This year, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, affectionately known as ARF, will honor Chuck and Ellen Scarborough as the Champions of Animals at its Bow Wow Meow Ball on August 16, with Peter Marino emceeing the event. The couple, who reside in Southampton, have been involved with the nonprofit for years.
Chuck Scarborough is the longest-serving anchorman in New York’s broadcast history; when he hit 50 years on the air in March of 2024, the Empire State Building was lit in blue and gold, NBC’s colors, to honor him. He has received dozens of Emmy Awards and was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005. He and Ellen have been married for over two decades — Ellen is known for her philanthropic roles, with ARF and with other deserving nonprofits receiving her compassionate attention.
We caught up with the Scarboroughs to discuss ARF, their memorable past pets, and lives centered on community service, along with ARF executive director and CEO Kim Nichols.
So, tell me about how you initially heard about ARF and how you got involved.
Chuck Scarborough: Yes, it was —
Ellen Scarborough: — The minute I got here. (Laughs.)
CS: And that was 31 years ago, but it was before that because my mother adopted a cat from ARF. She was charmed by the name, she thought that was so cute that here was an animal rescue outfit called ARF. So she had to go get a cat from ARF.
An ARFan.
CS: Yes, an ARFan. So that was, I think, my introduction to it. After Ellen and I got married. We both loved pets. We both grew up with pets and —
ES: Dogs, cats, mice, hamsters.
CS: So we started having some fundraisers here. A lot of fun. A lot of work but a lot of fun. In the early days, ARF didn’t have the fabulous facility it has now. So every year, they would fish around for some venue to raise the money for the Bow Wow Meow Ball. And so we became the venue on several occasions, and it moved around for a while until it found a home, like our animals do. It found a permanent home.
That’s beautiful. So Ellen, tell me a little bit about your pets growing up. First pet, best pet, pre-Chuck.
ES: Petey, the parakeet. When he died, we put him in a cigar box and we had funeral in the backyard, and everyone was crying. (The Scarboroughs share an emotional moment, reminiscing about Petey.)
Oh, how sweet.
ES: And then we had Mike, the dog. We had Señor, the cat. His tail was run over by a car, and so he ended up with a tail this long, and he lived forever. He was a black and white cat. And then we had Fentzel and Lucille, two black cats. Lucille was part Siamese and always hated Fentzel. Fentzel was the sweetest cat in the world. And I had Mona, the mouse.
A mouse?
ES: Yes. My mother accused me of crying more over Mona’s death than her mother’s death.
And was it true?
ES: (Laughs.) I liked my grandmother, too. When I was a teenager, I was fostering animals at home. In my parents’ home. My parents had their own rescue animals before they had children.
So they raised you to be this way?
ES: Yes.
What about you, Chuck?
CS: I had a dog, probably my third dog, a collie named Tony. But my sister had just gotten a parakeet, and we had this collie who was just a fabulous dog, but very possessive and very jealous. And when the parakeet came into the house, he was insanely jealous of the parakeet, the attention the parakeet was getting. And when the parakeet kind of calmed down, he was allowed to leave his cage.
Oh, no. I’m visualizing a bad ending here.
CS: The parakeet learned, when the collie was sleeping, to land on his head, get a grip, and squawk in both his ears. (Laughs.) And Tony would be running around the house like a lunatic, with this bird attached to his head.
So this year, you are ARF’s honorees, the Champions of Animals.
CS: Well, that was a surprise. I’ve been the emcee for a long time. And I’m fairly comfortable in that role. (Smiles.) I’m not comfortable at all being honored.
Kim, is there anything you’d like to say about the Bow Wow Meow Ball or plans for ARF? How many animals are at the facility right now?
Kim Nichols: If you had asked me two weeks ago, we had 176, and adoptions had slowed down. But ARF has an incredible reputation because of the strength of the leadership and an incredible foresight that they have to make sure that all the medical is taken care of, the behavioral is taken care of, they’re well cared for with daily care. So adoptions suddenly exploded again. And today, we have 130.
ES: Wonderful. Wow.
KN: But that being said, it takes people who really care and know what it takes to rescue and understand the animals.
CS: There’s a lot that goes into it to first rehabilitate the animal, whatever needs it has, and then to train the animals. Some of them are not completely civilized, and they need a little bit of help with that. One thing we did, the organization did, when COVID hit, was try to help people who were stressed financially and were forced by their finances to turn their pets in to the shelter. That was another heartbreak on top of heartbreak, so we started giving out food. And just recently, it’s about getting inexpensive veterinary care for animals. So to keep them, instead of becoming a ward of ARF and having to be adopted, to keep them in their homes, which is much better for the families and much better for the pets.
KN: We keep it very simple. We work with the local food pantries and make sure their shelves are stocked. We are blessed to have a donor that underwrites the cost of the food for our kennel. So any food donation that comes in, we send it out to the food pantries. And so many people are generous and stop by. So we’re able to make sure that there’s plenty.
ES: And the training facility is just remarkable. When you think of so many people adopting animals, and they just don’t have any clue that if the animal isn’t really ready to be in the home, ARF’s training facility takes care of that and makes sure that they’re sociable.
CS: Well, I think we’re just blessed to have an organization like ARF. There are a number of really good animal organizations, animal foundations out here, but ARF, I think, has set a very high bar at every level, in every way.
ES: It’s so successful because it’s successful for the animals and successful matching people with the animals. Everybody wins!
For more information about ARF and the Bow Wow Meow Ball, along with ARF’s other community events, visit arfhamptons.org.
