Home 4 the Holidays Kicks Off with 100,000 pound Bi-Coastal Shelter Food Drop
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (Oct. 4, 2018) – Next week, the 19th Annual Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays campaign kicks off with a woof and a mew! Blue Buffalo, a title sponsor of the world’s largest adoption initiative, established at Helen Woodward Animal Center in 1999, will unload nearly 100,000 pounds of dog and cat food to San Diego and New York City shelters. Meanwhile, Naturally Fresh is also backing the cause delivering 18 pallets of cat litter to be distributed locally. Monday, October 8th, the media is invited as representatives from approximately 27 west coast animal rescue groups each pick up 1,500 pounds of the high quality pet food and cat litter at Helen Woodward Animal Center!
Since its start, Home 4 the Holidays has helped place more than 14 million pets (from over 4,000 participating global rescue partners) into loving homes. The program seeks to encourage families to find their four-legged family members at a shelter, rather than a pet store or breeder, during the holiday season when more families choose to bring home a new pet. This year, however, the program aims to do even more for the rescue organizations that participate.
Blue Buffalo has supported Helen Woodward Animal Center’s holiday campaign since 2013. Last year, the campaign resulted in more than 1 million orphan dogs and cats united with loving families. Now to kick-off the 2018/2019 campaign, the pet-loving company is providing an unprecedented number of holiday meals to orphan pets from coast to coast.
“Blue Buffalo believes pets truly become family members and we are proud to support pet adoption programs through the year,” said Blue Buffalo Marketing Director Danielle Donegan. “The Home 4 the Holidays campaign is especially important to the animal shelter and rescue communities nationwide because it helps millions of orphan pets find forever homes.”
Many animal welfare organizations struggle with limited funding and many hungry mouths to feed, while juggling budgets with supply costs and medical expenses. The Monday Coast-to-Coast Blue Buffalo Food Drop takes a big bite out of that burden; enabling shelters to focus on matching pets with loving families. Blue Buffalo is delivering two semi truckloads of foods each, to Helen Woodward Animal Center and the Center’s newest rescue partner, Animal Haven Shelter in New York City. The much-needed holiday meals will be distributed to approximately 60 pet rescues through those locations. Locally, those groups include; Animal Rescuers Without Borders, Coastal German Shephard Rescue, San Diego Spaniel Rescue, The Barking Lot, Friends of Cats, Cat Adoption Services, Volunteers in Defense of Animals, Frosted Faces and many others.
“We are so grateful to Blue Buffalo,” stated Helen Woodward Animal Center VP of Development Renee Resko. “They genuinely share our love of pets and share our commitment to trying to find ways to spread the message of adoption and help rescue organizations. We work with partner rescue organizations year-round and we see how dedicated they are to the animals. It means a lot that we’re able to help facilitate this donation.”
Also in store for participating Home 4 the Holidays rescue organizations this year… For the first time ever, Helen Woodward Animal Center is offering the choice of a rescue van or $25,000 to the group that submits the most innovative way their shelter promoted adoptions over the holidays.
There are many ways to get involved in the Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays campaign including adopting and encouraging friends to adopt and then showing the world your newly adopted best friend by posting a photo at https://animalcenter.org/home-4-the-holidays/, or sharing on Twitter or Instagram with #IChoseToRescue and tagging @hwac and @bluebuffalo. For more information about the campaign or to find participating local shelters and rescues groups, go to www.home4theholidays.org.
Beginning Monday, October 8th @ 8:30AM, local rescue groups will arrive in shifts to pick up the generous Blue Buffalo food donation at Helen Woodward Animal Center. Media with questions, please contact Helen Woodward Animal Center PR Director Jessica Gercke at (858) 756-4117 x335 or jessicag@animalcenter.org, or Helen Woodward Animal Center PR Manager Fernanda Lopez at (858) 756-4117 x379 or fernandal@animalcenter.org.
For information on Helen Woodward Animal Center, call 858-756-4117, visit www.animalcenter.org or stop by at 6523 Helen Woodward Way, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067.
About Home 4 the Holidays (H4TH)
As one of the most successful pet adoption programs in the world, H4TH partners with thousands of animal organizations dedicated to finding forever homes for orphan pets. Founded by Helen Woodward Animal Center and in partnership with Blue Buffalo this year, the program began in 1999 with just 14 participating animal shelters in San Diego County. Since it began 19 years ago, partner organizations in the Home 4 the Holidays campaign have helped more than 13 million families experience the joy of pet adoption, including more than 1.3 million pet adoptions last year alone. For more information, please visit www.home4theholidays.org.
About Blue Buffalo
Blue Buffalo, based in Wilton, Conn., is the nation’s leading natural pet food company, and provides natural foods and treats for dogs and cats under its BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet lines. Paying tribute to its founding mission, the Company, through the Blue Buffalo Foundation, is also a leading sponsor of pet cancer awareness and of critical studies of pet cancer, health, treatment and nutrition at top veterinary medical schools across the United States. For more information, visit www.BlueBuffalo.com.