We Did It!

Not Without My Pet's first fundraiser was a success! We exceeded our goal by almost $200. After a long, hard day of hawking donated items to shoppers, we packed up what remained and donated it to Goodwill, who was kind enough to come and pick it all up.

NWOMP wishes to express it's gratitude and appreciation to all those who made our event possible. Linda of Linda's Claws and Paws allowed us to use her parking lot for the sale. Thanks, Linda! The bar next door, The Benchwarmer, allowed us to use their, um, facilities. Thanks, Benchwarmer! Heather, an Arbonne representative, brought her wonderful skin care items and held a raffle. Thanks, Heather!

The delightful ladies of the Blue Thong Sisters helped in so many ways. They donated items, they helped us set up, they stayed for the sale and provided assistance, companionship and occasional comic relief. Thanks so much, BTS!!


Here we are in front of Linda's Claws and Paws. Look at all that stuff!



Heather with her products and her charming family.


The Blue Thong Sisters!!! Gail Cullins, Deane Reed, Sharon Reed, Nina Rubin, Marlayne Bellenson and Shari Markwith. Additional help from, (not pictured), Rosemary Wilde, Sue Crespo, Dusty Miller, Gaby Flores, and Denise Viau


Sue Crespo flagging down passersby, with the Benchwarmer in the background.



Are we having fun, or what?


Marlayne considers leather; Shari apparently disagrees. hehehe


Shari, Deanne and Sharon...shopping?

Not Without My Pet Weekend Update

I just created an event on MySpace and invited 40 of my "friends" to next Sunday's fundraiser, including the following famous people:

Don-Henrie (the vampire)
Social Distortion
Exene Cervenka
Caitlin Kiernan (author)
Christopher Penczak (author)
Adeline Records (Billie Joe and Adrienne Armstrong’s label)
Aaron Leitch (author)
Ellen Dugan (author)
Konstantinos (author)
Panpipes (store in HW)
Green Day

Wouldn't it be a hoot if some of them came?? hehe

My fabulous chiropractor, Dr. John Craviotto donated $100 to our cause on Friday!

This weekend, I put up flyers advertising our fundraiser around town, including in all the major grocery stores. Everyone goes to the grocery store, right? I spoke to random strangers about our event and gave them flyers (who am I and what have I done with the real Nicole?)

I took a load of stuff for the sale over to Linda’s and put it in her storage space. There’s plenty of room in there!

Raquel got a canopy and a cash box for us. She is also working on NWOMP thank you cards we can send to donors! Raquel has a list of facts she’s used to create a handout for our event, too.

Debra is working on putting up a simple splash page for us at our domain, nwomp.org. Just something to have up there now so people can see we’re legit. When she’s finished, the page will be more comprehensive, but we needed something up there in the meantime.

Raegan is working on getting us a bank account. I dropped off a letter for the bank and a check last Friday, so we’re making progress!

Tina has agreed to hand out flyers to the other water polo moms and whoever else she comes across in her travels. She already has one on her office door at work.

Julie has a flyer on her office door too. She’s also invited me to speak to her marketing classes this week, so I’ll be giving out flyers to them as well. I’ve already spoken to my Psych class about us and our instructor is allowing me to give out flyers to that class, too.

I learned something important this weekend. Kinko’s may not be the best place to make copies on a budget! They came out really nice, but they were pricey.

Speaking of pricey, ads for our event have been put on craigslist, in the PennySaver, Ojai Valley News and the Ventura Star. (the SB Independent won’t do it because we are not in SB.)

Next Sunday is the big day!

Fundraiser for Not Without My Pet

Our very first official fundraiser!! Come visit us and shop great deals!

If you are interested in donating items or volunteering to work the sale, e-mail me at ngilbert@nwomp.org

Big Doings at Not Without My Pet!

Last week, I met with the members of the local chapter of the Blue Thong Society, who have adopted Not Without My Pet as their charity. What a fun evening that was! We met at Black Angus here in town. Over dinner, drinks and appetizers, we discussed what they'd like to do to help NWOMP.

The first event we are doing together is a tag (rummage) sale in the parking lot of Linda's Claws and Paws. Linda's Claws and Paws has been voted Best Pet Store in the local area 4 Years Running! Linda has generously offered her parking lot as a place to hold our sale. We are in the process of raising the $500 we need to file for tax exemption.

In the course of my evening with the women of the BTS, they had a thing they call "Lucky Buck." This involves everyone pitching in a buck or two and a drawing to see who wins the pot. The winner then splits the pot with the charity. I drew the winning name and the winner, Sharon Reed, co-director of the local chapter, gave her half to us as well! Lucky buck, indeed! And there's more...they had some other sort of challenge while I was away from the table and presented me with even more money when I returned!! All in all, they donated $65 to NWOMP! Yay, BTS!!

Added to the $100 Raquel Griffiths, NWOMP's Director of Development, has raised, we are now on our way to being able to file!

Yesterday, the board of directors met at my house. The board is comprised of me, Nicole Gilbert, President; Raquel Griffiths, Director of Development; Julie Brown, Secretary; Tina Kistler, Treasurer and Debra Fondren, board member, grant writer and webmistress! Tina couldn't be present physically, but she called in and joined our meeting via speaker phone.

At the meeting, we ratified our bylaws, confirmed our officers, chose our logo and picked a date for our tag sale.

All that discussion was hungry business, so after the meeting was adjourned, we feasted!


Debra, Julie and Raquel.


Debra and Julie.