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When I began Bumblebee Pet Company in 2017, I wanted to be more than a brand that sold high quality pet products. I wanted to do more than just take the hassle out of dog walking (though that's important, too!).
I wanted to improve our community through strategic partnerships with suppliers and manufacturers who share my values. And, I wanted to give back to local animal rescue organizations who do hard work, everyday, to care for pets in my community.
Today I'm highlighting two partners who are leaders in the community - and who I am proud to support.
I speak more about the manufacturing process on the Wear Wag Repeat podcast, listen to the episode here.
Southwest Creations Collaborative was organized in 1994 as a sewing and handwork poverty alleviation project with a single goal: to provide dignified, living wage employment to women from low-income communities. The founders implemented strategies from projects around the world that recognize when a woman is given an opportunity to earn an income, she will invest in her children and family first.
I couldn't be happier about the partnership with Southwest Creations Collaborative, because they create jobs in our community and create lasting impact in our city. Their college-readiness program for their employees' children has seen 98% high school graduation rate. Amazing, isn't it?
I am proud to partner with manufacturers such as Southwest Creations Collaborative in our state of New Mexico who share my values. Through relationships like this one, together we can make a true impact.
Photographs courtesy of Kim Jackson and Southwest Creations Collaborative.
The only way I can truly describe Animal Humane, an organization serving 10,000 homeless dogs and cats each year in our state, is to tell my own story.
Piper, my sweet heeler-mix rescue, didn’t always have the life she has now. Almost 3 years ago, my previous dog Copper was hit by a car and died, and I was paralyzed with sadness. I lived alone at the time, and coming home to an empty house without an exuberant dog to greet me was more than I could bear at the time. I had gotten Copper from Animal Humane New Mexico, so it was a no-brainer to go back to find my second dog. I went in to get a dog to fill a hole in my heart -- but never expected to grow to love my second dog, Piper, as much as I had loved my first.
I originally picked Piper out of a lineup because she fit the stats - she was medium sized, about a year old, and was a breed I was looking for. But when she came in to meet me, I could tell she was scared, nervous, and out of her element. I sat on the ground and waited for her to approach me -- and when she did, she sat down next to me and leaned into me, and we both knew.
I took her home a few days later, and learned more about her past -- she had been a stray in Roswell, New Mexico and had been picked up when she was 6 months old, and had then stayed in a shelter there for another 6 months -- half her life. Animal Humane in Albuquerque has a program to rescue dogs from high-kill shelters when they are able -- and through that program my Piper girl was brought to Albuquerque.
It’s no surprise then, that we have decided to donate a portion of our profits to Animal Humane New Mexico -- it’s a tiny way that we can give back for all they have given us.
- Jen