Champ Vallones organization was started eight years ago to provide Police K-9 units with needed food and supplies that their departments were unable to afford because of lack of funding.

Soon the nonprofit organization began providing services to the public, and it wasn’t long before it was overwhelmed.

The need for food, medical care, and spay and neutering is urgent, according to Tracie Vallones, founder of Champ Vallones Animal Welfare. People come to the organization with animals on their death beds because they could not afford medical care, she said.

Others come with cats because someone dropped off a group of pregnant cats at their doorstep.
Many now request dog and cat food, because they lost their jobs and everything they owned, and their pet is all they have left, but they can’t manage to feed them, Vallones said.

Dog and cat food donations are always needed, according to Vallones.

The group is hosting its first “All You Can Eat Spaghetti Dinner” from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday at DW-3 (Dale’s) Bar and Grill, 1851 S. Broadway (state Route 534 and Interstate 90) in Geneva.

Dinner includes all-you-can-eat spaghetti, salad, meatball, sausage, roll and butter, desserts. Tickets are $10. There will be door prizes and a Chinese auction.

To donate items for the auction, a door prize, or make a donation to the organization, contact Tracie Vallones at Champ Vallones Animal Welfare Inc., P.O. Box 615 Geneva, OH 44041, or e-mail traci@champvallones.org.

-- Robin Palmer

rpalmer@news-herald.com