This year marks our 13th year hosting an annual picnic. And, each year they have turned out to be a very memorable event. The 2016 event promises to be equally memorable. The event will be returning on September 10th from noon until 5:00 PM to Loree and Mike McKinney's house at 891 Jane Avenue in Chesterton, Indiana 46307, for the first time since 2013.

American Greyhound will again be providing the hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken. We'll need attendees whose last name begins with the letters A-L to bring a side dish and those whose last name begins with the letters M-Z to bring a dessert.

Also, we'd like to ask each attendee to bring along some treats which we will donate to TGIE, our prison training program (take a look at the earlier article in this month's newsletter about the TGIE program and what a wonderful impact it makes on our hounds and the men who care for and train them). Every year for the last four years we've asked for these donations and you have come through with a trailer load of treats to help this wonderful program. And, every year when we deliver the treats you have donated, we receive heartfelt thanks from the program. And, having seen how this program affects not only our hounds, but also the men care for and train our hounds, I can attest to what a wonderful  impact your help makes with the program.

There will be a large yard for your hound to run (all dogs entering the yard will need to be muzzled for safety, if you have no muzzle, there will be muzzles available for purchase at the picnic).

We'll have the American Greyhound store on site for purchase of t-shirts, as well as a number of other vendors (we'll update you as the picnic draws closer on a lineup of vendors onsite). There will be the usual contests (again, we'll keep you appraised of the different contests we have planned). There will be 50/50 raffles going on most of the day. And, of course, we'll have our annual silent auction taking place (if you have items you'd like to donate, please contact Nicole Roth at [email protected] or (708)828-6810).

Lorre McKinney, our picnic chairperson, can still use some volunteers to help pull this eventtogether. If you can help Loree and her crew with setting up, running or cleaning up the picnic, pleasegive her a ring at (219-241-5051 or drop her an email at [email protected]. Your help can really helpmake the picnic another one to remember.

 Thanks to a random encounter with some folks from the Humane society of the Calumet area, American Greyhound has been offered an opportunity to participate in an exciting event occurring at a number of Strack and VanTil grocery stores in the Northwest Indiana area. During the weekend of August 19-21, American Greyhound will be participating in a tag day event at the Strack and VanTil located at 2168 West US Highway 30, Valparaiso, Indiana 46383.

To take full advantage of this opportunity, we need your help! We need people who can come out, with their hounds (or we can provide you a dog for you to bring out) and staff our table at the store. We'll be soliciting donations, providing information about retired racers as pets. We need to have people in front of the store from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM each day. Currently, our greatest need is on Friday, August 19th , but we can use your help on all three days.

Also, as Strack and VanTil is hosting and actively promoting this event, they will be offering for sale to shoppers, pre-bagged items which, when purchased will be donated to the rescue organizations participating for use in their efforts to make life better for companion animals who need a break.

As we said, this is a terrific opportunity to not only raise funds for our operation, but to spread the word about greyhounds as pets. If you can help us make the most of this event or have any questions, contact Jeff Coggins at [email protected] or at (219)771-0892.