Giving Tuesday – All Year Long from Weruva
“Giving Tuesday” is a nice antidote to the crazed consumerism of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and increasingly, all the days and weeks on either side of the post-Thanksgiving weekend. Kudos to everybody who is a pet-lover and emptied their virtual piggy banks and sent the contents to the animal welfare organizations of their choice (in between shopping frenzies online or in an actual line!).
But wouldn’t it be really nice to have that a day of the week spirit of giving to others become something that isn’t just one day of the year — that spills over into the weeks ahead until it becomes a habit? It doesn’t have to be a whole lot of time or money you give, even a gesture of whatever you can afford to recognize the efforts of those who are in the trenches working on behalf of animals — looking after feral cat colonies every day of the year, or working non-stop inside shelters or private rescues to keep animals alive and well until something better comes along for them..
That’s why I’m especially proud that both the NY Dog Film Festival and the NY Cat Film Festival partner with a local animal welfare group in every city we visit cross-country. They get 10% of every ticket sold, but just as importantly they are a presence at all the 40 theaters we currently partner with. They can reach out to the pet-passionate audience not just for additional donations but to sign up as volunteers, foster homes, kitten-raisers or adopters.
This coming weekend we’re going to have our annual premieres in New York City — Saturday December 1st is the 2nd Annual NY Cat Film Festival and Sunday Dec 2nd is the 4th Annual NY Dog Film Festival. I am proud that the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals is the beneficiary of the NY Dog Film Festival so we can be part of their extraordinary mission to support more than 150 shelters and rescues in the New York area — and the Mayor’s Alliance Feral Cat Initiative is the partner of the NY Cat Film Festival.
In the spirit of year-round giving, our ongoing sponsor of both festivals, Weruva, is giving cases of their scrumptious pet foods (made in a human food facility) to one lucky shelter partner of the Festivals every month. Whatcom Humane Society in Bellingham, WA, Purrfect Pals in Arlington, WA, Southampton Animal Shelter in Hampton Bays, NY and Rescued Pets Movement in Houston, TX have all been recipients of Weruva’s cans and pouches of cat and dog food, as the “icing on the cake” of having been the beneficiaries of the festivals in their area.
I am truly grateful that Weruva’s philanthropy enhances the positivity promoted by the Festivals and spreads the joy. Sheltered pets may not have the optimal life right now — and they cannot get super premium food every day — but the lovely surprise of a Weruva meal lifts the spirits of the animals, and also of their caregivers. And that’s the whole point of Giving Tuesday. Keep it going all year long by reaching out to the groups that matter to you. Any gesture of support — just like Weruva’s donations to our shelter partners — can mean so much. Stopping by a shelter to drop off towels and blankets, to cuddle with kitties or walk a couple of dogs, to bring in a box of bully sticks for the canine residents and some catnip mice for the kitties, can mean a great deal to the two-leggeds and four-leggeds there. Keep the Giving Tuesday spirit alive year round. I’ll let you know the next lucky shelters to get Weruva as a reminder that we can all do a little bit of good, all the time.
—Tracie Hotchner
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