First Posted: 12/15/2014
DALLAS — Businesses in the Back Mountain made this year’s holiday season special for the four-legged members of the community.
The owners of Sherman’s Sheds and the Twin Stacks Center together sponsored the first-ever Christmastown “Adopt Me Day” event benefiting Blue Chip Farms Animal Refuge on Dec. 14.
Visitors were able to enjoy more than 10 sheds, transformed by eight different sponsors and their volunteers into a miniature “holiday town.”
Children and pets posed for photos with Santa Claus and a real-live dog sled team, tasted homemade Christmas treats offered donations to help homeless pets and met animals that need a new family.
Lynn Banta, co-sponsor and one of the principals of the Twin Stacks Center, said the Christmastown event is a way to stay involved in the community while benefiting the “truly selfless” Blue Chip Farms organization.
“This time of year, the rescue shelters get over run,” Banta said. The Christmastown event was a ‘win-win-win’ situation for the local businesses, the farm and their animals,” she said. “The visitors also got to enjoy some holiday cheer with their pets who to them are just like their children.”
Marge Bart, founder of Blue Chip Farms, was told about the event a few weeks ago and was both “surprised and gracious” for the generosity of the volunteers, donors and businesses.
“We had a $12,000 vet bill in November and we are very happy to get any help we can,” Bart said. “We also hope the folks who visited and enjoyed the shed displays thought about adopting a pet instead of buying one for the holidays. We believe adoption is the best optio.”
Volunteers from Blue Chip brought several dogs for a meet and greet with prospective new families. One of the dogs brought was a stray “lab-mix” rescued after wandering the streets of Taylor Borough for three months.
Rescue dogs can still make great house pets, Banta said.
Blue Chip is where animals of all types can find a safe haven from what can be a very cruel world, according to the folks from Twin Stacks. They wanted to show appreciation and support for the organization “maintained for over 10 years by personal efforts and resources of two wonderful women” as it goes about its mission to provide sanctuary for older, stray, abandoned, sick or abused animals, they said.
All proceeds from the event were donated to Blue Chip Farms.
