‘What We HeART’ is a monthly curated collection of awesome and inspiring things, ideas, and happenings from the world of animal welfare.
October is a month of magical anticipation — of festivities and family fun, ghoulish celebrations, piles of crunchy leaves, and a cool breeze that gets us out and about! Here’s what we’re loving this month.
Art Tips from Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls
We’re always excited to hear about instructional art videos that can both feed our brains and our souls! Animal welfare can be a vastly rewarding field of work, but can also have some tough moments. We’ve learned that self-care is the key to compassion resiliency and this watercolor video seems like a perfect creative-getaway at the end of the day!
Technology as a Problem Solver!
“I’m a software developer and I’ve always wanted to use my unique set of skills and life experiences to create something that would improve the issue with animal homelessness,” says HeARTs Speak member Stacey Gammon. Enter her problem-solving solution: Shelter Helper! Using the Shelter Helper app, staff and volunteers can streamline communications like sharing updates and information, posting photos and coordinate walks, among other things! The app even integrates with Facebook, making it easy for page administrators to gather photos from a variety of volunteers or staff members and posting directly on the shelter’s feed.
The app is currently in beta testing, but you can download and use it, while also providing valuable feedback to improve its effectiveness. “My #1 goal is to create something useful. I want it to help animals get adopted and result in more lives saved,” says Stacey. “More sharing of information and photos = more exposure = more lives saved!” We couldn’t agree more! Download the app today.
ACC’s Race to the Right House
We have a lot of shelter marketing heroes out there who are changing the world for animals, but this promotion really wowed us: It not only took advantage of current events, it tickled our funny bones as well! Animal Care Centers of New York City (a PEP shelter!) hit a home run with this election-themed adoption video that is sure to help get a lot of pets adopted!
(Pet) Art in Unexpected Places
HeARTs Speak member Adam Goldberg is no stranger to capturing the attention of community members and marketing pets in need of homes. Adam worked as a digital marketing specialist for the Humane Society of Broward County (perfecting programs like their Snuggle Delivery) before pursuing his career as a pet photographer. Now, Adam is combining his two passions to help raise money for shelters as well as promote shelter pets. A win, win (win!) in our books!
Photo editing on the go!
Given the fast pace of animal sheltering and rescue, sometimes cell phone photography is the most effective way to catch a much-needed picture. Lucky for all of us, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has an app for that. Want to learn more about perfecting your cell phone photography and editing? Check out this FREE guide!
Sharing is Caring
HeARTs Speak international member Nicholas Lee knows the value of collaboration, and recently did a photography training session with the staff and volunteers at the SPCA Singapore, teaching some of his favorite tips and tricks for capturing life changing portraits of adoptable!
