Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Paws for a Cause with Jan Scarbrough




I have this habit of rescuing dogs and cats. You can call me a foster failure because the only time I tried fostering, the dog stayed.

Being a romance writer, I often put bits of my real world into my books by adding my family pets.

In Kentucky Flame, I created a white English setter named Major after a dog I had rescued as a puppy from the Humane Society. The real dog, Flops, shared my life and my children’s lives for fifteen years. What better way to memorialize a faithful friend?

Kentucky Cowboy contains two of my former cats. Ginger, a tortoiseshell cat with a peculiar stripe down the bridge of her nose, was in real life Gloria, the cat my daughter brought home from college one Thanksgiving. My husband’s cat Jester also stars in the book as Joker, the hero’s black cat. Our late Border collie, Binky, was my inspiration for the heroine’s pet dog. For Kentucky Woman, I borrowed my daughter’s orange tabby, and I gave the heroine’s son a big, bronze-colored fuzzy dog inspired by my current rescue, Red, who by the way was my foster failure.

When I wrote Santa’s Kiss, I had fun giving the heroine a traveling companion named Little Bits who is the carbon copy of Lenny, my comical Pembroke Welsh Corgi. My upcoming release Kentucky Rain stars Folly, a fluffy calico cat. For the first time I used my real cat’s name for the name of the cat in the book.

Never kill a cat in a romance novel. I broke the rule when I wrote Tangled Memories! I’m pleased to report the gray cat Munster that met a sudden death in the book is really a domestic long-haired cat named Bugsy. This former blue ribbon winner lived to the grand old age of nineteen. But I’ll never kill another cat in a book again!

The animals I have rescued have enriched my life in many ways. I am happy to give them a little piece of immortality in the pages of my books.

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Paws With A Cause® enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities nationally through custom-trained Assistance Dogs. 
PAWS® increases awareness of the rights and roles of Assistance Dog teams through education and advocacy.  Founded in 1979, Paws With A Cause is dedicated to helping its clients who are challenged by many disabilities, such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Seizure Disorders, and Hearing Disorders to name just some.  Each of our dogs are trained to meet the specific needs of our clients. Tasks may include opening and closing doors, picking up objects, pulling a wheelchair, turning lights on and off, and alerting a person to particular sounds like a telephone, doorbell, smoke detector and many others. Our dogs change lives by enhancing the independence of our clients. By just opening a door, a dog opens up the world for a person with a disability and your donations will go to making that happen.  PAWS thanks you so much for your donation and allowing us to open more doors.
Paws With A Cause
4646 South Division
Wayland, MI 49348

How to donate:
2. Click on "Make a Donation"
3. Enter a amount you wish to donate. Everibbon will add a small fee to your donation for processing. My fee for donating $5.00 was .49 cents. So keep this in mind when deciding your donation amount. You will receive 1 entry into the giveaway for every $1 you donate.  
4. In the box that says "on the behalf of" please put your name. This is the name that will be listed on the everibbon website so put a name you do not mind being visible to everyone. Do not check the box to make a anonymous donation because I will not be able to track your donation to enter you into the giveaways.
5. Next it will ask you for your credit or debit card information. 
6. Then it will ask for your email address to send you a receipt. This is so that you can submit it for tax purposes.
7. Ta Da! Your all done making your donation. Now you need to contact Danielle to enter the giveaway.
8. Please email Danielle at RomanceBookJunkiesDanielle@Yahoo.com with the name you used to donate your money. For example the name I used to donate on behalf of was Romance Book Junkies. Do not send me your name off your credit or debit card because I will not be able to see this. Along with the name you used please tell me how much you donated and if you live in the US or are International.
9. Your all done. Thank you for donating! 

Warning: Do not try to email Danielle the name and donation amount of another person that is not yourself. If Danielle recieves more than one email with the same persons name and donation amount she will have to ask for your copy of the receipt from everibbon to verify that you are the correct winner. Thank you.

We will have 3 winners for the main giveaway.
We have 2 $65 gift certificates to any online book store.
Also we have a huge box of books and swag from Romance Book Junkies for US residents only.

Good luck to all and thank you for helping make this fundraiser a success.  

1 comment:

Debby said...

My husband was a dog handler for the state police. They were amazing dogs.
debby236 at gmail dot com