ANIMAL HOMELESSNESS AWARENESS

During my research, I was in contact with people who have adopted animals in the past and people who work at animal rescues and shelters. I was able to find out what a day in the life is like for the workers as well as what is needed to run a place for homeless animals. Through my findings, I was able to see that donations are extremely important. Animal rescues and shelters are primarily non-profit organizations, thus, they heavily rely on donations and volunteers to function. There is also a large amount of animals that are in custody. In 2016, nearly 30,000 animals were admitted to the Animal Care Center of New York City. That is only one organization admitting 30,000 animals in one year. Based on that information, it is clear that animal homelessness is a major issue.

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Based on these findings, I came up with a solution that would help bring attention to this problem. I would like to create an adoption event with multiple organizations. By having one event with multiple organizations, people would be able to see the different animals and learn about each organization. There are definitely some shelters and agencies that are better known than others, so this event would allow an equal platform for the featured organizations. The event would be more than just an adoption event, as it would provide important information on how to adopt, the problems with animal homelessness, as well as personal stories from the people who work with the animals.

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As for how the event would run, I would want to book an event space large enough for at least four organizations and a stage. Each organization would have its own booth that would have information on how to adopt from them, the organization’s business card, and which animals are available for adoption. They could also have a pen of animals behind their booth for people to see some of the available animals and have the opportunity to play with them. The booths can have a donation bin as well. Throughout the event, there would be speakers. These speakers would be workers from the different organizations, and they would talk about their experience working with these animals. This is important because a lot of people only see the animals and do not much pay much attention to the people who are working with them. This gives the workers the opportunity to share their stories and for others to learn what goes on behind the scenes. At the entrance/exit of the event space, I would also include a general information table that would include a pamphlet of the organizations in attendance with their contact information and locations and a sign-up sheet for people who are interested in receiving e-mails and newsletters from the organizations. In addition to the donation bins at each individual booth, there would also be one at the information table that would be split equally between event costs and the organizations in attendance.

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In order to advertise the event, I would post flyers around the city in open spaces, such as libraries and coffee shops. The flyers would also be sent to the organizations for them to share. Social media would also be heavily involved in advertising the event, specifically Facebook and Instagram. Facebook would be used to attract the older generation, such as parents and grandparents, who would be adopting animals with their families. Instagram would be to attract the younger generation who are old enough to adopt and are single.

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This event is meant to spread awareness as well as help animals get adopted. Attendees would be learning and becoming more aware of what the workers and the animals go through on a daily basis. It is also meant to encourage people to share the experience they had at the event so that their friends and family become aware of what is going on.