THE STARS ALIGN IN SUPPORT OF THE 1st ANNUAL REMEMBER ME THURSDAY CANDLE-LIGHTING CEREMONY
Celebrity Animal Lovers Unite with Rescue Facilities across the Globe to Shine a Light on Orphan Pets

Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.  (Sept. 11, 2013) – Helen Woodward Animal Center is uniting with animal-lovers and animal welfare organizations globally in a Remember Me Thursday candle-lighting ceremony.  The candles, lit on the exact same day across the world, will honor the millions of pets who lost their lives over the past year without the benefit of a loving home.  Word of the awareness campaign has spread like wildfire in the form of celebrity social media posts and rescue facilities from New York City to Puerto Rico to Japan have joined the cause.  Helen Woodward Animal Center invites the community to take part locally at the US west coast Remember Me Thursday candle-lighting ceremony, Thursday, September 26th, 2013.  This first annual global event will take place on the first day of Helen Woodward Animal Center’s International Animal Welfare Conference at the Hyatt La Jolla at 9:00am.

The Remember Me Thursday global awareness campaign is championed by Mike Arms, President of Helen Woodward Animal Center, and creator of both the International Pet Adoptathon and International Home 4 The Holidays program which, in partnership with national animal organizations, has placed 8.3 million pets in homes since 1999.  He is joined in partnership with the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, which represents over 150 animal welfare organizations in New York, New York and by Maddie’s Corner, an animal welfare organization, founded by Tony and Emmy Award Winning singer, actress and animal advocate Kristin Chenoweth, dedicated to bringing attention and support to animals in need and groups working on their behalf.  The Mayor’s Alliance will hold the US east coast Remember Me Thursday candle-lighting ceremony at the Bideawee pet welfare organization in New York City, New York.

Remember Me Thursday asks organizations and individuals to dedicate the fourth Thursday of September, annually, to remembering the millions of healthy homeless pets who lost their lives over the last year.  (The Humane Society of the United States approximates this number at 3.4 million annually in the US.)  By uniting in this way, on one very special day, the worldwide awareness campaign hopes to shine a light on the millions of orphan pets still awaiting adoption.  Individuals can get involved by attending a candle-lighting ceremony at their local shelter, or assisting with organizing one; lighting a virtual candle on-line at www.remembermethursday.org; changing their Facebook profile pictures to the Remember Me Thursday icon all day, September 26th; spreading the word about Remember Me Thursday on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels using #LIGHTFORPETS; and most importantly by always adopting and encouraging friends and family to do the same.

Celebrities are quickly getting behind the campaign with Remember Me Thursday Facebook and Twitter posts to encourage their followers to join the cause. Maddie’s Corner founder Kristin Chenoweth (Broadway’s Wicked, NBC’s The West Wing and ABC’s Pushing Daisies); actress Kristin Bauer Van Straten (HBO’s True Blood), comedian and actress Margaret Cho (Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva) have all used their social media voice to champion homeless pets.  Also onboard with support are cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy (Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell), recording artists Berlin and X, MUTTS cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, along with dog behaviorist Tamar Geller, MAZDASPEED race car driver Elliott Skeer, social media sensation Grumpy Cat, and the Ian Somerhalder Foundation. Broadway kitty celeb Vito Vincent (from the musical Breakfast at Tiffany’s) will host the NYC event for the Mayor’s Alliance at Bideawee, the organization from which he was adopted.

Globally the movement has been adopted by such rescue facilities as Federación Protectora de Animales de Puerto Rico, Inc. (under the translated title Recuerdame este jueves), Care For Dogs Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand and ARK (Animal Refuge Kansai) in Japan, all of which will hold their own candle-lighting ceremony on September 26th.  Helen Woodward Animal Center will hold the US west-coast September 26th candle-lighting ceremony at the first day of its 2nd annual International Animal Welfare Conference at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla.  The ceremony fits perfectly with the mission of the conference, which provides an extensive line-up of some of the most cutting-edge speakers, thinkers and activists in the animal welfare industry who aim to explore how to breathe life into adoptions programs that are outdated and killing millions of domestic animals annually.  The Remember Me Thursday candle-lighting ceremony kicks off at 9:00am in the Aventine Ballroom at the Hyatt La Jolla.

“Only 30% of pets in US homes come from rescue facilities,” said PR Manager Jessica Gercke.   “Millions of beautiful, healthy orphan pets die every year without the benefit of a loving home.  These pets can be purebred, well-behaved, loving animals but they don’t get a second chance because there is so little awareness of the types of animals available at local rescue facilities.”

For more information on Remember Me Thursday and a full list of participating celebrities and animal welfare organizations, go to remembermethursday.org.  For more information on the US west coast candle-lighting event contact PR Manager Jessica Gercke at (858) 756-4117 x 335 or jessicag@animalcenter.org.