High School Author Book Proceeds Help Animals in Need

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There’s a new book for YA Fiction Fans from high school student author, 17 year old Gracie Dix. It’s Welcome To Superhero School (The Vork Chronicles Book 1). It’s an action-packed adventure of friendship, hardship, and humor.

You’ll be interested to know that Gracie is an animal lover and one of the characters in Welcome to Superhero School was actually inspired by her own dog, Snowball.

To help give back, Gracie has decided that $1 from each book sold, up to $10,000 will be donated to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International (SPCAI). 100% of this donation will go directly towards advancing the safety and well-being of animals.

With Stay at Home orders still in place, now is the perfect time to do some reading and help support this young author. Use this link to read more and order a copy.

How To Help Bahamas Recovery and Relief After Hurricane Dorian

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The devastating news and images coming from the Bahamas are heartbreaking and shocking. Living in South Florida, the Bahamian people are some of our closest neighbors, so it’s no surprise that we’ve already started to hear about many of our local businesses and organizations who are collecting relief supplies and donations to help all of those who are affected by this monster hurricane.

I know that many of you are wondering how you can help, so we are compiling a list of links to causes and organizations that are helping the Bahamas Hurricane Dorian relief efforts. It’s still early, so I’ll try to keep the list updated as more information becomes available. You can also check out this Charity Navigator list of reputable organizations.

Links to Help Hurricane Dorian Relief and Recovery

 

BarkBox #GivingTuesday $10 Donation with Purchase

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barkshop-giving-tuesday

It’s Giving Tuesday and the kind folks over at Bark & Co. have made it easy to give back to animal causes while doing some holiday gift shopping for your own fur kids. You shop and they donate…super easy!

Get your dog some goodies and they will donate $10 to dogs in need. Order a new BarkBox subscription

dog-giving-tuesday

Visit our BarkBox coupon and review page to learn more about how BarkBox works.

Celebrating the Life-Changing Work of Guide Dogs for the Blind #GuideDogMonth @NaturalBalance

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guide-dogs

As regular readers probably know, Daisy is a brand ambassador for Natural Balance Pet Foods and they are a big sponsor of our blog. We’re super excited to partner with Natural Balance to help raise awareness and support during National Guide Dog Month.

Guide Dog Month was inspired by Natural Balance co-founder, Dick Van Patten, who was impressed by the intelligence and training of guide dogs. During a visit to a local guide dog school, he was blindfolded and experienced how guide dogs provide mobility and assistance to visually impaired and blind people. After learning about the costs, dedication and commitment to raise and train a guide dog, he was inspired to help raise awareness and support the cause.

I’ve known from early on that Daisy and I have a close bond, but we are truly inspired by the amazing bond between people who are blind and their guide dogs. In addition to providing enhanced mobility for their handlers, guide dogs can also be a social bridge, opening a world of possibilities for friendship and human connection.

Meet Michelle and Oscar. They are just one of the many human-canine teams with inspiring and life-changing stories!

michelle-oscar

Born with glaucoma, Michelle spent a big part of her young life unable to navigate the world around her. Later, when Michelle became more mobile, it came with its fair share of bumps and bruises. Lacking depth perception, she lived in a constant state of discomfort and found it increasingly difficult to get around.

Around the same time that she started her undergraduate degree in psychology, Michelle made the split second decision to apply for Guide Dogs for the Blind program, and she has never looked back. From the get go, Michelle knew that the program had done a marvelous job in matching her with her beautiful golden guide dog Oscar—they immediately fell into step with each other, and within two months knew they had a lifelong partnership.

Even more surprising was the sheer number of people who approached Michelle on the first day of the new semester. The questions on everyone’s lips were: “Who is your furry friend?”, “Where can I get one?”, and of course “Can I pet him?” With this positive attention, the pair was able to walk with confidence everyday—whether it be on a small grocery shopping trip or a longer trip to visit Michelle’s sister in Los Angeles. Together, the two tackle intense psychology and jiu jitsu classes, but always leave room for playtime. Michelle and Oscar are primed to tackle deadlines and take the mental health field by storm.

guide-dog-month-puppy

Natural Balance is partnering with Guide Dogs for the Blind to help support the work they do. Since 1942, Guide Dogs for the Blind has empowered lives by creating exceptional partnerships between people, dogs and communities. They’ve got the largest Guide Dog school in the country and are dedicated to providing high quality student training services with extensive follow-up support for graduates.

  • Services are provided to students from the United States and Canada at no cost to them.
  • More than 14,000 teams have graduated since their founding.
  • Approximately 2,200 active guide dog teams are currently in the field.

YOU can help support the life-changing mission of Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2 easy steps:

  1. Help raise awareness by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest
  2. Donate to Guide Dogs for the Blind

Meet other amazing human-canine teams and read their stories at: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/GuideDogs.

Rescue Pet Photo Contest + WIN $150,000 for Your Local Animal Shelter! #ASPCA150

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ASPCA 150

Hey everybody, join us to help celebrate 150 Days of Rescue as part of ASPCA’s 150th anniversary! With so much to celebrate, there are lots of ways for animal lovers to get involved, help support pet adoption and win some prizes for yourself and maybe even your favorite local animal shelter!

Here’s a quick rundown with links to the full scoop:

ASPCA photo contest

Weekly Pet Photo Contest

Got a rescue pet? Visit the contest page here to upload your best photo of your rescued pet and describe your favorite thing about them. Over the course of 150 days, there will be one winner each week to win prizes from one of the following program partners: Animal Planet, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Vans.

ASPCA Pride Pack

Get a Free ASPCA Pride Pack + More

Raise $150 or more (by 12/31/16) in donations and get a FREE limited edition 150th Anniversary ASPCA Pride Pack! ride Pack includes an ASPCA bracelet, a limited edition ASPCA 150th Anniversary button and an ASPCA key chain… all packed in a great ASPCA zipper pouch!

The top 3 fundraisers will receive special prizes including an ASPCA duffel bag, blanket, plush toy, flashlight, mug, umbrella, and more! Create your own fundraising page HERE.

Rescue ASPCA 150

$150,000 Grant for your Local Shelter

Animal lovers, visit ASPCA.org/150days and pledge at least 15 minutes of your time between now and September 7 to help animals in need. The goal is to reach a total of 150,000 actions for animals across the nation in just 150 days.

Ways to participate include volunteering at a local shelter, donating, fostering, adopting a shelter pet, spreading the word through social media and in person and more. Log your good deeds and you’ll be given the opportunity to nominate YOUR favorite animal shelter to receive a grant prize of $150,000!

For more info, check out this video featuring celebrity animal lovers including Martha Steward, Kesha, 50 Cent, Edie Falco, Nathan Lane, Julie Bowen, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, and more!