Chevy's Fresh Mex

Save this date: Wednesday January 26th from 4pm-9pm. Chevys of Elk Grove will host the annual scholarship fundraiser for the Brain Injury Association Of California’s, 4th Annual Walk For Thought. Chevys of Elk Grove is located at 7401 Laguna Blvd; they will donate 25% of the proceeds to the fundraiser. So, be sure to invite all your family and friends to enjoy Chevys fabulous cuisine. The Walk for Thought is important because it makes people aware of TBI’s and ABI’s . In case you didn’t know TBI stands for Traumatic Brain Injury and ABI stands for Acquired Brain Injury. So, be sure and save this date for our scholarship fundraiser, and please attend. If you plan to attend, please be sure to print the flyer and bring it with you. It will need to be attached to each bill. Also, please email Meghan Burke at MeghanB@myeasterseals.org with a RSVP with the number of people attending.

Hector Patino

A Peek from Behind the Scenes ~ Kathy

As the (self appointed unofficial amateur) photographer for the Sponsor Program, I am grateful I get to interact with each and every animal, document events like Homer's Birthday, Walk it Woof it or Hoof it or an Easter Seals visit where my own dog Louie met Hector + get to help out doing whatever is needed.

Being behind the scenes has let me be part of some pretty big happenings last year.

The support that came in after the USA Today article was wonderful. I helped open the letters and was just completely overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of so many people from all around the world. It was very humbling to be a part of a such an event.

I had the pleasure of staying at the ranch with Jordan and her boyfriend when Woody and Deanna took their first vacation in 5 years last Fall. I knew I wouldn't be able to walk a mile in their shoes, but figured I would get further then 12ft. It was hard work and a great experience. Woody and Deanna gave me a greater respect for their love and commitment to the residents here. My favorite part was being in the pasture at night sitting on the wash rack looking at the stars and listening to the horse sounds.

On a more personal note, my friends came to visit us from Australia. A Chance for Bliss was right up at the top of their to do list. Meeting their children after them watching them grow up through emails, photos and phone calls was just well, I don't know if superfabuloustastic is a word but you get the idea - it was awesome. Abby was instantly drawn to Max. And Max wants to wish Abby Good Luck at her first day of High School. (us too!) But it was Joy who wanted to have her picture taken and Abby was happy to oblige.





You can usually find me brushing horses when I am not 'on assignment'. Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was so nice to see the sun and watch the animals burning off some of that rain energy that has been stored up.

Lastly, I will leave you with some shots I got while trying to take some updated pics of the residents. I've tried to take self portraits with all the animals, some are more cooperative then others. If there is a resident you would like to see updated on our webpages, please send me an email kathy@achanceforbliss.com

Handsome trying to lead Dusty around




Homer Showing off his newly shined tusk



My self portrait with Sue Sue



And Casper trying to crash Bowtie's Photoshoot

Holiday Shoppe Success

From Tony greeting you when you walked in the door to the aroma of chocolate chip cookies, the ambiance of the Holidays was everywhere. You could hear festive Holiday music in every nook and cranny of our HTR Shoppe. Anthony and Lawrence served apple-cider and cookies from our “snack shack”. Les was busy selling raffle tickets, for our fabulous prizes. Al our friendly cashier would ring up your sale, with flair and pizzazz. On a couple of occasions Deanna of A Chance for Bliss brought animals along for a visit. The “star” hands-down was “Gordo”, the corpulent and rotund bunny that everyone wanted to see and touch. I want to thank the many community organizations for donating prizes for the raffle. Now a drum roll please…….the grand total that we will donate to A Chance for Bliss this year will be, wait a minute. First I would like to thank all of the shoppers who made our Shoppe a success. The grand total is $1345.93!


Thanks Hector