Rescues and Runways

By Chloe Sullivan
Contributing Writer

Big lights, beautiful make-up, the latest trends, glitz, glam, runways, oh yeah, and animals. Not animal prints, but real living, breathing animals.  Everything in that list conjures images of designer fashion runway shows, well, except for the animals. But for the second year in a row, the runway has gone to the dogs and maybe even a few cats.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m., models will take to the runway sporting the clothing store maurices’ fall fashions with adorable, adoptable pets from the Fargo-Moorhead Humane Society close by. “We were thrilled to be approached last year and we thought it was a great idea. What better way to bring awareness to our animals than on the runway,” said Nukhet Hendricks, Executive Director of the F-M Humane Society.

With the Moorhead Center Mall’s fountain providing backdrop for the show, maurices hopes to raise awareness, some money, and even get some furry fashionistas new homes. “When times are tough sometimes the animals are forgotten so this is just our way of kind of bringing them back up,” said Michelle Lemar, store manager of the Moorhead Center Mall’s maurices location. “Ideally what we want to do is get some animals new homes.”

This local “Rescues & Runways” event, in partnership with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), is just one fashion show of hundreds being held by the over 740 maurices stores nationwide. “Right now we have over 740 stores and each store is partnering with their local shelter to help raise awareness,” said Lemar.

All of the hair and make-up for the show is donated by local business and maurices donates the clothes. Models are chosen in a somewhat surprising, casual manor. The only criteria being that they have to be customers of the store. “It’s just our regular customers. Nothing fancy, it’s just everyday people, people that you would see in the store just like you,” said Lemar.

Although it would be adorable be to have the animals that are available for adoption dressed up and walking the runway with the models, there will not be any four-legged animals gracing the runway at this show. “It is loud and it is noisy and (the shelter) doesn’t want to upset them,” said Lemar.

A few animals will be at the event and a poster board will be displayed with pictures of all of the animals available for adoption. According to Hendricks, “The numbers at the show will vary depending on what we have available for adoption but (attendees) will be able to look at all of the animals we have.”

A national kick-off event was held on August 26, at the company’s headquarters in Duluth, Minn., and shows will run through Oct. 24 in several different states. Locally, through the month of September, both the Moorhead and West Fargo locations will be taking pet supplies or monetary donations, all going to the F-M Humane Society. While Lemar didn’t have exact numbers for the local effort last year, she said as a whole “in total counting all the stores, we raised over $125,000 for the shelters. We gathered, I think it was, over 67,000 pounds of food.”

Each person that brings in a donation to either location will receive a 20 percent-off coupon for use in the store. Also available in the store are the Friends For Life charms. These cute little black and silver charms are like the best friends charms that many a girl traded back and forth in their youth, but are intended for you and your four-legged companion.

The circle charm reads Best Friends on one side and For Life on the other side, with each piece able to clasp to something like a ring on a collar or a key chain. With the price of $5 a charm, half of the proceeds will be donated to support the ASPCA. The charms will be available for purchase until October 31.

Maurices also plans to collect donations for the F-M Humane Society through a silent auction. Each of the two locations is responsible for finding half of the donated items that will be up for auction. Some of the items include a tanning package and lotion from Suntana, haircuts and even a hair coloring from Urban Hair, and some gift bags from Mary Kay.

The fashion show is “important for various reasons but one of the main reasons is that it is important for us to have the support of a company who is located in the Fargo-Moorhead area,” said Hendricks. “It brings awareness to our shelters and it raises the awareness that there is a need for help from the community for these animals. Educating the community about our needs and raising awareness is majorly important.”

While the F-M Humane Society is thrilled to be involved for the second year in a row, Lemar said there were a number of other area shelters calling last year expressing a need for help. “Last year we had a lot of groups calling us and asking us ‘Why can’t you help us?’ We would love to but there are certain limitations and restrictions with the groups that we work with, legal requirements and such, that unfortunately we can’t help everybody,” said Lemar. As a way to somewhat counteract the outcry for help, maurices donates money to the ASPCA, which in a way helps the other shelters. The two local locations are hoping to gather an even bigger response this year.

“This year we are having Amanda from Froggy 99.9 coming out and she’s actually going to Emcee the show for us. It’s exciting that other people care and that other people want to be involved,” said Lemar. “We are learning from last year and planning to do things bigger and better this time.”

According to maurices’ website, the company has been around since 1931 and has always been a community-based store. “Maurices, as a company, has always believed in being there for our community and supporting the community and doing what we can to help out where we can,” said Store manager Lemar.

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If You Go

What: Rescues and Runaways
Where: Moorhead Center Mall
When: Thurs, Sept 23, 7pm
Info: 701.239.0077