If you’ve ever gone to a brewery and thought the only thing missing was a dog peanut butter eating contest, you’ll be glad to hear Loews Minneapolis Hotel and Kieran’s Irish Pub will be hosting the second annual Pints for Pups fundraiser to benefit Safe Hands Rescue. From 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, you can stop by Kieran’s Irish Pub for Bent Paddle Brewing Co. brews with a portion of the proceeds benefitting Safe Hands Rescue.
In addition to delicious beer, Pints for Pups will have fun for the whole family, including dog peanut butter eating contests, pup pick-a-prize, a smooch the pooch cuddle booth, puppy snow cones and a silent auction. The silent auction will feature Minnesota Twins tickets, dog treats and goodies, dinner at Meritage, and more.
“The goal of the event is to raise funds to benefit Safe Hands Rescue and to build awareness of not only adoptable dogs, but foster and volunteer opportunities as well. Of course, it’s a fun night out for people and their pets, too!” says Heather Rende, Safe Hands Rescue volunteer.
Dogs cannot be adopted at the event because all potential owners must go through an application process, Rende says. However, if someone would like to adopt one of the available dogs at the event, they can complete an online application, which will be forwarded to the foster parents, who will set up a meeting with the potential adopters.
“We can’t start recruiting adoptable dogs until about a week prior to the event because they could all be adopted by the event. We hope to have at least one litter of puppies and a few adult dogs that are able to be adopted be at the event,” says Rende.
One of the planners of the inaugural Pints for Pups event, Whitney Gale, says they had the idea for this event because several of them have adopted from Safe Hands Rescue. “The connection was somewhat cosmic as I had recently adopted a pup from Safe Hands Rescue in March 2018. A handful of people involved in the planning of Pints for Pups last year have dogs from Safe Hands Rescue, so we felt that this was the organization that had our hearts,” says Gale, who is also the event coordinator of Kieran’s Irish Pub.
Last year, Gale says the weather cooperated beautifully, and they saw about 200 people, 25 dogs and a handful of puppies over the course of the evening. This will be the first year that Loews Minneapolis Hotel is involved in Pints for Pups, though it won’t be the hotel’s first experience with a pet program.
Nearly 20 years ago, Loews Hotels & Co. launched the first pet program, Loews Loves Pets, which ensures all four-legged guests are treated like VIPs (very important pets). Geneya Sauro, Loews Minneapolis Hotel general manager, says their experience with Loews Loves Pets made it an easy decision to support Pints for Pups to benefit Safes Hands Rescue. The first 30 dog attendees of Pints for Pups will receive a special Loews Loves Pets goodie bag to feel like the VIPs that they truly are.
Bottoms up for the pups!
