A Year of Advocacy

By Jenifer Lee, Founder of The Rescue Dog Project

It’s been over a year since the launch of The Rescue Dog Project. I did what I set out to do – create art that speaks for the strain on rescues and rescuers alike.

Surprising, many people seemed unsure what I was doing – and visual communications is what this is all about! Only a little mortified, it's an awareness campaign, comparing it to the No Smoking campaign; subconsciously it is supposed to work.

Right?!

Maybe the question was WHY? Why waste valuable time on something that makes no money and has no true measure of success?

That doesn't sound as nice.

I work in marketing. I know messaging works. And the more voices behind the message, the louder and more effective it becomes. I had the tools to create visual campaigns and a website that can help people make better adoption choices. Create impactful memes that work organically on social media, while I am working the day job. Create chatter!

Maybe, rescue as a career?

Personally, I was able to enhance skills in digital marketing, organic social strategy, and e-commerce, along with launching an online store. But the hard truth – marketing and design skills, while valuable, don’t easily translate into livable wage opportunities within the rescue world. With platforms like Canva and AI tools widely available, organizations often rely on unpaid volunteers for creative work. Expressing my love for rescues on a cover letter wasn't enough! ;)

SIDE NOTE!

The government easily undervalues the skilled labor needed to amplify these missions – expecting labor for free from kind-hearted individuals who most often give up wages and time to make a difference in their communities! And shaming people for wanting to take a comfortable living wage to do their life's mission, which is always MORE THAN 8 hours a day.

The Rescue Dog Projects

2024/25 Highlights

• On-Time Official Launch: On National Rescue Dog Day 2024, the website and campaign launched as a test market to gather feedback and grow awareness.

• Community Engagement: Hosted booths and spoke with dog lovers face-to-face. The design and messaging sparked conversation – subtle advocacy working through curiosity and dialogue.

• AdvoKITS Distributed Nationwide / Local Events: These advoKITS to advocate (very punny!) included postcards for community bulletin boards, stickers, koozies, “Speak For Them” and "Rescue Hero" wristbands, buttons and tote bags. Over 100 kits were sent to rescues around the country. Teachers handed out bracelets to their students reminding them to consider a rescue dog!

AdvoKITS to help you advocate!

Also bracelets for big and little wrists.

• Merchandise: Created and launched a store on AMAZON for t-shirts and totes, and print on demand bumper stickers and digital downloads for posters. Every dollar from every sale goes back into the operations and marketing the message. 

• Social Media Advocacy: Shared and boosted compelling visual content to generate conversation and awareness.

  

  

  Grassroots Outreach: Pinned flyers at dog parks and cafes, handed out stickers at events, and used everyday interactions as opportunities to share the message.

Volunteering in rescue hasn’t always been a good fit for me. That's where "advocate your way" comes from. I truly think we can all make a difference without getting mixed up in anything that makes us feel uncomfortable. Personally, I seem to keep matching up with hoarding situations calling themselves rescues, but instead the animals were abused and not properly cared for, lived in stacked in cages, some even died, which only deepened my motivation to advocate.

Too many people, including rescuers themselves, don’t realize what’s happening behind closed doors. The overcrowding, the burnout, and – most heartbreakingly – the suffering of the dogs that are confined 23.5+ hours a day. Living in soiled cages. Pacing, barking, chewing, and deteriorating in stressful, unstructured environments. Dogs with beautiful temperaments left to suffer emotionally and physically, until they’re overlooked long enough to be euthanized—or worse, forgotten.

That isn’t rescue. It’s imprisonment

Please, stop breeding.

Rescue your favorite breed.

Reverse the cycle.

Contribute to the healing, not the hurting.

The mission has always been simple: make people think before they buy, adopt, or breed. Even small actions – seeing a sticker, reading a card – can plant seeds for change.

Thank you for supporting The Rescue Dog Project!

P.S. Manifesting rescue dog expenses as an annual tax write-off AND no pet rent!