Surfing Dog raises major moola for those in need
June 13, 2011 • Trends • Rescue •
Surf Dog Ricochet, the SURFice dog who lives a lifestyle of helping others by pawing it forward, has reached a new milestone – 30,000 fans on Facebook! Her very supportive fan base has also helped her raise almost $90,000 in donations for human/animal causes!
Ricochet started her Facebook page, “Surf Dog Ricochet” to help raise awareness and funds for her causes. Now, not only has she reached the 30,000 fan milestone, but almost $90,000 in donations have been raised. Many people join her page after watching her inspirational YouTube video, “From Service Dog to SURFice dog” (http://bit.ly/9jZ5uV). The video went viral with more than 3.4 million views, and touches people on many different levels, bringing them to tears.
Ricochet wanted to do something very special to celebrate the approaching 30,000 fan milestone. So, in the spirit of helping others, she started a campaign called “Pass the Buck.” She asked her Facebook followers, and donors to donate just one dollar (more if they wished), and in just 24 hours, $1000 was raised. Then, she invited nonprofit human/animal causes to submit their information to become potential recipients of the funds raised. 40 causes participated.
When Explore.org/Dog Bless You heard what Ricochet was doing, they very generously awarded a $5000 grant to her campaign. Explore.org is led by Founder, Charles Annenberg Weingarten, who says “The mission of Explore.org is to champion the selfless acts of others, to create a portal into the soul of humanity, and to inspire life long learning. The most important thing for me, is to create a portal into the soul. What is the easiest way to do this? Through dogs – they see into our souls like no other. That is why as we build Dog Bless You, we move forward with the mission to champion the selfless acts of animals.”
Also coming on board with a donation was Miss Rosie’s Canine Creations, who donated $1.00 for every new fan to her page received through Ricochet, up to $250. Ricochet’s Faacebook fans, donors and causes all rallied together, and $6500 was raised by the time she reached her 30,000 fan milestone!
The funds were split between 20 causes, whose names were picked at random from paper ballots. Ricochet’s service dog sister, Rina picked each ballot individually. $500 went to the first 10 causes picked, $200 to the next five causes picked, and $100 for the remaining five causes. The recipients included The A.skate Foundation, Best Day Foundation, Big Dogs Huge Paws, Chase Away K9 Cancer, Collin County Humane Society, Fight Abuse in the Home, For the Love of Animals, Friendly Giants Dog Rescue, Helen Woodward Animal Center, Humane Society of Central Texas, Human Society of West Alabama, K9 Resque, Lost & Found K9 Rescue, Pets for Patriots, Pit Essentials, Power Paws Assistance Dogs, Puppy Rescue Mission, Shelter Pet Rescue, Uberdog Foundation, and United Hope for Animals. To see a video of Rina drawing the recipients, click this link http://on.fb.me/mDS9BO
Ricochet sincerely thanks each and every one of her supporters, and looks forward to a continued relationship of actively engaging them on Facebook, while helping others through campaigns like “Pass the Buck”. Ricochet has a goal of reaching $100,000 in donations by the end of October, which will be two years that she’s been fundraising. If you’d like to make a donation to her causes fund, go to http://www.surfdogricochet.com. To join her popular, inspirational, and “paw it forward” community, SurfDogRicochet
