On Saturday, I participated in Strut Your Mutt, an annual fundraising walk organized by Best Friends Animal Society in 11 cities nationwide. I strutted with Sparky, my friend Karen’s elderly and disabled dog who was rescued from a kill shelter in NYC. Sparky (who participated via the comfort of his stroller) and I strutted to raise funds for a New Jersey-based nonprofit called Treasured K-9s, an amazing grassroots rescue organization.
The donations raised via Strut Your Mutt nationally will fund lifesaving adoption programs and spay/neuter services, to ultimately impact the number of pets entering and leaving animal shelters. The event was created to raise awareness of the fact that over 9,000 pets are killed a year in America’s shelters simply because they don’t have a home.
As a publicist, I’m always interested in how organizations market events to the public and what impressed me about Strut Your Mutt was the clever use of social media to engage participants around the country online.
Best Friends had excellent signage at the event, reminding participants to tag social media posts with #SaveThemAll and #StrutYourMutt. I participated in the Twitter and Instagram conversations and it was a lively and fun conversation – a positive example of using social media for the greater good. ~ Patricia