Massachusetts Company Turns Kids’ Art Into Animal Shelter Donations

Last week, the team at Care Free Homes, Inc., a home improvement company in
Fairhaven, Massachusetts, encouraged families to spend time together while supporting animals in need. What started as a simple idea became a community effort when people of all ages joined a coloring contest on Care Free Homes’ Facebook page.

How the Coloring Contest Worked

Participants could choose between the provided coloring sheets, which all featured adoptable pets from the Fairhaven Animal Shelter and Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River. The best part is that for every coloring submission, Care Free Homes donated $5 to the shelters.

Care Free Homes, Inc. Marketing Manager Stephanie Pickup explained that, as a family business, bringing families together was a major inspiration for launching a coloring
contest.

“We kind of planned it as a fun school vacation thing to help bring families together and get them to unplug because our kids are so reliant on technology,” Pickup said.

Turning Creativity Into Donations

Being animal lovers, the people at Care Free Homes, Inc. decided to turn the coloring contest into a fundraiser for local animal shelters. Having adopted a kitten from Forever Paws Animal Shelter about three years ago, Pickup was excited to give back to them, along with the Fairhaven Animal Shelter.

“You’re adopting a pet, and you are rescuing a pet, but at the same time, you might
almost be rescuing yourself, because it’s a mutual bond,” she said.

A Personal Connection to Rescue Pets

When Pickup adopted Love Bug, also known as Buggy, she was introduced to several
kittens at once. “He just kept coming up to me,” she said. “He sort of picked me, I guess you could say.”

A Community Comes Together for Animals

What started out as a spontaneous idea had a big impact as people joined the coloring contest throughout the week. Comments under the original post show work from people of different ages, families participating together, and some seriously talented artists. The contest helped the featured adoptable animals be viewed over 16,000 times, according to a Facebook post by Care Free Homes, Inc. The post also showed that $265 was raised for Forever Paws Animal Shelter and $215 for Fairhaven Animal Shelter. One of the featured pets, Boo the Cat, was also adopted.

Pickup shared that bringing the community together is important to everyone at Care
Free Homes, Inc., and they were glad to do it for animals this time.

“When you’re serving your community, you want to make sure that you are making a
positive impact in the lives of everybody, not just the people that are your customers,” she said.

How You Can Still Help Local Shelters

For anyone who didn’t get a chance to participate in the contest, you can still show
support for local animal shelters. The coloring contest was about much more than
coloring. While animals wait for their homes, they rely on community members to
support the shelters that care for them. Whether it’s through donating, volunteering, or
sharing adoptable pets, small actions add up faster than people think.

Melissa Viera is the owner of MJ's Pet Training Academy in Acushnet.