The Caring Community Respite Care Program held thier third annual flamingo fund-raiser on Monday, July 9th, 2007. The bright plastic pink birds began their day at 9 a.m. at the Richmond Municipal Building for Mayor Sally Hutton. Hutton then was required to name the next recipient of the birds.

Some may wonder how this unusual fund-raiser works: it is quite simple. You cover someone’s lawn with pink flamingos and they then make a donation to the charity to get the birds to “fly away” to the next lawn. People can have a lot of fun sending them to their friends and family for a good laugh and a cheer-up.

The respite care program sent flamingo flocks to people for donations of $10. You could also send a flock of the birds to someone for the same donation. The recipients then donated either $10 to have the birds removed, or $15 to have the birds relocated to someone else’s yard. You could even purchase “insurance” for $10 that the flock would not be returning to you, though somehow that spoils some of the flamingo bird fun.

The proceeds from the event benefited programs that offer free volunteers that give caregivers the opportunity to get out of the home by sending someone to visit with the care recipient for several hours during the week.