Karyn’s Corner – September 2026

In 2018, a new board was elected: Mark Westergaard was president; Michelle Tuck was outreach director; and Nancy Lynberg was development director. Anne Marie King remained as treasurer and Paula Huter, board member at large. Tracy Nunez was the adoption coordinator. I may be forgetting people.

In my past segments, I worked from annual reports and emails. For 2018, I’m working from bits and bobs of email scraps; so next month, I hope to make up for missing figures.

Here’s what happened in 2018:

Meet and greets were still being held at Petco, Petsmart and Antigone Books.

Arizona Gives Day garnered $11,634 plus $1,500 for a Power Hour prize for a total of $13,134. The late Mary Freeman led us to that victory.

SA Greys received hounds from breeding farms in the Midwest, the Heartland and the South. With these dogs came a parade of parasites and thorough hookworm and Bayer Advantage Multi protocols.

Some hounds who arrived (from A to Z) were: Aspen, Cadence, ChaCha, Dragon, Ernie, Esmeralda, Flute, Frizzy, Hannah, Hayby, Houdini, London, Magpie, Marci, Mex, Nex, Robin, Sancho, Silver, SnaPea, Tai, Tali, Taxie, Tilly, Trish, Vickie, Whisper and Zander. Are any of these cross-country travelers still on your couch? If yes, please send a photo to communications@sagreys.org.

SA Greys sold $1,000 worth of Jim Click raffle tickets at the ice cream social.

Board meetings were mostly held monthly in person at the Murphy Wilmot Library.

The first Greyt Winter Festival orchestrated by Nancy Lynberg and committee was held at Agustin Kitchen in the Mercado. It was a dark and stormy night and the west side had a major power outage. Since half the event was outside, we white-knuckled as to whether the show would go on, but Mother Nature granted us a reprieve. Eighty humans vied for the many silent auction items while hounds strutted on the red carpet. Fun. Fur. Funds. A greyt time was had by all.

Dogtoberfest and Adopt Love Adopt Local were community-wide events that SA Greys participated in and shined.

SA Greys hosted two ice cream socials at the Hay Barn at Brandi Fenton Park.

Weekly Bark in Park gatherings were held early Sunday morning at McDonald Park.

In October 2018, the late Cathy Kiburtz, who was president of GreySave in Los Angeles, reached out to me looking for an organization to take brood mamas because they had too many. That relationship with GreySave continues to this day.

Fun Fact: Ron’s greyhound Riley (fka Marigold) went to Hollywood. The Hallmark Channel announced an upcoming show called “2018 American Rescue Dog Show,” specifically looking for stories of rescued dogs in their forever homes. Ron Sevier and Sherri Rotchford, who had three greyhounds, submitted a story and competed against hundreds of others with the opportunity to win a $25,000 donation to SA Greys. Riley was one of 52 dogs that were chosen for the show from more than 2,000 contestants.

Ron’s shirt matched Riley’s collar. The program was filmed Jan. 13-14 and aired Feb. 12. The submission included an essay about Riley’s journey from a broken toe resulting in an amputation to her place as a beloved companion. They submitted their entry under the category “Best Miscellaneous” and the sub-category “Best Sit.” Those responsible for the contest later changed the category to “Best Couch Potato.”

While they did not win the prize money, they brought positive national attention to greyhound adoption.

Jackie’s Fund helped Desi (pictured). Desi was relinquished to SA Greys in 2018 due to changes in the household and changes to Desi’s health. She had not been diagnosed yet with the cause of her medical issues when returned. Her diagnosis was intestinal lymphangiectasia, a serious chronic disease where the lymphatic vessels in the small intestine become dilated, blocked and ruptured, causing the loss of vital proteins, fats and immune cells into the digestive tract. While the disease is not cancer, Desi was prescribed a drug used to treat lymphoma and leukemia in humans. Her life expectancy was two to three more years. Her medication and food cost almost $500 per month and, a cost that was expected to increase as her condition worsened.

Desi was 7 years old, ran 135 races and brought 10 puppies into the world. She deserved first-class vet care and because of your generosity — Jackie’s Fund helped pay those bills. Foster parents Paula and Jim Huter lovingly cared for Desi, which was a 24/7 job.

If you missed the 2017 entry, you can find it here. If you want to contribute to the history, please contact communications@sagreys.org