Frozen Fundraiser

I ran the Charm City Reptile and Amphibian Rescue for 14 years (no longer in operation). 

At the beginning of 2003, I decided to have a fundraiser for the rescue. My friend Brian, a homicide detective by day and DJ Flyin’ Brian by night, volunteered to be the DJ for the event. He had a friend of a friend who played for the professional MISL team in Baltimore, the Blast. PJ Wakefield, the Blast player, came to the event. He was my guest bartender and was awesome. 

I sent out press releases a couple of weeks ahead of time and on the morning of the event, I had a radio interview in Annapolis, MD at the progressive music station. What a great place! WRNR is “above the general store” in downtown Annapolis. That’s what they say on their radio ads. And it’s the absolute truth. 

The weather did not cooperate. Baltimore is tricky in winter, you just never know. The wind chill factor during the day was -17° F. The day kicked off to an awesome start. The radio guy, and sorry, I can’t remember his name right now, told me specifically NOT to be early. Unbeknownst to me, I couldn’t get into the radio station until the general store opened! I needed to go through the store to get to the stairs that led up to the station. The DJ was amazing. He played the song “Reptile” by The Church in my honor. 

Before I left my house, I thought it was unseasonably cold inside, but I chalked it up to the unbearable temperatures outside.

I came home from the interview to find that my furnace had died. I called everywhere. No one could come that day. Of course, I wasn’t the only one whose furnace died on the coldest day of the year. 

I went with my last resort, the stoned plumber. I called him the stoned plumber because he always smelled like weed and looked stoned. He had done a few small plumbing jobs for me over the years. Every single time, I had to call him back because he forgot to do something. It was probably due to his lack of short-term memory, but that’s just a guess. Oddly enough, he was available that day.

He came over and started working on installing a new furnace. I arranged for someone to come over and stay while I went to the fundraiser. I had to go since it was my event. 

Reptiles, for the most part, need a warm environment to survive. I had electric, oil-filled space heaters in my animal rooms. Some even had heating pads under the tanks and heat lamps as well.

What a nightmare! My poor greyhound was shivering when I left to go to the event. My cousin brought over an electric space heater. A friend also brought one over.

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came to support the rescue because it was horribly cold that day. A friend of mine was surprised to see her priest in attendance. I didn’t know him, but he was a friend of one of my volunteers. 

The music got everyone in a giving mood. We had a 50/50 raffle. The winner donated her winnings back to our rescue. PJ Wakefield donated his tips received from bartending that night.

I put my heart and soul into the rescue. It was a good feeling when people supported us, especially those whom I didn’t even know.

The day was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. At the end of the night I was able to come home to a warm house.

The best news was, we raised close to $1,000 with the fundraiser. All of the proceeds went to the care, feeding and medical needs of the animals.

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Read more by Holli Friedland.