PAWS Gala 2023: A Night of Puppies and Possibilities

On Saturday, October 21^st, CWM was a proud sponsor of the 56^th annual PAWS (The Progressive Animal Welfare Society) Wild Night gala and auction! We were excited to immerse ourselves in the PAWS mission, celebrate their successes, play with wiggly puppies in the CWM sponsored puppy pen, and learn about the important work to be done.

The gala welcomed over 400 guests and raised more than $630,000 in a frenzied and fun auction led by local celebrities John Curley (KIRO radio) and Monique Ming Laven (KIRO 7 Evening News)!

What began as a single spay-and-neuter clinic in 1967 has evolved into two companion animal shelters – one on PAWS’ main Lynnwood campus and another in Seattle’s University District – and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation services. Since opening, PAWS has helped over 130,000 homeless cats and dogs find loving homes throughout the region. Today, the shelters also continue to offer low-income spay and neuter services; reunite stray and lost pets with their people; and provide a safe space for injured or homeless animals to heal and find their forever homes.

In addition to companion animal services, PAWS serves at the region’s only comprehensive wildlife rehabilitation center. Over four decades, the PAWS Wildlife Center has rapidly grown to rehabilitate more than 140,000 orphaned and injured wildlife – so much so that their existing facilities can no longer accommodate the scope and scale of care that wildlife require. In early 2020, the organization kicked off construction of the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital on its new 25-acre property in Snohomish, where wild animals will be able to recover in a spacious, safe, and quiet rural setting.

CWM’s relationship with PAWS began over a dozen years ago when the team began to participate in the annual PAWSwalk: Exercise Your Heart for Animals. Since 2018, the CWM team has raised nearly $80,000 in honor of our colleague Linda McCormack to sponsor an adoption suite in her memory. If you’d like to support our efforts, you can make a donation here.

The CWM Team truly admires and appreciates the work PAWS does for all animals and is honored to be a part of their story.