Intown Healthy Hound Fundraiser at Hodgepodge

Friends and customers of Intown Healthy Hound owners James and Bridget Galloway are hosting benefit fundraiser Dec. 13 following the Nov. 28 burglary in which thieves stole $35,000 in dog food from the couple's storage warehouse.

The event, Rebound the Hound Benefit for Intown Healthy Hound, is scheduled for 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Hodgepodge Coffee House, 720 Moreland Ave. SE in East Atlanta.

It will be free and there will be free food and live music, but folks are asked to make a financial contribution of $20 each toward the fundraising efforts to defray the loss, which won't be covered by insurance.

Such a serious financial hit threatens to close the business.

It's one reason why Krystle McNeill Rodriguez, one of Hodgepodge's owners, was willing to host.

"I just couldn't imagine losing $35,000 and what kind of hit that would do to their busness, Rodriguez said, noting her coffee shop's own recent burglary. "Being a small business ourselves, and having lost $1,000 in our own break-in, I know how much of a hit that was on us."

The Grant Park community, where the Galloways live, also has been busy trying to help.

Residents there, created a ChipIn page online with a goal of raising $35,000.

To date, it has raised a little more than $2,200.

" 'Thank you' is not nearly strong enough for all the strength we feel from each of you and please know it truly is the force behind us progressing forward," the Gaslloways wrote in a posting to the neighborhood on ChipIn. "We are amazed at the response seen, felt and heard."

The dog food burglars, as well as the burglar in the Hodgepodge break-in, remain at large.