The Pawliday Giving Drive was founded by Tracy in 2018 — yes, you read that year right! Pawliday was founded before WHFTD was even a shimmer in our eyes.

While out picking up food at a local Rhode Island Restaurant, Tracy was drawn to their Adopt-A-Family tree. She loved the idea that these kids who may be in foster care, or who’s families don’t have the means to provide were still able to experience joy on Christmas.

LIGHT BULB! “Why hasn’t anyone done this for local Shelter Pets?!” she thought. At the time, Tracy was the Volunteer Fundraiser Coordinator for another local rescue (who has since shut down). She went home, purchased a handful of Charlie-Brown style trees off Amazon with her own money, then designed & printed these adorable little bone shaped paper ornaments. With the help of her family, they hand cut & hand filled out a few hundred ornaments for dogs currently in the rescues care.

She set these trees up in a few local businesses & hoped for the best. To her surprise, the event took off and the amount of donations she collected for the rescue dogs filled her entire spare bedroom!

Pawliday has continually expanded year over year. In 2023, we helped 22 local rescues! On average, each rescue received 1/2 of a UHAUL van FILLED with donations!

Even though we have grown significantly, several of those original Charlie-Brown style trees are still used & our ornaments are all still handwritten. In 2023, we wrote out over 1,000 ornaments for local businesses & rescue animals! We expect 2024 to be more than that!

If you’re a business interested in hosting a tree, please fill out our contact form to be added to the list! This event requires nothing from you aside from a little floor space & word of mouth. Businesses are contacted in October for a November set date. The event runs until just before Christmas.

If you’re a rescue looking to be added to our donation list, please fill out our contact form.