Sammy's Hope: Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The products were used to improve the quality of photographs taken of adoptable cats at the shelter for posting to websites like petfinder.com and social media like Facebook and Instagram.

The grant gave our Cat Team, who are not experienced photographers, the equipment and skill needed to take beautiful, eye-catching photos of our adoptable cats. Being able to blur out the kennel background is invaluable. Unless it's a shot you are going for, no one wants to see an animal in a cage. Sympathy pics only reach a small percentage of the population, but a beautiful cat who clearly fills the shot, speaks to people. I love what we've been able to do for our cats with the Canon, even though it is in the hands of a beginner.

How many pets did this grant help?

I can't say for sure how many cats the new pictures helped, but I can tell you that since better pictures are being posted we've had many, many more inquiries about them. In the first 5 months of 2013 we adopted out 55 cats/kittens; in June and only the first half of July, we've already had 30 adoptions!

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

My foster kitten Miranda is hands down the clearest picture success story. I started posting her pics, taken with the Canon, from the first day I had her at only about 1 week old. Within days, she had more comments than I could field, several adoption inquiries and ultimately an approved adopter who waits daily for me to send her more pictures. While Miranda is adorable no matter what, being able to take amazing pictures of her and capture her personality in a photo is 100% the reason she is adopted!