Lidl to Help Puppies Find Forever Homes
Lidl US is joining forces with nonprofit organization Operation Paws for Homes (OPH) to raise awareness and resources for adoptable shelter dogs across the United States through an Aug. 21 livestream broadcast. As part of the Retail to the Rescue project, Lidl US’ Facebook page will host the livestream of rescue puppies, and for every "like" received on the original post, the grocer will donate a meal of dog food to two OPH partner shelters, up to a year’s worth of dog food.
Lidl will also match every in-store purchase of its Orlando-branded dry dog food with an additional one-cup donation to OPH and its partner shelters during Aug. 21-26.
“In order to make strides to end the overpopulation of animals in the U.S., OPH knows that we need to do more than adopt dogs to loving homes,” said Jen Maki, a member of the board of directors at the Alexandria, Va.-based organization, which rescues dogs from overcrowded shelters in South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia. “To this end, we partner with our shelter partners and organizations in the ‘rescue world’ to educate and work together towards our common goal of stopping the cycle of unwanted pets finding themselves in shelters with little to no chance of a forever home."
Continued Maki: “It’s a sad fact that today shelters in the South run out of food to care for the dogs in their facilities. This resource struggle needs to end. By working together with Lidl on the Retail to the Rescue project, we are supporting our shelter and rescue partners who need vital resources such as dog food. When these organizations can rest assured that the dogs in their care are being fed, they can then focus on program building and adoption development. This is how we move rescue forward.”
The 5-week-old puppies to be featured in the livestream were rescued from one of OPH’s partner shelters in North Carolina. Now living safely in foster care, they bear names inspired by dessert favorites: Truffles, Cupcake, Pudding, S’mores, Shortcake, Mousse, Rocky Road and Strudel.
The livestream will air from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time, with a video made available immediately after 2 p.m. Likes used to determine the final donation amount will be accumulated from the start of the livestream until 9 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 26, which is observed as National Dog Day.
Lidl operates more than 10,000 stores in 28 countries. Its U.S. headquarters is in Arlington County, Va.