All for Animals supports National Animal Shelter Appeciation Week

October 29, 8:13 AMSanta Barbara Pet ExaminerKaren Lee Stevens

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Santa Barbara Pet Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Enjoy fine dining at Elements Restaurant and support a great cause!

Elements courtesy photo

The first week of November is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week and All for Animals, a non-profit, public outreach and educational organization dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of compassion to ALL animals, is getting a head-start on the week-long event with a fundraiser to draw attention to the wonderful animals for adoption at Santa Barbara animal shelters.

On Thursday, October 29 (that's today!), the public is encouraged to have lunch, dinner, drinks, or dessert (or all of the above!) at Elements Restaurant & Bar, across from the beautiful Courthouse Sunken Gardens and 10% of the proceeds will be donated to All for Animals.

Elements, which celebrated its fifth anniversary this summer, is one of Santa Barbara’s most popular restaurants and premier caterers for major social events, receiving awards from many local and regional publications including Best Firetini, the “hottest drink in town.” Lunch is served from 11:30 am-2:00 pm, happy hour from 4:30-6:30 pm and dinner from 5:30 -10:00 pm. View Elements' menu here.

Currently there are approximately 65 million companion dogs in the United States and 77 million companion cats. Only about 18 percent of dogs are adopted from animal shelters, while only 16 percent of cats are adopted from shelters. The majority of animals are purchased from pet stores or breeders, from ads in the newspaper, or given by friends and neighbors.

All for Animals seeks to increase pet adoption rates from animal shelters by featuring adoptable pets on the Internet and highlighting the wonderful services that shelters offer such as adoption and behavioral counseling, low-cost spay/neuter clinics, and other life-saving programs.

“As a small organization doing big things, one of our main goals has always been to encourage pet adoption by posting photos on our Web site’s Adoptable Pet Photo Gallery” says Karen Lee Stevens, All for Animals’ founder and president, who adds that the organization recently embarked on a new program to create videos of adoptable pets at local animal shelters. “Video will enable potential adopters to get a better feel for an animal’s personality, whether it’s watching a dog catch a Frisbee or listening to a cat purr,” says Stevens. “We want to make it fun and easy for people to meet and ultimately adopt a new best friend.”

Whether educating consumers about important animal-related issues or helping save lives through its Adoptable Pet Photo Gallery, All for Animals, Inc. is proud to be a leading animal advocacy organization that, for the past 13 years, has sought to bring people and pets together to celebrate the human-animal bond. To learn more about All for Animals, visit the organization's Web site.