Ranger Ruff Rides Again: Third-Party Fundraiser Celebrates Legendary Trail Dog
Like many Camp Friends, Michelle Bretscher has an extensive collection of Camp Ondessonk t-shirts with images of iconic places, commemorating specialty weekends, or fun designs featured in Camp’s Trading Post. Many of her favorite parts of Camp are represented on a shirt in her collection, but one was missing, Ranger Ruff.
Michelle explained, “Ruff was former Ranger Larry and Bonnie Barger’s dog that Bonnie brought to Camp as a puppy. He was a social dog from the beginning and only went home to eat. He spent his days and nights trotting around with campers to activities and especially on all-day explorations and horse rides. There are countless tales of him showing people how to get back to Camp when they were misplaced. He would be at the head of the trail and all you had to do was follow. Gene Canavan promoted him to Ranger officially one summer recognizing Ruff as trail guide, therapy dog and general Camp ambassador. Gene explains, “He never missed a Moccasin Gap trail ride – ever.”
Knowing that many others who came to Camp in the 1980s and 1990s had their own Ruff story to tell. Michelle wanted to find a way to offer the shirt to others and donate the proceeds to Camp. She used the online company Custom Ink to create the fundraiser and worked with Lindsey Francis to design the shirt, noting “She captured him perfectly!” Those purchasing the shirts ordered directly through the site making the process easy for Michelle.
In total, 62 shirts were purchased and $690 was donated to Camp. The comments from the Camp Friends who are the proud owners of Ranger Ruff shirts show how much others loved him. A few included, “In memory of Ranger Ruff, best trail guide ever!” from Jennifer Styrsky, “Ranger Ruff Barger leads the way!!” left anonymously, “Great design in memory of a great dog, all for a great cause,” from Christy McDougall, and “HEEPWAH! Can’t wait to show off this shirt. Thanks for doing this, especially to help out Camp O,” from Tony Wagnitz.
Third-party fundraising campaigns, like this, are planned and executed independently from Camp and can be as easy as a car wash or bake sale, or as extensive as a golf tournament or trivia night. Proceeds from the event are then given to Camp to use where needed most. If you would like to help Camp sustain and enhance programs, and involve family, friends, school or church to help raise money for Camp, learn more details here on how you can be an important contributor through a third-party event.