Last Monday, O'Shea's Irish Pub, 956 Baxter Avenue in Louisville, was host to the company's tri-monthly Fund Day. O'Shea's hosts the event once a month at each of their three locations.
On Fund Day, the restaurant's net proceeds for the day go toward a worthy charity. The Kentucky chapter of CANTER, or the Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses, was featured last week. The event raised $1,500 for the organization.
CANTER is a non-profit agency relying on a small group of volunteers to seek out racehorses that trainers or owners are interested in selling to new homes for new non-racing careers. CANTER posts profiles and asking prices of the horses through their website. It does not charge fees for its services. The horses sold through CANTER may go on to careers in hunting, jumping, eventing, polo, and even simple pleasure riding.
CANTER Kentucky Director, Amanda Graham, was pleased with Monday's event and the opportunity to promote the organization. She introduced new people to the group's mission and educated patrons of CANTER's efforts.
"Pat O'Shea, who's the owner, did a Fund Day forum," said Graham. "Then we got to educate the people that were there, and, I got to talk in a microphone and answer a lot of questions about CANTER."
At the event, Graham recruited a few new volunteers to seek out horses in need, post them online for sale, or provide a foster home for injured horses donated to CANTER.
The money raised from the event will go towards the care of injured horses CANTER currently owns. These horses are in volunteer foster homes and cannot be listed for sale on the group's website until they are healthy and are ridable.
"A lot of it's going to go towards two, well, all three of our horses that are in the foster care," Graham said. "One of them, I was informed on Monday, that his knee had blown up and we're really worried that he might require surgery."
CANTER Kentucky will continue to pay for the medical care and maintenance of these fostered horses until they can be listed on the group's website and sold. Although the $1,500 from O'Shea's Fund Day, is a great gift, vet and feed bills can quickly skyrocket. CANTER is in continuous need of donations and volunteers.
If you'd like to help the cause, contact Amanda Graham about volunteer and foster opportunities at Amanda@canterusa.org or visit CANTER’s website to make a donation.
O'Shea's Flanagan's Ale House, 934 Baxter Avenue, is the location for today's Fund Day. Net proceeds will go to the family of Cooper Redmon, a two-year-old Louisville boy battling Neuroblastoma at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis.
If you’d like O’Shea’s Fund Day program to consider your organization or cause, complete an application online.
Photo: Courtesy CANTER Kentucky
