PAWS holds fashion extravaganza to help offer homeless pets the life they deserve

"Look at this one," she said, showing me Princess, a young shepherd-mix who came in with a chemical burn on her back. "She's a very sweet dog, and she's beautiful. I don't know why she hasn't been adopted."

Sampey, director of the no-kill PAWS shelter in Belle Chasse, knows that some of their animals probably won't find forever homes -- like the old gray and orange-striped cat they call Tooni. Not many people are looking for a 19-year-old cat.

"Her owner passed away, and her kids didn't want her," Sampey said. "At least she has a good life here."

That's what brought Sampey to PAWS: Her desire to provide a safe haven for the dogs and cats of Plaquemines Parish.

"I spent 35 years in corporate America, and then I said, 'You know what? I'm going to do my passion,'" she said.

She is thrilled with PAWS' new digs, which are located inside the Plaquemines Parish government's animal control facility at 455 F. Edward Hebert Blvd.

"They got this new building, and they're letting us live in it," she said. "They want us to be here. They want us to do good."

PAWS has come a long way since 2002, when the group started pulling adoptable pets from animal control and taking them to their shelter in a little strip mall.

"At that first place, we had cages piled on top of each other it was so tiny," Sampey said. "We didn't even have any grass where we walked the dogs."

Their second home was better, but the new place is a dream-come-true for Sampey.

"If you have to live in a shelter, this is the one you want to live in," she said.

The cats live in communal rooms where they can hang out together, and a cat door leads to a screened-in outside area, complete with a bubble machine.

The dogs have roomy runs, each with an easy-to-clean Kuranda dog bed and a doggie door so they can be inside or outside. And four times a day they get to play in a mini-dog park behind the shelter that features a splash fountain, a favorite feature for the Labrador retrievers.

"We had a black Lab named George Clooney who figured out how to turn it on, and he turned it on when a preschool class was visiting one day," Sampey said. "The kids just loved that."

Paws has only three full-time and two part-time employees.

"That's all our budget allows," Sampey said.

Money is always tight for the small non-profit, so next week they're having "On the Catwalk," a hair-style and fashion show extravaganza at The Metropolitan in New Orleans.

Extreme Personal Measures: In The Kitchen: Overnight French Toast ...

Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl. Pour evenly over bread slices. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over bread slices. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and take the casserole out of the fridge. Let the casserole sit to room temperature while oven preheats. Bake casserole for 30-35 minutes. If the top starts browning too quickly, place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for about the last 10 minutes or so. Remove casserole from oven. Let it cool slightly before serving.

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