By Heather Buchanan

The Unconditional Love Cocktail Party held on Saturday at the gorgeous Southampton Lake Agawam home of Ellen & Chuck Scarborough to benefit the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation proved that the dog days of summer in Southampton can be the very best.   The evening honored Karen LeFrak for her humanitarian contribution to the animal world.

Host Chuck Scarborough told us, “It’s a great story.  The shelter was going to be closed two years ago due to budget reasons.  Three women raised funds privately and turned it around.  There is now a 96% successful adoption rate which is extraordinary.  Here in our house my wife and I have adopted animals, and we are delighted to help raise money for the Shelter.”

The event also had the support of other key NBC talent namely Sarah Gore who served as the evening’s MC and Jeff Rossen. 

Yet it was hard to upstage the real stars of the show — the dogs and cats who paraded with their adorable “Looking for love – adopt me” vests.  (Wonder if those come in a woman’s size 6?)

Matt Valentino who is a trainer at the shelter explains all the work which goes into getting a pet ready for adoption, “At the shelter we evaluate the dogs and train them and play with them and work on their behavior.”  He showed us Diamond who he described as “a total sweetheart.”  Diamond is a three year old pit bull who was shot and went through physical therapy to be able to enjoy her new three legged life.  These are the sorts of stories which make you find out if your mascara is really waterproof.  (Answer no but I had tissue handy.)

 

 

 

New SASF Executive Director Ed Fritz, who came from such well respected shelters as Best Friends and Dog Town, stated how impressed he was with the shelter, “This is a model for the country in the animal shelter industry which is unprecedented.  I’m honored to be a part of it.”  We were impressed with all the loving volunteers who brought around the adoptive pets and the well “heel-ed” crowd which came out to support the fundraiser.

 

Honoree Karen Le Frak summed it up, “Our animals really are our best friends.”

Okay – as many of you sweet dogs can fit in the back of the Honda, let’s go.

The online auction to raise money is still going on until August 1^st  managed by Charity Buzz which has amazing items from travel to chef dinners to pet portraits and VIP event passes or a special Best Friend custom paw print necklace from Jill Brody of Jill Lynn & Co. in Southampton.

http://www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/sasf/catalog_items

Along with pet adoption the shelter offers low-cost spay/neuter in their clinic and dog obedience classes.

To find out more or contribute to the shelter call 631-728-7837 or info@sasfinc.org