Everyone deserves a decent place to live, including man’s best friend!
During “Raise the Woof!” teams of friends, families, and coworkers come together to build their best version of a pet house and compete against other teams for trophies and bragging rights. All money raised via Raise the Woof! helps fund Habitat for Humanity home builds here in Champaign County.
Raise the Woof! 2024 is coming!
Save the date: Saturday, September 28th!
Raise the Woof! is a fun and unique fundraising event, benefitting Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County. Friends, families, local businesses, and community organizations come together to build their best version of a dog house for man’s best friend, in the process raising money to help fund the creation of affordable housing in Champaign County.
This year’s event, taking place on Saturday, September 28th, is the 6th year of this fun and unique fundraiser, and the first year of holding this special event at our new home! Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County recently relocated its administrative offices, home construction department, and resale store, the ReStore, into one space that will better serve Habitat’s needs. In honor of this, our theme for 2024 is “Woof There It Is”. Like last year, teams can build a dog, cat, bird, OR small animal habitat….(pretty much) anything goes!
Teams can choose to compete in one of two categories: “Old Dogs”, which is a free build where teams with building and/or design experience can be as creative and crafty as they choose, and “Young Pups” where teams will work with a precut set of materials and instructions, to construct and then put their own decorative stamp on a stylish indoor pet habitat. After the building is completed, winners in each category will be determined by a panel of judges and also by the other competing teams.
All the completed dog houses and cat structures will then be put on display at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. During that time, the public will be encouraged to vote for their favorite designs….and they can also bid to own their favorite!
To participate in this year’s Raise the Woof! event, you will need to register your team by Friday, September 20th, and pay this year’s $200 entry fee* one of two ways:
1) Register and create a team fundraising page here via this Raise The Woof! 2024 site. You can then pay the entry fee electronically or share your Team Page with family and friends who will then in turn donate towards your goal. You can also have your fellow team members create their own fundraising pages, and as part of your team, that money raised will go towards your team fundraising total. We encourage you to fundraise more than the $200 entry fee if you can, as every dollar donated will help fund a Habitat home build with a local family. And we will be awarding an awesome trophy to the team that raises the most money! We encourage all teams to be as creative as you can with your team name, story, and why you are supporting Habitat while building a dog’s (or cat’s!) fur-ever home!
OR
2) If you prefer a more “analog” method of registering that does not involve creating a Just Giving page, please email Rachel, the Director of Development, at [email protected]. She will then be in touch with a team registration form.
*The $200 entry fee is to cover the cost of materials for the build. Both the “Young Pups” and “Old Dogs” teams will be given the same set of materials to build with. The “Young Pups” will need to use the provided materials to build the dog house design we give you, while the “Old Dogs” can choose to use or not use the provided materials for their build. We find that some “Old Dogs” teams use all their own materials, while other teams supplement with the provided materials.
Once teams have officially registered, we will be in touch with further information about the build process and the event itself.