the Blogathon.

Meet Natalie.

This Saturday, November 13th, I’ll be blogging for 24 hours straight as a wild fundraising stunt* to raise money for 14 year old Natalie’s campaign to receive a specially trained service dog.

I’m going to ask you to donate money & I hereby promise the following in return:

Giveaways (and not just Fetching Tags.  We’ve got stuff from Paco Collars & Molly Mutt dog duvets  as well as treats from Joy Biscuits & MaSnax.)

Guest Bloggers (You’ll just love what they have to say.)

Entertainment (We’ll provide good old, down home, farm fresh fun just for you.)

Giving Incentives (We’ll do silly things to make you laugh, but we’ll also match your giving with donations of our own.)

Natalie Morgan’s future canine partner will come from an organization called 4 Paws for Ability.    You can read their full mission statement here, but here’s one of our favorite parts:  Assist with animal rescue whenever possible by obtaining many of our animals from shelters and rescue groups

If you’ve hung out here for a while, you may remember Jingle, who was our soft & furry intro to the 4 paws organization.

Here’s a bit about the star of our fundraiser, Natalie,  from the 4 Paws for Ability site:

Natalie is 14 years old and she always has a smile. She was born at 26 weeks and spent 72 days in the hospital. Natalie has Cerebral Palsy and is a spastic Quadupelegia…meaning all four limbs are involved. All of her muscles have minds of their own, as she puts it. She had a heart murmur that she has grown out of and eye problems that made her cry a lot while she was a baby.

She started early intervention at nine months for her different therapies (occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech) for global and developmental delays. Natalie didn’t talk until after she was four and now, says her mother, she hasn’t stopped. She didn’t sit up until she was between four and five, and rolling came shortly after. A Mobility Service Dog from 4 Paws for Ability will be a tremendous help in everyday life for this sweet young woman.

*Dr. V at Pawcurious started this whole 24 hour thing and actually ate canned dog food on camera during her inaurgural blogathon last year. I’m not sure how she did it, but this year she talked me & six other bloggers into joining her.  Joining her in blogging – I’m not eating canned dog food.