Thank You to all from Theresa Manzella
and Willing Servants, Inc.

The Able Days Auction was a wonderful success thanks to the hard work of a lot of volunteers offering their individual skills and a lot of people who were willing to give up some prize possessions as donations, knowing that the money would go to a good cause.

We took in over $10,000 which was then split between 3 organizations.  The distribution of the funds was the hardest decision to make as some people had strong feelings about where their money should go. So after a lot of prayer and discussion, it was decided that purchasers would make their own decision about where they wanted their money go.  Many took it upon themselves to write multiple checks. Willing Servants, Inc designed to stand in the gap between horse owners in “dire straights” and criminal neglect, took in $6,266.50.  I’ll be sharing more details about our plans over the next few days. The Bitter Root Humane Association received $1955.50 and the Pet Protection Program whose mission is to hire a full time Animal Control Officer with the funds raised from the Dog Licensing program, received $1657.50. Peg Platt and Barb Ormiston were on site to license our dogs and were well supported by our auction goers.  Keep fighting the good fight ladies.    

We have a long list of very sincere Thank Yous to offer. The first one goes to Cliff Trexler and Rick Peverely for offering their light hearted auctioneering skills and Rick for his equipment.  They made it fun to spend our money!  Tabitha Banner was the clerk and did a fabulous job.  Benny Schultes was a great ring man.  Big thanks to Shannon Alexander who was “full speed ahead” from the beginning of the plan, collecting donations and keeping me focused as obstacles arose.  Also Kim Dornan designed, circulated and bought the beautiful Auction posters and gave at least four complete days of her life collecting donations and arranging the set up of the auction.  Linda Dobbins also graciously gave 2 days of her life for the cause. Allegra Printing gave us a really good deal on the posters. Kathy Luedtke, whose personal mission is to get stiffer penalties for offenders, was on site to let people know how we go about making that happen. Alan and Jesse Applebury of Fox Hollow Animal Project gave up a  Saturday to provide the rabies vaccinations and gave 100% of the proceeds back to Able Days as well as giving 5 low cost spay and neuter certificates. The MT Companion Animal Network (www.MTCAN.org) and The Mobile Pet Adoption Center were also on site. They have a super talented and efficient Webmaster in Carrie Storrow and have agreed to display pictures and descriptions of any horses in need of homes on our (Willing Servants) behalf. Their web site is a wonderful resource. The Western Montana Paint Horse Club had a bake sale with wonderful homemade goodies and donated all the proceeds back to the Able Days cause. Quality Supply and Lakeland Feed helped out by being drop sites for us and also provided us with valuable signage.  S & S Auto Body and First Interstate Bank promoted our event through their sign boards.  I need to thank my dear husband, Kenny, for not divorcing me for neglect while this project took over my life for a few weeks.  We want to give a special thank you to Andy the Termite, our biggest donor, giving 4 cords of wood and $500 worth of tree trimming.  Our biggest buyer was a lovely lady named Bonnie Flagg who inspired us by making the trip down from Kalispell in spite of fighting cancer, because she had to be a part of helping the horses.  I want to personally thank attorneys Doug Robinson and his wife, Julia Sullivan and John & Molly Greef for providing wise counsel in my hour of need and keeping me on the straight and narrow.  I couldn’t have afforded to pay for their legal expertise, but they offered it freely for their own personal love of the horse.  Kim Marthens took on the big project of handling the silent auction and did a great job.  Sandy Bollenger stepped up to be our cashier with little notice and did a fantastic job.

We want to thank Dawn Merrill and Q DeHart for without their efforts and compassion, none of this would have been possible.  God Bless you ladies. And there were many, many more people who played parts in the success of the auction, some of whom I never even got to meet.  Thank you all so very much.  Thanks to every single bidder and buyer, without you, there would be no need to write this!  And last but certainly not least… Thank You to our poster child, Able, for inspiring us all with his “never give up” attitude.  He definitely epitomizes the heart of a warrior and a servant’s spirit.   

 Horse Hugs to all!

Theresa Manzella