While manager of the Oakland Athletics, Tony La Russa captured a stray cat who wandered on field during a game and kept her safe. Then he found that the San Francisco area didn’t have a no-kill shelter. That led to him to found the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF). On Nov. 21-24, sports stars and business leaders join La Russa at his ARF Leaders & Legends charity event at MGM Grand. Susan Stapleton spoke with La Russa about his inspiration and the event.
Q: This is your second year here. You’ve kept the interactive forum and roundtable with the celebrities. What sort of inspirational insight can attendees hear?
A: We want to have something substantive in the morning and afternoon, and fun and entertaining at night. The idea is each of the people who will present has achieved something. They’re legends and leaders, so their task is to present a session that allows our audience to have some takeaways, to have some insights.
Q: You have Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Co. as a guest speaker. So this isn’t just for sports fans?
A: We try to have a mix. We’re heavy on sports with a mix of business leaders. He’s as good as they get. Walter Robb of Whole Foods will probably moderate that session.
Q: The small number of tickets makes it sound like attendees are joining an exclusive club. Do the audience and celebrities spend time together?
A: We want to keep it tidy, so you get that up close and personal interaction.
Q: How does the money from the event help the Animal Rescue Foundation?
A: We’re in our 23rd year. We have a bunch of programs where we rescue animals and animals rescue people. When we thought about doing something with military members with PTSD, we needed a new source of revenue to fund that.
Q: Do you have a favorite story about animals rescuing people?
A: Our programs are involved in education, for kids to … improve their reading by reading to their pets. We go into senior centers. We work with battered women and kids. A good example is, initially, one hospital in our area was reluctant to have the dogs come in. We offered to bring the animals in once a month. They would now like to have us in there once a day. The patients would ask, “Is ARF coming in today?” They would get so excited. Now we go in two or three times a week.
Q: How many cats and dogs do you have?
A: The number kind of varies. We have our own family pets and also pets from our fostering programs. We have three dogs of our own, we’re fostering two and we probably have a dozen cats we’re fostering.
