It's amazing what a little idea can turn in to if you find the right people to help...
A few months ago, a had an idea to have a
"virtual toy drive" for shelter animals around the holidays. Thinking about the Marines'
Toys 4 Tots and the Salvation Army's
Angel Tree programs, I thought it would be so great to do something similar, but for animals.
I know my pets at home get gifts and treats for Christmas -- wrapped and under the tree, of course! -- but my heart went out to the shelter animals who
aren't lucky enough to have forever homes and families to love them and shower them with gifts and attention during the holidays.
And the more I thought about it, the more excited I got! There was just one (or a bagillion) little problem... I had no idea how to do it, or where to even start.
Enter the
amazing pet-loving community on Twitter!
Through tweeting for my blog as
@YourDailyCute (my blog is YourDailyCute.com), I've meet some truly amazing people all over the world, with incredible unique skills, knowledge and niches -- so I reached out to two Twitter friends to help
make Santa Paws Drive a reality!On Twitter,
@frugaldougal is the mastermind behind all hugely successful
"pawpawty" fundraisers... so I knew he and his mom, Lynn, would be a GREAT one to have on the Santa Paws Drive team.
And
@BabyPatches is the Chief Kit for SuppliesJust4Pets.com online store... which would be a GREAT way to facilitate the toy donations, so she and her mom, Salina, joined up on the team, too!
Together, the three of us
from all around the world -- @YourDailyCute from Florida, @frugaldougal in the UK, and @BabyPatches from California -- to make the
Santa Paws Drive project a dream come true!
I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times before all this is over probably, but it is absolutely incredible how many fantastic people I've met through Twitter and the anipal community. (Anipals are pets who "tweet" on Twitter; they are the nicest bunch you could ever hope to meet.)Together we decided to reach out to
6 non-profit, no-kill shelters worldwide to benefit from Santa Paws Drive. We each chose a local rescue, and then the other three were recommended from other friends on Twitter.
Lynn created the
SantaPawsDrive.com site, Salina chose the special toys for everyone to donate and built a custom-dedicated
store for Santa Paws Drive on her shop site and Dorian coordinated with both of them and
a couple other friends, plus launched and promoted Santa Paws Drive on Twitter (
@SantaPawsDrive and Facebook (
be a fan!)!
And so, long story short, we worked together for many, many hours over email, chat an Twitter to get all the little details together.
We sincerely hope our Santa Paws Drive can be a HUGE success and we can bring some much-needed
holiday cheer to our furry friends who aren't lucky enough to have forever homes during the holidays.
To donate a toy or money and for more information, please visit the Santa Paws Drive official site at
www. SantaPawsDrive.com!
Thank you in advance for helping us put some smiles on some lucky animals cute little faces this holiday season!
Labels: about, holidays, santa paws drive, shelter animals
Great news, everyone! SuppliesJust4Pets.com (one of Santa Paws Drive team members and @BabyPatches momma!) is matching single dog toy donations now through the midnight Monday!
