BY HILLARY VIDERS
SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
TENAFLY, N.J.—People are not kidding when they say, “It’s a dog’s life!”
Whether abandoned, lost, or brutally mistreated, up to 12
million companion animals enter animal shelters in the U.S. every year, and 5 to 9 million wind up euthanized (60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats).
Start II and Bergen County Animal Shelter are two animal rescue centers in New Jersey that work to prevent this from happening. These organizations promote humane treatment of all animals and encourage adoptions.
To help support their mission, Start II and Bergen County Animal Shelter host fundraising events such as an annual garage sale. This year’s garage sale was held March 2 at the Tenafly Elks Lodge on Franklin Avenue. The Tenafly Elks #2271 rented their lodge for the event that brought people from several towns.
“We are doing this in memory of our Elk member Geraldine Scala, who passed away in October,” said the Elks’ spokeswoman Evelyn Sanchez. “Geraldine was a great animal lover and she worked with both of these animal shelters.”
Shoppers and Elks from Tenafly and neighboring towns were at the garage sale on Saturday as well as Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Two rooms of the lodge were filled with items that had been donated by Start II and Bergen County Animal Shelter, and there were plenty of bargains to be found in clothing and shoes for women, men and children, games, souvenirs, housewares and china, and lots of stuffed animals.
The event had numerous volunteers, including the Elk’s Exalted Ruler Maureen Ray, Esteemed Loyal Knight and Elk of the Year Tony Bianco, and Elks’ Esteemed Lecturing Knight Barbara Moscone.
Joining them were Rosa Saccomanno from Start II and Pam Flora from Bergen County Animal Shelter.
Bianco loves pets.
“I have three cats, so I appreciate this effort. Every dollar that we raise goes to the charities,” he said. “But, having a garage sale in March is difficult because of the weather.”
The ground was covered with several inches of snow and slush from a storm the previous night.
“Last year, we had the sale outdoors at a home in Bergenfield and it brought in a lot of people and a lot of money,” he added.
Saccomanno from Start II said, “Since we’ve had this annual garage sale which began six years ago, we’ve raised thousands of dollars!”