SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Petco
Foundation, a national, nonprofit organization working to inspire
and lead change for animals, has announced a commitment of more
than $10 million in grant investments
to support the critical work that animal welfare organizations do
each day to save lives. It's part of an effort to deliver love and
appreciation to animal shelters across the country this Valentine's
Day to thank dedicated staff members and volunteers for their
lifesaving work.
During the week of Valentine's Day, the Petco Foundation team
traveled the country to deliver love and surprised select animal
shelter locations with Petco treats and toys for shelter pets, BOBS
from Skechers shoes for staff, a giant Valentine's card, and a
surprise grant investment check for significant funding to help
save more animals.
Leading up to Valentine's Day, the Petco Foundation, in
partnership with award-winning artist and creator of the MUTTS
comic strip, Patrick McDonnell, and
BOBS from Skechers invited the public to also send love to shelter
pets and the people who care for them by posting a
#ShelterValentine on social media. Thousands of pet lovers shared
messages stating how much they love their pets and appreciated the
organizations where they adopted from. The Petco Foundation
complied the messages and delivered them on Valentine's Day as part
of their shelter deliveries and grant announcements and sent a
digital valentine to their 4,000 partner organizations containing
heartfelt thank you messages from supporters nationwide.
"Valentine's Day is all about expressing love and we're so
excited to show our love for shelter pets and the people who work
so hard to save them every day," said Susanne Kogut, president of the Petco
Foundation. "And it's clear pet adopters agree from the number of
#ShelterValentine posts we saw flooding social media, celebrating
their adopted pets and sending gratitude to their adoption
organizations. We are so happy to deliver these grant investments
to organizations so they can continue saving lives, and we're
humbled to be a partner in their lifesaving efforts."
Animal lovers who posted from Feb.
1 – 14 and used the hashtag #ShelterValentine and @mentioned
both @petcofoundation and their adoption organization were eligible
to receive a daily prize pack as well as a $1,000 grant for the adoption organization from
the Petco Foundation. One grand prize winner was drawn on
Valentine's Day to receive a gift pack and a $10,000 grant for the shelter where they adopted
their pet.
Pet lovers can support the Petco Foundation's "Love Changes
Everything" campaign from February 29 to
March 29 by donating at their local Petco store, Unleashed
by Petco store, or online at petcofoundation.org/love to help pets
in need. Anyone who makes an in-store donation of $10 or more will receive a limited-edition tote
bag featuring MUTTS artwork.
To learn more about the "Love Changes Everything" campaign and
the #ShelterValentine initiative, visit petcofoundation.org/love.
To learn more about Patrick
McDonnell and his commitment to promoting pet adoption,
visit MUTTS.com. To learn more about Bobs from Skechers, visit
BOBSfromSkechers.com.
About the Petco Foundation
At the Petco Foundation, we
believe that every animal deserves to live its best life. Since
1999, we've invested more than $260
million in lifesaving animal welfare work to make that
happen. With our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners, we
inspire and empower communities to make a difference by investing
in adoption and medical care programs, spay and neuter services,
pet cancer research, service and therapy animals, and numerous
other lifesaving initiatives. Through our Think Adoption First
program, we partner with Petco stores and animal welfare
organizations across the country to increase pet adoptions. So far,
we've helped more than 6 million pets find their new loving
families, and we're just getting started. Visit petcofoundation.org
to learn more about how you can get involved.
About SKECHERS USA,
Inc.
Based in Manhattan Beach,
California, Skechers designs, develops and markets a diverse
range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as
performance footwear for men and women. Skechers footwear is
available in the United States and
over 170 countries and territories worldwide via department and
specialty stores, more than 3,550 Skechers Company-owned and
third-party-owned retail stores, and the Company's e-commerce
websites. The Company manages its international business through a
network of global distributors, joint venture partners in
Asia, Israel and Mexico, and wholly-owned subsidiaries in
Canada, Japan, India,
and throughout Europe and
Latin America. For more
information, please visit about.skechers.com and follow us
on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
About BOBS from Skechers
BOBS from Skechers' charitable collection of BOBS for Dogs and
BOBS for Cats shoes, apparel and accessories have improved animals'
lives: over the past four years, Skechers has contributed more than
$4.9 million to help more than
954,000 shelter pets, including saving more than 588,000 rescued
pets in the United States. It all
started in 2011, when Skechers launched a movement to support
children impacted by natural disasters and poverty – a cause that
has helped the Company donate more than 15 million pairs of new
pairs of shoes to kids in more than 60 countries worldwide. To
learn more about BOBS from Skechers' commitment to making a
difference, visit www.BOBSfromSkechers.com and follow the
brand on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Media Contact: Lisa
Lane
Petco Foundation
Director of Marketing & Development
lisa.lane@petco.com
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SOURCE Petco Foundation