Editor’s note: SoutholdLOCAL reporter and animal lover Katharine Schroeder volunteered her time and photography talents to take portraits of the animals who will be featured in the North Fork Animal Welfare League’s 2017 calendar.
Nine-month-old Ellie Mae is ready for her glamour shot. No need for hair and makeup on this girl; she’s a natural-born beauty.
We’re at the North Fork Animal Welfare League in Peconic shooting photos for the 2017 fundraising calendar and Ellie Mae, a Treeing Walker coonhound, is up.
Kennel assistant Karen Stephenson leads the gentle and friendly puppy to the staging area while manager Gabby Stroup readies a bowl of tasty treats. It’s showtime.
Ellie Mae sits patiently while Stroup pops a St. Patrick’s Day hat onto her head and slips her a piece of hot dog, reassuring her that she’s a good dog and quite pretty as well. A few clicks of the camera and we’re done. On to the next subject.
Stephenson leads the next model in, a friendly 10-year-old named Zucco, while Stroup goes through her box of props looking for the perfect bowtie for the handsome brindle boy. Zucco waits while he’s prepped for the camera, then Stroup dangles a treat to get his attention and after a couple of tries, we’ve made his portrait.
And so it went for the better part of two hours. Ten dogs and four cats later it was a wrap.
The NFAWL has produced a calendar the past few years, using the money raised for shelter operations. This year the theme is “adoptables” and every animal featured in the calendar is ready and waiting to find their forever home.
Sponsorship for the calendar is vital to ensure its success as a fundraiser.
“Each business — usually local businesses — submits $250 and they get their ad across the bottom of one of the pages. The money from the sponsors pays for the cost of printing the calendar,” explains Stroup. “We printed about 500 calendars last year and sold them all. With the sponsorships paying the production costs, all the money we make is profit and we can put it right to work at the shelters.”
And what should you do if you find your future forever friend staring at you from the pages of this year’s calendar?
“If someone would like to adopt one of the animals they see in the calendar, all they have to do is come down to the shelter in Peconic and fill out an application. It takes about a day to process. There’s a $60 fee to adopt a cat and a $100 fee to adopt a dog. All the animals are vaccinated, tested, microchipped, spayed and neutered,” says Stroup.
Calendars will be available in a few weeks — just in time for holiday shoppers — at local animal hospitals, Agway, Village Liquors in Greenport, and at the animal shelters both in Southold and in Riverhead. The retail price will be determined by the level of underwriting by sponsors. To become a sponsor contact shelter manager Gabby Stroup.
Check out some of the outtakes from the calendar shoot:
