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Memorial and Honorary Gifts
KAR has graciously accepted memorial and honorarium gifts for many years. We want all our KAR Friends to know that they can make gifts of love on behalf of people and pets that have been such an important influence on their life. These contributions make it possible to help homeless cats and dogs receive the care they need until a permanent home can be found.Gifts In Memory—recognize a pet, friend or family member that has recently passed away by making a contribution to KAR on their behalf. This loving legacy shows how much the person or pet being memorialized touched your life and how they live on in your heart.
Gifts In Honor—recognize a friend, family member or business for a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary, or a special accomplishment such as a gradua tion or promotion. Contribu tions are made to KAR in recognition of the honoree's achievement(s).
More about this special program is available here. Recent memorial and honorarium gifts will also be posted to the KAR website.
A Loving Tribute to Bert
By Don O.
My wife and I met "Herbert" the Beagle at the Kalamazoo Humane Society's Dog Walk in 2009. He was about 12 years old and was on an outing from Animal Services, where he had been left as a stray. He seemed to be a very sweet guy, but we knew at his age nobody was likely to adopt him. It was like looking at a dog we knew was soon going to die, and we didn't want to leave him to that fate.Through our many years with KAR we had worked closely with Dusty and knew of her big heart and many animal-friendly connections. We told Dusty about this Beagle, knowing that he had a much better chance of finding a permanent home through her than if he was left at Animal Services. Dusty went to visit him and evaluate his adoptability. As a result she sprung him from the confines of the shelter and made him a KAR foster dog.
So naturally we went to see him and ended up adopting him near Labor Day. We always thought of Labor Day as his birthday.
Bert’s teeth were really bad and he had most of them pulled, but that never slowed his lust for food. And without the pain some of those teeth had been causing he perked up from a dog that just laid around to one who sometimes liked to chase balls, and always loved going for walks.
Bert had all the typical Beagle Quirks. He didn't like being left alone and he was very vocal about it. People knew when we were gone because they could hear him howling across the yard (fortunately our neighbors are family). He was also great at getting in the garbage and hiding cat cans in his bed, licked clean of every scrap of cat food.
We spent four happy years together running the streets and fields of our little town of Scotts. Eventually his walking slowed down and his Beagle Appetite went downhill too. He just got old and couldn't go on any further. Our time together was short but fun. We didn't want to leave him when we met and we still haven't. We had him cremated and still have him with us.
When I wrote Dusty to let her know Bert was gone, I mentioned we would eventually like to adopt another older dog. Probably in the spring. Probably another Beagle. Her response? She was fostering another Beagle that would likely still be there in the spring. When we saw her picture she looked so much like Bert that we couldn’t resist going to visit her. Long story short, Molly the Beagle found her forever home with us last October.
Check out the loving tribute to Gabby on our Blog.
