Meet Ella, adopted from Forget Me Not in summer 2004. This is Ella now, with her parents Megan Lyden and Sam Mann:

Megan Lyden, Ella, Sam Mann

And this is how Ella looked when she first arrived at her Forget Me Not foster home in 2004, a skinny, bedraggled stray with a coat full of burrs and grass seeds:

Ella in 2004

Ella was Forget Me Not’s very first long-distance adoption (her shelter ID number was 15, meaning she was the 15th pet taken into the Happy Homes Adoption Program)! Megan and Sam made the 12-hour round-trip drive to pick her up, and she has been one happy dog ever since. Here she is playing dress-up:

Ella in disguise

…and here she is, showing off her fancy moves:

Ella agility

Ella came to visit Forget Me Not recently, bringing her parents Megan and Sam… and a donation in their names from Microsoft, Sam’s employer. It turns out that Sam was part of a team that won a Microsoft Technical Recognition Award (this is a VERY impressive feat), for creating the Kinect skeletal recognition system (if you have an Xbox, you probably know what that is). As part of this prestigious award, Sam and Megan got to choose a nonprofit to receive $50,000 – and Forget Me Not is honored, humbled, and oh so excited to be their choice!

Here is Ella (with an assist from Megan and Sam) presenting the check to Forget Me Not’s Board of Directors and Executive Director:

L-R: Jill Heming, Secretary; Sarah Wilson, Treasurer; Megan Lyden; Samuel Mann; Ella; Laura Brown, President; Kim Gillen, Executive Director; Lin Seynave, Vice President; Colleen Randle, Board Member

Forget Me Not will be using this funding to pay off the mortgage on the property; we also recently were granted a State of Washington 501 (c)3 humane society property tax exemption, so with no mortgage and no taxes, we are confident Forget Me Not will be here forever (or at least until there are no more unwanted pets – we can dream).

While the size of the donation is amazing and inspiring, the fact that Sam and Megan chose Forget Me Not is what matters the most to all of us. Whenever an adopter comes back to us after their adoption – with a donation, be it $5 or $50,000, or to adopt another family member, or to volunteer, or just to visit – we are so grateful to know they feel that continued connection to Forget Me Not. Even though we have well over 1,000 adopters in the past 8 years, we really do feel like each one is a member of our family. We hope to continue to receive our annual holiday photo of Megan, Sam and Ella for many more years!