Fun run comes to aid of furry friends

CAMBRIDGE — Community members gathered the morning of June 22 to participate in the Baywater Animal Rescue’s first Run Fur Their Lives 5K Fun Run/Walk.

Baywater Animal Rescue is the leading ‘no-kill’ animal welfare organization on the Eastern Shore, housing about 100 animals at any time. “Our save rate is over 98% for six years straight,” said Tom Divilio, board president at Baywater.

As a non-government funded organization, Baywater Animal Rescue receives their funding entirely from public donations and sponsorships.

Baywater partnered with Coastal Run to organize the race, with 100% of the proceeds going to the animal shelter. Coastal Run is a run/walk specialty store with local locations in Easton, St. Michaels and Kent Island. “We make sure that everybody is living an active lifestyle and a healthy lifestyle,” said Adam Archambault of Coastal Run.

The 5K provided the shelter with an opportunity to get in touch with the community and let people know what the shelter does and how they can help with its mission.

“We wanted to have a fun and exciting community event where people could come out and have a ‘friend-raiser,” Carly Stockus, the executive director of Baywater said. “We are grateful to the community for their assistance, volunteering and donating.”

The runners seemed thrilled to be supporting such a positive organization. Many even attended the race for the sole purpose of helping out the animal shelter.

Kimberly Tribbitt has a special appreciation for Baywater and their mission and drove from her home in Centreville to support the animal shelter. “They are very dedicated to these animals here and they take good care of them,” said Tribbitt as she prepared for the race.

Three dogs from the shelter were in attendance, all of whom were transported from another state and arrived at the shelter that morning. “We take animals from this region here and if we have an empty kennel that means there’s an animal somewhere that can be saved,” Divilio said.

Cambridge’s Shane Foxwell completed the race second overall. “It was a pretty day and it was a perfect run,” Foxwell said.

Both Baywater Animal Rescue and Coastal Run are hoping to make the Fun Run Fur Their Lives 5K an annual event after this year’s successful event.