Ellen DeGeneres Donates 200,000 Meals To Shelter Animals In Oscar Swag Bags
Everyone's a winner at the Oscar's, but this year that's especially true for shelter animals. Thanks to Ellen DeGeneres, a vocal animal welfare supporter and the host of this year's Academy Awards. The 2014 Oscar gift bags will contain a 10,000-meal donation from DeGeneres's all-natural pet food company, Halo, Purely for Pets. According to the Halo blog, the company has partnered with Freekibble.com in order to help 20 non-winning Oscar nominees help animals:
The Halo and Freekibble.com gift makes a notable departure from the typical expensive gift bag products geared toward leisure time and pampering and taps into the penchant of many celebrities for giving... With this in mind, the 10,000-meal donation to the animal rescue or shelter of the recipient's choice is one of the most expensive items in the gift bag, a $6,100 retail value.
"We know many celebrities are extremely generous," said David Yaskulka, Halo's vice president of marketing communications. "So we decided to gift them with something different that we think will mean a lot to them. We're looking forward to making those donations!"
This is certainly not the first time Halo, Purely for Pets and Freekibble.com have joined forces to make such a generous donation: the companies donate an estimated 1.5 million meals to shelter animals each year. DeGeneres's pet food brand has also donated 1 million meals to shelters for the U.S. Postal Service Adopt a Shelter Pet Stamp Program in 2010.
UPDATE: Help Ellen save animals' lives by supporting your own local shelter. Post a photo of your own dog -- with the #MyRescue hashtag on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And if you can mention the shelter you got your rescue from, even better. We'll highlight your post below.