Spay clinic dinner sets goal of $20,000

Fund-raiser to aid pet neutering

9/3/2014

Humane Ohio’s upcoming spaghetti dinner fund-raiser will be missing two key ingredients — traditional spaghetti and meatballs — but that’s the point.

Northwest Ohio’s low-cost spay/​neuter clinic will hold its third Spay-ghetti and No Balls dinner and silent auction Sunday, Sept. 14. The proceeds from the $30 tickets, which must be purchased by Monday, will help the clinic perform more spay and neuter surgeries to reduce the population of cats and dogs in the area.

Kristy Kissoff, the organization’s director of development and marketing, said the clinic hopes to raise $20,000.

“We’re on track to do the most spay/​neuter surgeries we’ve ever done, and associated with that comes higher costs,” she said. “Every year, it’s getting higher.”

Through August, the clinic has performed 9,315 surgeries, nearly 1,100 more than during the same period in 2014. The clinic has broken records almost every year except in 2012, when the organization was without a full-time veterinarian for a few months after Dr. Kelly Ann Rada died.

“We’re constantly reaching newer and bigger goals,” Ms. Kissoff said. “The community definitely needs that to happen as well.”

This year, the clinic hopes to perform 13,500 surgeries, about 1,000 more than the 12,577 in 2013.

The event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at Holiday Inn Perrysburg-French Quarter, and dinner guests can choose from four pasta dishes created by Executive Chef Jeremy Harris to be served with salad, garlic knots, and cupcakes.

“I really think the pasta choices are going to be a good fit,” Sidney Browning, event coordinator, said. “They’re very creative and delicious.”

The dishes are herb fettuccini alfredo, sun-dried tomato and gorgonzola ravioli florentine, linguine aglio e olio, and spaghetti stand-in radiatore arrabbiati with vegetables and slightly spicy tomato sauce.

The event will feature a silent auction of more than 100 items, games, prizes, and a photo booth.

The auction will include signed celebrity photos of Betty White, Bob Barker, and John Travolta, as well as a four-pack of park-hopper passes to Disney World and golf at The Legacy Golf Club in Ottawa Lake.

Last year’s event raised $15,000.

To buy tickets, visit humaneohio.org or call 419-266-5607, ext. 113.

Contact Alexandra Mester at: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.