Four civic minded business leaders went purple for the ponies at the Mane Event benefitting Second Chances Equine Rescue Wednesday night.

Jimmy Shanken of Coldwell Banker, Holtzman Realtors, Liberty County Chamber of Commerce and CVB Director Leah Poole, Wendy Kirby of LaQuinta Inn and Suites and Lillian Gray of VIP Promotional Products had their hair dyed purple after they surpassed their goal of $2,500 so the equine rescue could purchase a sling.

Kirby came in first place bringing in nearly $2,000. Gray and Shanken almost hit the thousand mark and Poole raised just shy of $800. The four brought in $4,665 for the cause.

“Thank you everybody, particularly you four for coming out and supporting this,” Andrea Doolittle, founder of Second Chances said.

Lending their expertise to the event where the color stylists from ROCK Chick’s Color Bar who dyed the contestants hair. LaQuinta Inn and Suites provided the meeting room and a hotel room where the stylists worked. Zaxby’s provided food and Dakota Woods entertained the audience with his music.

Doolittle said surpassing their goal of $2,500 means they have the funds to purchase the Becker sling and provides a jumpstart on the funding they need to host a training course from Technical Large Animal Rescue. She said local first responders would undertake the training so they would know how to operate the sling when needed.

Slings are vertical lift systems that allow for the rescue or extraction of large animals where it is necessary to lift an animal to place them in a safer location.

Doolittle said donations are still welcomed. Donations may be done through their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pg/SecondChancesEquineRescue/about/?ref=page_internal.