2008.08.14
Your pet could be a poster child
How would you like to see your dog's or cat's sweet, furry face plastered all over merchandise in thousands of stores all over the United States, all while helping homeless and abandoned pets?
Then click right here and enter the first PetsMart Charities' Just a Buck, Change Their Luck Online Photo Contest.
The contest, which began last Saturday and continues through Sept. 6, is in conjunction with the mega-pet-supply stores' Just a Buck, Change Their Luck campaign that raises money for critter-related programs and funds relief rescues that reunite and re-home pets displaced in natural disasters.
You are asked to submit a photo of your pet, along with a short essay on how your companion animal has changed your life. According to the rules, sponsors will review all eligible entries to choose 10 pooches and 10 kitties as finalists, based on the most inspirational stories. Then online voting will determine the winners.
The first-place pets will get a canvas pet portrait and some complimentary merchandise featuring their pet. Merchandise bearing the visage of the winning critters will be sold in PetsMart stores as part of next year's Just a Buck campaign.
Goodies related to this year's campaign, including $5 mouse pads and skins for laptops and iPods, $10 T-shirts and $15 tote bags, feature the work of artist Mitch Henderson and will be sold in stores until Aug. 26, with proceeds benefiting the non-profit organization.
According to the news release, PetsMart Charities has funded more than $70 million in grants to animal welfare organizations since 1994 and helped to save more than 3 million pets through in-store adoption programs, including my sweet greyhounds Dexter and Coral, both of whom we adopted from the front of the Valley View PetsMart.
If you decide to enter a photo in the contest, e-mail it to pets@roanoke.com and share it and your story with us. If your sweetie is chosen as a finalist, I promise you have my vote.
