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 ARF! Benefit unleashes funds for pet shelter
BY DAVE MARCUS
August 21, 2006 The fundraising party featured the usual: a white tent on a vast lawn in Southampton, a stream of waiters carrying appetizers, couples dancing to the Peter Duchin Orchestra, and a guest of honor with an inspiring, rags-to-riches tale. This time, though, the guest didn't recount her tale - she just wagged her tail.
Most charities rely on predictable affairs as the Hamptons social season winds down. But at this year's bash for the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) of the Hamptons on And, rather than showcasing marquee entertainers or philanthropists, ARF displayed mutts. The singer who set the tone was Oliver, a black sort-of-retriever mix found at a shelter by WNBC-TV anchorman Chuck Scarborough, who hosted the Chow Chow Bow Wow at his Southampton home. As Scarborough played the harmonica, Oliver barked along enthusiastically. The guest of honor, a chow mix, ignored waiters circulating appetizers of potato goat cheese wontons with wasabi Champagne sauce. A short film told her story: Rescuers found her guarding her four dead puppies in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina's waters receded. Her owners apparently died. The bedraggled dog arrived at the East Hampton shelter last fall with 20 others on a chartered bus. ARF benefactors Lisa and Brian McCarthy took her in. "We were looking for a dog," Lisa recalled. "We actually weren't looking for a dog," her husband corrected. Whatever. Now named Katrina and sporting a healthy black coat, she lives in Manhattan and summers in Southampton. Katrina was treated Saturday to filet mignon and wild rice on a silver platter - after sharing scents with Hershey, a once-abandoned Chesapeake Bay retriever who shuttles in a private jet to Palm Beach, Washington, D.C., and the Hamptons with his owners, Greg Connors and Don Burns. The dogs got some barks of encouragement from Amigo, a former street dog who splits his time among the Bahamas, New York and the Hamptons. Until airlines got tough a few months ago, he often traveled first-class, said his owner, Francis Hayward. "The stewardesses always said they preferred having him over most of the passengers." Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Inc.
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Saturday night, 320 pet-lovers chipped in nearly $250,000 to help a dog and cat shelter.