Angels of Assisi welcomed autumn with the first “Biscuit Bash” at the Daleville Town Center. The event was a fundraiser for the Biscuit Fund, which is a fund to help neglected and abused animals.
Angels’ spokeswoman Lisa O’Neill says the fund began in Botetourt County several years ago, but has since spread to neighboring counties.“It’s done very well and people are very supportive of it.” More than 200 animals have benefitted from the fund.
O’Neill isn’t aware of any similar fund in the Roanoke Valley. “A lot of the point today was to bring animals that have benefitted from the Biscuit Fund as a reunion.” Two of the animals attending the reunion were Mama Beagle and one of her nine puppies confiscated from Botetourt County last year. All have since been adopted.
Among the celebrities at the Biscuit Bash were Larry Groah and Harley the Biker Dog from Waynesboro. Groah looked like a stereotypical biker dressed in leather, and four-year-old Harley, a Yorkie, was similarly dressed in a jacket, scarf, hat, and “doggles.”
Groah says the doggles were a present from a woman in Tennessee, and Harley recently received a birthday present from France. He also has YouTube videos and has quite a following. Harley even has more than 3600 “likes” on Facebook.
Groah babysat Harley when the Yorkie was three weeks old, fell in love with him, and the rest as they say, is history. “I carried him around with me all the time [and] he got so accustomed to being with me that once I got on the motorcycle he thought he had to go too. And now, he’s a monster. If I go on the bike, he has to go on the bike.”
The seven pound dog sits on Groah’s shoulder when they ride. Sometimes he puts Harley inside his jacket to take a break when they ride the interstate but says Harley prefers the open road. Harley is attached by a leash to Groah’s neck, so he can’t fall off in case of an accident. “If I go in a turn, he leans. If I go to slow down, he drops his feet down. If I go to take off, he drops his back feet.”
When asked why a seemingly tough biker would have such a little dog as a constant companion, Groah said, “I always wanted a little dog and thought it’d be neat to ride a motorcycle, but I never expected anything like this. He’s turned into quite the biker dog.”
Among those enjoying the live band were Skip Jackson from Salem and 10-year-old Sassy, a small mixed breed. Sassy even got to meet Harley, the Biker Dog. Jackson’s sister had owned Sassy but when she died, he and his wife adopted Sassy. He says the Biscuit Bash was a “good event; good cause-help(ed) raise money for the animals.”
Lisa O’Neill didn’t have a fundraising goal for the day. She said Angels would be pleased with whatever amount people could contribute to the cause.
