Jerry Kruse, owner of The Pour Guys bartending service, visits with a cute canine guest.
Talk about a successful — and fun! — charity event. Cause for Paws, the signature fundraiser for Young-Williams Animal Center, had it all: a beautiful venue, creative decorations, great food and drink, music, dancing, a SHORT auction — and animals! This was the eighth year for the party, which this year raised more than $125,000 for the official animal shelter of Knoxville and Knox County.
The focus of this year’s event was funding the organization’s Animal Compassion Fund, which provides money to pay to treat animals with medical conditions or behavioral problems that would otherwise cause them to be unadoptable.
The Compassion Fund pays for medical equipment and treatment as well as providing foster homes for the pets while they heal. Once restored to health, these special animals can be placed on Young-Williams’ adoption floor to find their new forever homes.
Cause for Paws was held at the Knoxville Museum of Art and it was a beautiful evening which allowed guests to mingle on the inside and outside of the pink marble landmark.
First things first: cocktails outside under a big tent.
Or, there also was plenty of room outside the tent on this lovely November night.
Under the tent, from left, Kevin and Maria McHale, Hancen Sale and Gay Lyons.
Chastedy Johnson and Justin Young.
Penny Lynch and Kimbro Maguire.
Ha! Cute decoration on the bar.
Great to see friends from Covenant Health! From left, Patrick Birmingham, Luke and Laura Johnson, and Susan and Doug Campbell. The guys are Covenant execs.
From left, Steven Frampton, Mark Grayson and Madge Cleveland.
King and Denise Purnell. He is chair of the Young-Williams board of directors.
Brenda and Robert Madigan.
When we were called to go inside, we passed this adorable topiary! Ha.
The tables were beautiful.
Check out the salads!
Caterer Holly Hambright. A good person to see at an event!
Before we took our seats, we went to a special side room where there were some adoptable animals. Here’s volunteer Deidre Randles with a cute kitten.
Mia and Zoe were two of the 40 beagles that came to Young-Williams as a result of the huge rescue from a mass breeding facility in Virginia.
Inside the KMA’s Great Hall, Rick Stone and Angela Howard.
I love that so many elegant events happen beneath artist Richard Jolley’s slighty naughty “Cycle of Life” installation!
Hope and Scott Davis. He startled me by sneaking up on me. “You scared me!” I exclaimed. “He scares me every day!” she laughed!
From left, Steve and Kenley Early with Dino Cartwright.
Two of our wonderful table mates, Betsy Hill, left, and her mother, Marci Walker.
Bob and Julie McClellan.
Craig Shelton and Mary Ellen Brewington.
Eric Botts and Kat Savelli-Botts.
Janet Testerman, CEO of Young-Williams, left, with Gay Lyons.
Dinner was served family style: stuffed pork loin with greens, baked butternut and acorn squash with sage and dried cranberries, and French onion gnocchi with Gruyere and walnuts. Delish.
The “Chocolate Oblivion” tortes were very appropriate for dessert.
Covenant Health CEO Jim VanderSteeg and Deana Sanabria who is married to Covenant Health board member Jorgé Sanabria.
Sharon Moore, left, and Kristin Grove.
From left, Jimmy and Muffet Buckner with her mother, Janet Crossley.
Whitfield and Brittany Bailey.
And then it was auction time! Dino Cartwright did the honors.
Rick Stone, another of our table mates, was a happy bidder.
Dino using his powers of persuasion on Ami Patel!
Here’s Dobby, one of the recent beneficiaries of the Compassion Fund. See her story on the video at the top of this page.
See what I mean about a party with everything? We didn’t mind at all being parted from a good chunk of our change for such a good cause.
Friends at the end of a wonderful night. From left, Cliff and Jacque Hawks, Lauren Miller, Maria McHale, Janet Testerman, Alan Carmichael and Gay Lyons.
Want to see some dancing?
Love the clogging!!! ❤️
Me, too!
What a fun night! Good food, good friends, good music, and many special touches–all for a good cause.
Gay: Absolutely one of the best fundraisers of the year!
Did Dobby get adopted?
Hi Tissi – she did get adopted from one of our YW team members who actually fostered her during her recovery. Both incredibly happy!
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