Best Friends’ Los Angeles programs will not only be working to find forever homes for hundreds of companion animals at its Spring Pet Adoption Festival, but will be helping Los Angeles shelters and rescues feed the animals under their care.
Best Friends Pet Adoption Festivals bring together representatives from shelters and rescues in a common goal of finding loving, permanent homes for pets. The events have made their mark as the largest pet adoption festivals in the nation, with an average of 8,000 attendees and 500 adoptions per event.
The Spring Pet Adoption Festival in Los Angeles will feature grooming and training demonstrations and experts in pet health-care who will be on hand to answer questions from people taking home new additions to their families. There also will be “Dancing with the Dogs,” in which pups and their peeps perform routines in front of celebrity judges. Of course, the best part of the festival will be seeing animals going home with their new families, rather than returning to the shelters.
Best Friends will go one step further toward helping out Los Angeles shelters and rescues. Best Friends staff hope to distribute some 3,000 pounds of food to area shelters and rescues, which have felt the impact of the current economic crisis on their already stretched coffers.
“These economic times are affecting all of us and some of the biggest victims are the animals,” says Lisa Dulyea, marketing manager for Best Friends’ Los Angeles programs. “Shelters and rescues are overflowing with homeless cats and dogs and are in desperate need of food.”
The 3,000 pounds of chow will come from an online pet food drive conducted by websites Dogvice.com and Dogfessions.com. The two websites have joined forces with Food Network star Rachael Ray, who is quite the animal lover and is completely devoted to her pittie, Isaboo. Ray donates part of the proceeds from sales of her Nutrish pet food products to charities that care for animals.
To contribute to the food drive, visit Dogvice or Dogfessions and fill out the postcard on the right side of the page. Nutrish has pledged one pound of dog food for each card received. The goal is to gather 6,000 postcards, which will translate into 3,000 pounds of food each for Best Friends and Sabbath Memorial Dog Rescue. Best Friends plans to donate its share of the food to shelters and rescues in the Los Angeles area.
Best Friends is also asking people to bring a can or two of pet food to the Spring Pet Adoption Festival, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 26 at Westchester Park, 7000 W. Manchester Avenue in Los Angeles.
The festival is proudly sponsored by Petco Foundation, Chrissie’s Fund, Wells Fargo and American Dog magazine.
For more information, click here www.bestfriendsevents.net or contact Lisa Dulyea at (626) 298-2080 or lisad@bestfriends.org.
Written by Sandy Miller
As part of Best Friends’ 25th anniversary in 2009, our goal is to double our membership, so we can double our efforts to bring about a time when all companion animals have a forever home. What can you do to help? Give the Gift of a Best Friends membership to family and friends.
