2015 Gala Honors Three Heroes Among Us and Raises $96,000 for Perry’s Place

At this year’s Heroes Among Us gala, 200 guests joined together at The Garland to celebrate our lifesaving mission and honor three unsung heroes in Los Angeles animal rescue.

In order to provide comprehensive Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) support for community cats, Mark Dodge and Karn Myers founded Best Friends Catnippers in 2000 and then FixNation in 2007. Christi Metropole was similarly inspired in 2000 to establish Stray Cat Alliance, for whom she has served as executive director ever since. The collective efforts of Mark, Karn and Christi in the past 15 years have resulted in saving thousands of lives and the spaying or neutering of more than 225,000 cats!

gary-moore-garth-kemp KLOS radio personality Gary Moore served as master of ceremonies and spoke movingly about his personal connection to Heaven on Earth through the two cats he and his fiancée adopted last year.

Long time TV weatherman Garth Kemp presided with humor and enthusiasm over the pledge auction, which met its goal of raising $24,000. The auction’s proceeds will ensure that the hundreds of kittens and their moms who are saved and brought into our maternity ward during the coming year will have all the food, care and love they need while on their journey to finding forever homes.

The event also featured musical entertainment by the Rich Ruttenberg Trio and a stirring solo performance by Jennifer Parsignault of a song she wrote – Broken – about the challenges faced by stray and community cats. In addition, there were two compelling videos about our work and video tributes to the honorees, produced by Matt Vance and Dusty Stiles. Once again this year, Your Great Event provided outstanding planning and management of the event.

All $96,000 in net proceeds from the gala will be put to work to care for the cats of Perry’s Place, the Perry MacFarlane Sanctuary. The support of our corporate sponsors, foundation friends and individual donors keeps these cats and kittens alive and thriving.

We extend heartfelt thanks to all our sponsors for being an important part of our Heaven on Earth family. By raising more than 20% of our annual budget, the gala has been instrumental in enabling Heaven on Earth’s dramatic growth in the past four years. Through our lifesaving sanctuary, our adoptions program and our SpayShip spay/neuter transport service, we expect to touch the lives of more than 1,400 cats this year.

We salute all the members of our Heaven on Earth family who have helped further our mission as sponsors, donors, or volunteers, including the hard-working members of the Gala Steering Committee: Chairman Bill Crowe; Andie Burke; Pamela Geisel; Ritchie Geisel; Emma Lemcke; Suzanne Lofland; Rachael MacFarlane; Lisa Medwid; Jennifer Parsignault; Laura Thompson; and Matt Vance.