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Love
is in the air for Valentine's Day
Seniors
Jamie Atkins and Lauren Hicks look for Valentine's
Day gift ideas Monday at the bookstore.
Yulian Danusastro/Online Forty-Niner
By
Scott Cobos
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
With
Valentine's Day around the corner, Justin
Rudd and www.hautedogs.org will be sponsoring
their first homemade Valentine's cards contest
for pets.
The
purpose of the contest is to draw out one's
creative nature while showing love for their
pets and shelter animals. Over 100 entrants
are expected.
"This
is an opportunity for folks to show their
artistic and creative talents," Rudd
said. "It's a great opportunity to
reflect on the interconnection and love
with a pet."
The
contest is divided into four categories:
elementary school, middle school, high school
and adult.
In
each age division, first, second and third
place winners will receive pet-related goods
such as toys, treats, trinkets and possibly
dog dishes, treat jars or pet grooming and
pet massages from Hautedogs.org and Wiskers.
Each
card that is submitted should be created
for pets, a favorite animal, or for an animal
that might be in a shelter. A list of local
shelter Web sites can be found at the Hautedogs.org
Web site.
The
contest is free to enter and is open to
kids and adults who are residents of Southern
California. Only one card per person may
be submitted. All cards that are submitted
must be hand-made. It is highly recommended
that creative materials be used.
The
back of each card must contain the contestant's
name, city, grade, school, e-mail address
and telephone number, as well as the name,
breed and age of the pet for whom the card
is being created. If the cards are made
by students and submitted by their teacher,
the teacher's name and school should also
be included.
Entries
should be mailed or delivered in-person
to Wiskers at 4818 East Second Street, Belmont
Shore, 90803. The cards must be received
no later than Feb. 12 at noon.
Winners
will be announced at an open house/awards
ceremony at Wiskers the day of the entry
deadline from 6-7 p.m. Winners will also
be listed at www.hautedogs.org. Refreshments
and treats for pets and their families will
be served.
Cards
cannot be returned by mail. If entrants
wish to keep their cards after the contest,
they are encouraged to pick them up following
the award ceremony. The cards will remain
on display at Wiskers until the day after
Valentine's Day.
The idea for the contest came from Rudd
who would like to hold the contest annually.
Originally, he was going to hold a contest
honoring Mother Nature and do that in conjunction
with his monthly 30-minute Beach Clean-up.
He decided to focus a contest on pets instead.
His
Community Action Team (CAT) is made up of
several organizations that include Haute
Dogs, the 30-minute Beach Clean-up, Operation
Santa Paws, the $1,000 Southern California
Spelling Beach Championship, and more.
The
CAT last year provided 1,500 volunteers
to rid tons of debris at the monthly beach
clean-ups, distributed holiday toys and
treats to 4,000 abandoned/abused animals
in more than 30 shelters and established
Los Angeles County's first and only off-leash
dog beach in Belmont Shore.
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