When we first started the Pawliday Giving Drive back in 2018, it was for one specific rescue. As we have grown the drive over the years, we now help over 10 rescues in Rhode Island alone!

The main focus of Pawliday is to help local rescues and shelters gain the necessary supplies to operate throughout the year, minimizing their out of pocket costs. In tying this drive to specific adoptable pets, it provides additional exposure for these animals in hopes that they will find a forever home. Many animals we chose to put on our trees have been waiting months, if not more, for a forever family.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that all tags and items for each pet will be purchased and returned to hosting locations. Because of this, we have to ensure that the drive is equal and fair for each rescue based on size and need. Some rescues are very small and do not have the capacity for a large amount of supplies, while others take on more pets and have more storage space!

Since the success of this drive has grown exponentially over the years thanks to the generosity of donors like yourself, each rescue gets on average a 1/2 Uhaul van (or more) of donated supplies! As most of the rescues that we help are volunteer based, we do assist by separating out their items based on category and condensing them for storage, which has been appreciated immensely by our Rescues. This means that although (example) Gucci with Rhode Home Rescue may have requested paper towels, a gift card & bones, those specific donated items may not go direct to Gucci with Rhode Home Rescue, but may go to another rescue or shelter in need. Although we loved seeing all of your creative wrapping, this is the reason why we now specifically ask for unwrapped gifts. All rescues, and participating businesses are notified of this process in their signup application.

Of course, we will always ensure that any personalized items, Holiday cards or Notes are given directly to the specific rescue! In the past, we had a dog Jake who received a specialized embroidered bed & we made sure he got it!

In addition, gift cards will be split evenly among the rescues, while some other gift cards may be kept within our organization for use in future fundraising events, or emergency shelter donation requests.

If you have any additional questions on Pawliday, or our process, please feel free to contact us directly via email: werehereforthedogs@gmail.com