The Pet Postcard Project is a grassroots arts-and-crafts project aimed at raising food for shelter pets and awareness about the plight of homeless animals. "Pet Postcards" for this project are homemade and handmade postcards featuring your own pets that you make and then snail mail into The Pet Postcard Project. Each card you send earns food for shelter dogs and cats. So far, this project has has received many thousands of funny, weird, sad, cute, and profound cards, all filled with love for a beloved pet.
Please include a PHOTO of the animal on each card, or else we won't know who's "talking!" The words are not just captions, they are creative confessions, wishes, advice, excuses, and "you know you love your dog/cat when" ideas.
This site does NOT make money on this project. It's all to raise food and awareness for shelter animals. See the FAQs here.
ADDRESS:
Pet Postcard Project
676A 9th Ave. #321
New York, NY 10036
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How Postcards Turn Into Pet Food
- A pet food company agrees to pledge a certain amount of food per postcard that comes in. Sometimes it's a "meal" (1/3 of a pound), sometimes a pound, sometimes much more - once we had a 128 pound per postcard pledge! Sometimes a company will pledge toys or even cash for each card that comes in.
- Next, someone "adopts" the campaign, which lasts 1 to 2 months. A cat or dog, several animals who form a team (Spokesanimals), sometimes even a high school, Girl Scout troop, college club, school district, or even a pet-loving company choose a shelter to be the recipient of the food, and drive cards into The Pet Postcard Project mailbox through their social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and friends and family.
- At the end of the month, cards are tallied and the shelter is sent the food or other products. Often there's a card goal, and every Spokesanimal or team has always met the goal and every shelter has always gotten the food/products.
To count toward any campaign, the words on the cards shouldn't just be captions - they are ADVICE, CONFESSIONS, OR WISHES from or to the pet.
CARDS CAN BE AS SIMPLE OR AS COMPLEX AS YOU WANT, BUT MAKE SURE THE WORDS YOU WRITE ARE EITHER FUNNY, PROFOUND, OR HEARTWARMING.
See past food raising campaigns here!
A "Pet Postcard Project" Tutorial
MAIL MULTIPLE CARDS IN ENVELOPES OR BOXES TO SAVE PAPER AND STAMPS!
To count toward any campaign, the words on the cards shouldn't just be captions - they are ADVICE, CONFESSIONS, OR WISHES from or to the pet. Words should be ORIGINAL (not quotes from authors or other sources).
The most important things to remember are:
1. Cards do not have to include your contact information, but you can include it if you'd like. It's nice for me to have email addresses in case I want to say thank you!
2. Multiple identical cards don't count toward the food goal - each card must be original.
3. Include a photo (either a real photo or simply print one on regular paper) of a dog or cat (or other animal) that YOU KNOW in each card - magazine clipped pets don't count because they are copyrighted. Original drawings or artwork are OK.
4. The sentiment on the cards MUST be either funny, heartwarming, or profound. The words aren't just random captions. Words should be ORIGINAL (not quotes from authors or other sources).
5. Cards must be in one of the 4 card categories (confessions/secrets, advice, wishes, "you know you love your dog/cat when").
6. The postcards are approximately 4 by 6 inches in size (give or take, I'm not picky) and feature a dog or cat that has a confession, advice, or wish. The humans sending the cards can have confessions, advice, wishes, etc. too. These handmade postcards are mailed in envelopes to:
The Pet Postcard Project
676A Ninth Ave.
#321
New York, NY 10036
Here's how to make the cards:
1. Find a decent photo of your dog(s) or cat (s) (or a dog or cat you once had, a neighbor's dog or cat, a friend's dog or cat, or go to the shelter and take some photos of the homeless dogs and cat -- they are the ones who may really need your attention!).
2. Think of the dog's or cat's "confession" or "advice" or "wish." Words should be ORIGINAL (not quotes from authors or other sources).
3. Print out the photo so that you have it in hard copy -- either by having photo printed, printing it on photo paper, or even easier, just printing it on regular paper with any kind of printer -- and either write the confession, advice, wish, etc. on the photo, or print out the words on paper and glue the words to the photo. Alternatively, a lot of people use a computer image program to add the words.
You're done! Or are you?
4. Like to scrapbook? Some people are VERY creative and embellish their postcards by using pretty or colorful paper, stickers, collage techniques, drawing, or anything else you might find in a scrapbooker's arsenal. There are great scrapbooking websites and stores where you can get all kinds of cool stuff to decorate your cards. I love the handmade cards the most.
Remember, every card you send earns a pound of dog food for shelter dogs and cats.
The ONLY real requirements are that the words you use be a "dog or cat confession" or "dog or cat advice" or "dog or cat wishes" or "dog or cat excuses," and that your cards be somewhat creative. The cards don't have to be fancy, but if you do like to scrapbook, then this project is definitely for you!
Here are some examples of Pet Postcard Project techniques.
Simple -- a nice photo and written words on paper:
Same as above, but mounted on paper:
Computer program -- a nice photo a words and graphics added by computer:
More complex -- computer manipulation of a photo:
More example cards:
There are many more examples on the the site.
CARDS CAN BE AS SIMPLE OR AS COMPLEX AS YOU WANT, BUT MAKE SURE THE WORDS YOU WRITE ARE EITHER FUNNY, PROFOUND, OR HEARTWARMING.
IT'S ALL FOR FUN AND TO HELP SHELTER ANIMALS. MORE PPP FAQS HERE.
THANK YOU!
Please EMAIL ME if you have any questions
