queen was in danger of staying in the kennel overnight.
Ms Kentucky Faith Fountain danced her way to throwing a pie into the face of Ashland Mayor Matt Perkins. She excitedly moved her feet as the donation goal was met and shocked the mayor by throwing the cream onto the side of his head mid dance step.
"We are waking this community up," said Edwards.
The Facebook live will go from those in the shelter to the community, state and nation, said Edwards. Rotonda excitedly and rapidly pushes for donations using the fun goals of pies, treats and dunk tanks.
The shelter made the $20,000 mark around 8:30 p.m. two hours after going live. Kris would continue to show the faces of the dogs at AARF and play fun games with the people.
"Such a sweet dog, such a sweet dog," said Rotonda as he headed to the kennel to introduce viewers to each pup.
Meanwhile, two canine brothers, Zippy and Ziggy, headed off to their new homes. The two puppies wiggled and jumped into the arms of their humans. Napier kissed the pups and handed them off to their adoptive humans.
Rotonda is making his way around to 300 shelters to raise funds in this manner. The games originated with his efforts to allow people to pie him in the face. It began to grow and mature.
"Let's keep building your fundraiser," said Rotonda as he asked the community to hit $10,000 on Facebook donations and reward the dogs with pup-a-chinos.
Rotonda said he started to see others volunteer to take a pie, women began volunteering to shave their heads, men would wax their chests. He gets the dogs involved, and tries to be in the kennel as much as possible.
"It pulls on the heart strings," said Rotonda.
