Planet Dog Foundation Celebrates Record Year of Giving
The Third Annual Woofminster Amateur Dog Show Fundraiser held in September, complete with a Cover Dog Challenge to win a professional photo shoot and chance to be on the cover of the next Planet Dog catalog, raised over $6,000 for NEADS: Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans, a non-profit that trains service dogs to help people with disabilities live more independent lives throughout New England and the nation. In March, PDF was named the 2008 Official Outfitter of NEADS by donating over $25,000 in Planet Dog products to outfit all of NEADS' puppies, dogs-in-training and new graduating Assistance Dogs.
In August, PDF and the Portland Seadogs teamed up for Maine's homeless animals to help strike out homelessness in pets at "Bark in the Park", the second annual fundraiser to benefit Maine's animal shelters. Additional support to local animal shelters and sponsorships of fundraising walks for the Animal Welfare Society, the Animal Refuge League and the Center for Grieving Children rounded out PDF's local giving.
In addition to hosting and supporting local events, employees of both PDF and Planet Dog volunteered hundreds of hours of their time throughout the year in the community. "We encourage and enable each employee to take paid time off to volunteer for organizations of their choice," said Stephanie Volo, Planet Dog's President. "And, we turned our annual holiday celebration into an employee volunteer effort spending 120 hours in just one day helping at the Preble Street Resource Center," added Volo.
"As a small company doing big things, we are supporting like-minded organizations that will most benefit from our support," said Alex Fisher, Planet Dog's Founder. "From the beginning, we knew we wanted to build a socially responsible company that not only enhanced the lives of dogs and their people, but one that also improved the world around us by giving back," added Fisher. For more information about Planet Dog or the Planet Dog Foundation, please visit www.planetdog.com or www.planetdogfoundation.org.
