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EskieFriends - History

In the summer of 1999, Pat Cassel started something small.....and that something has become much more than that since then! She ran a simple "online auction" to help a needy eskie out. This first auction was actually a combined Eskie/Keeshond effort and raised well over $700! John Tewksbury(PeskiPix) hosted the page(yes, a single page back then!) on his site space. A sad event took place during the auction...Pat lost her beloved Kody(Keeshond), and though it was hard, she finished the auction out with dignity. The fundraisers have been full of bittersweet tales....we help out in cases, but we see the dark days of lives as well. It's the mere hope that we indeed can "give life a second chance" in many cases that keeps us going. This was just the beginning...

Interestingly...at the same time, other events were unfolding elsewhere on the 'net that would be important too. Michael(aka UnkleMunky...who actually DOES  have a last name, but doesn't choose to use it online), had recently opened up his own site at "www.eskie.net". He'd gotten ahold of the domain earlier and had finally prepared his site for a grand opening in the summer of  '99. The site featured an entire section for eskie-related stuff..."Eskie Central" as he dubbed it. He'd noticed the auction Pat was running at the time and was impressed with how well the effort went over! In discussions with John shortly after the first auction, John told Michael that he wouldn't be able to host any future auctions on his site(due to space/time, etc. reasons). Sooo....not knowing what he was getting himself into, Michael wrote to Pat and offered to host(and do the site work for) the auctions starting with the next one. Pat took him up on the offer(she's said it was all perfect timing as she wasn't sure what she was going to do for a host after the first one). In setting things up, Michael opted for the name "Auctions for the Eskies" for the fundraisers so that it would be clear the fundraisers were FOR the eskies! John even offered an image of Fang for the logo Michael was working on for the new site.....which remained until February 2001 when the site moved to its own domain. And....that's the second chapter in this story!

In the August '99 Auction(for Jenny), the slogan "Giving Life a Second Chance" was coined, and has become our theme for our fundraisers. Michael continued to expand and improve the auction site and nagivation...attempting to make it better with each fundraiser. It grew a LOT! Before the end of 1999, three more important events would take place in our history. We held a fundraiser that helped out Kaiser, a dog Jill and Rick Boardman had adopted. Jill has since become our "treasurer" of auction funds.....she liked it so much she joined our circus(remember, Jill...this is FUN!!!!). She recently sent some pics of Kaiser to me and he's sure looking great! It may not have seemed like an extraordinary fundraiser that fall, but it's brought Jill onboard and helped out a LOT! Plus, we're glad Kaiser's doing so well! Second....we expanded out into doing "raffles" and not just auctions for fundraisers. Third....we looked beyond those darling little eskie faces and helped out an "honorary eskie"....Suki the Maltese in December. These events widened our vision and scope of the fundraisers as well as enabled us to handle more on a regular basis.

In January 2000, we held our first "RescuER" auction. No....we weren't auctioning off Rescuers.....but rather holding an auction to HELP the rescuers that chose to participate. An interesting "Bring Your Own Donations" concept was developed for this and each group was able to raise funds from their own donations as well as receive a portion of the general section items up during the auction. We were up to 123 items in this auction...our most up to that point! Since we've been "winging it" much of the time, we actually can be impressed with how things went. For instance.....with our "2nd" RescuER auction in February 2001 we kept VERY close to the same approach and guidelines for the auction. Likewise, from early 2000 to late 2000, there were very few changes to the site and efforts....just continuing cases of need! We did have a special fundraiser in the summer of 2000 with the Just Julie eskie sketch effort. This was a unique and exciting fundraiser.

By late 2000, things were still pretty much as they were earlier in the year, but some things were changing behind the scenes. Pat and Michael had discussed a "domain" for the fundraisers a few times and though nothing was settled, Pat pretty much told Michael that she'd be fine with a domain...as long as he does all the work for it. A few names were tossed around and there seemed to be one that fit best. As a first step in the direction for a domain, we started a "mailing list". This was not to be a discussion list, but rather an announcement list...one where we could announce events(past/present/future) as well as nightly posts for the updates during fundraisers. This would allow us to streamline our sendout of messages and, in time, reduce duplication of notices. The name chosen for the list was "EskieFriends"! Michael was searching here and there that fall for the proper hosting and other issues involving a move to a new domain. After some discussion, a "break" was decided upon by both Pat and Michael. After our late November auction, we planned a 2 month hiatus. NO fundraisers for December or January. (We left it open for emergency cases though....but didn't have to come out of hibernation for that). We'd been going pretty much non-stop since July '99 and raised over $22,000 in that time. There was a lot to be proud of, but a "recess" was in order....we ALL needed it!

Mind you, though there was a "recess" it didn't necessarily mean we weren't busy! We all had other things that we still had to work on, plus, we had upcoming fundraisers to work on already...just at a little more relaxed pace for a bit. Pat was busy arranging the February raffle and auction, and Michael....besides discovering that whoever develops printer drivers as of late must be either really mean and evil or just plain stupid and ignorant, was preparing "new" things for the fundraisers. Mostly this included a new domain(Eskiefriends.com), but this also includes a makeover of the site, moving things over and getting everything setup in the new environment. The new site wasn't "quite" ready for the opening of the raffle, so it was posted on the old pages. BUT....the new site WAS ready for the RescuER auction, and....that's where we are at the time of this writing.

We are now focused on not only helping "eskies" but any pet in dire need. We, of course, will always keep eskies front and center, but we're not going to turn a deaf ear to others in need if the circumstances arise. We will continue to help as many eskies(and other friends when need be) as we can.....afterall.....our slogan is as important as ever....it's why we're here and why we keep at this! We believe in the care of the animals God has put here for our service and companionship! This is why we believe that EVERY animal should have a loving home, and why we'll continue our efforts to help those in need.....as always....Giving Life a Second Chance!

Below are merely the email contacts for Pat and Michael....contact Pat on general or case issues regarding the fundraisers. Contact Michael for any site/domain related issues....comments/questions, whatever....feel free to drop us a line!.

Pat: pcassel@pa.net |

Michael: unklemunky@eskie.net |

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