Tracy Santos: Wait 'til next year
The 2008 Maryland SPCA March for the Animals raked in $375,000 -- $7,693.15 of it raised by Tracy Santos and her pack of walkers known as the "Baltimore Bark Brigade."
Santos, a breast cancer patient who organized her friends and made raising $10,000 for the dogs her personal goal, was among those who walked for miles -- many of them in the rain -- this past Sunday.
SPCA director Aileen Gabbey said that the total amount raised was a record for the march, which is the organization's chief fundraising effort of the year. The SPCA receives no government funding.
Neither, really, does Tracy Santos, who works at a local animal hospital and has a husband in the military.
Here's an update from Tracy:
I finally found out the results of the March. We did not win the top pack prize......nor did we reach our goal of $10,000, However, we did a great job! We raised $7693.15 for the MDSPCA! Wow!
While it is a little disappointing that we lost and didn't make our goal, it is so rewarding to know that we raised nearly $7700. My team did a great job and I am proud of that. I know that we really worked hard. We are all really motivated to go even bigger next year.....our new goal for 2009: $20,000. And you know, I think we'll make it.
I do know this, we were the first pack to sign up and we set our goal high at $10,000. I feel like that motivated the other packs to do better, it was sort of a challenge to them. So no matter how you look at it we really did win in the end ...
It was a great day, even with the rain. And I just have this to say: Look out packs, The Baltimore Bark Brigade will be back next year!
What Tracy barely mentions is that there will be a fundraiser for her next month to help with her mounting medical bills.
The Tracy Santos Cancer Benefit will be Friday May 16 from 7- 11 p.m. at Patapsco Arena, 3301 Annapolis Road in Baltimore. It will feature food, an open bar, raffles, prizes, auctions and a karaoke challenge. The $30 admission goes to the fund for Tracy and the Young Survivor Coalition. Checks can be made payable to: The Fund for Tracy Santos and send to: 1913 Griffis Ave. Baltimore, Md 21230.
More information about Tracy is available on the Caring Bridge website, where you can find Tracy's web page.
(Photo of Tracy's "Baltimore Bark Brigade" courtesy of Maryland SPCA)
