Sarma and Leon, her adopted pup.
We are so happy to announce Gifts that Give Back, a program to donate a percentage of our sales to NYC-based charities benefitting animal rescue and nutrition in public schools. From today through Christmas, 2010 we will be donating a percentage of sales of select items on www.oneluckyduck.com to Sean Casey Animal Rescue, Funny for Fido, and Wellness in the Schools.
SimplyFido Bamboo Nap Mat
“With lots of people shopping for holiday gifts online, this is a way for us and them to make a contribution to a few small local organizations that can really use the help. I hope the program can also increase awareness of these important causes, and of giving back in general,” says Sarma Melngailis, founder of Oneluckyduck.com, and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine.
10% OF SALES from One Lucky Duck Pet products to go to Animal Rescue!
10% of the total sales from our entire pet section will be donated to Sean Casey Animal Rescue and Funny for Fido, two organizations in New York City that operate on a small scale to make a huge impact for needy animals. Naya and Mila’s Organic Gingersnap Dog Treats, Simply Fido Organic plush toys, and Skinny Skinny Organic Dog Shampoo are just some of the best quality natural and organic pet products carried by One Lucky Duck.
Funny for Fido (www.funnyforfido.org) was created by comedian and animal-activist Justin Silver to provide financial grants to no-kill volunteer-based animal rescue organizations. They hold an annual stand-up comedy event to bring together the country’s top comedians to raise money for their grants program and awareness for their mission to save homeless animals. Funds raised at their events and throughout the year are used to pay for veterinary care, food, training, transport and temporary and permanent housing for animals that would otherwise be killed.
SimplyFido's Marty Moose
Sean Casey Animal Rescue (www.nyanimalrescue.org) takes in rescued, confiscated, neglected, injured, ill, unmanageable, or otherwise unwanted animals from private owners, zoos, shelters, and the streets of NYC. These animals are cared for, and/or rehabilitated to the best of their ability until they can be found healthy, happy homes – through adoption to qualified candidates or legally released into habitats suitable to the specific species in conjunction with licensed wildlife rehabilitators.
Sarma: “Sean Casey Animal Rescue located in Brooklyn is where I adopted my puppy Leon. They had taken him in at about 4 months old – he was found abandoned with severe demodectic mange. They treated him with the medication he needed and he’s a healthy happy pup. They’re a very small place with cages always full—before I’d even left with Leon his cage was already being filled with a new dog needing rescue. I’d like to help them help more dogs and other animals.
Funny for Fido was started by Justin Silver, my dog’s “daytime daddy” and major all around dog lover. He has two rescue pit bulls of his own and works closely with rescue organizations to help them find homes and rehabilitation for needy pets. He’s a true dog-hero.”
Read more about Leon! Sarma has posted a blog about her own experience adopting a rescue dog here.
5% donated to Wellness in the Schools!
Vanilla Crispies
5% of the sales of One Lucky Duck’s very own Cheese-y Quackers, Vanilla Crispies, Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Cookies, and Honey Bunches Bars will be donated to Wellness in the Schools, an NYC organization dedicated to improving nutrition in school lunches. We chose these snacks because they’re among the favorites of children and adults alike, they’re all entirely gluten free, and they’re yummy! These are just some of the healthy and delicious snacks made by hand at Pure Food and Wine restaurant in NYC.
Wellness in the Schools is a non-profit, community based organization founded in 2005 in order to improve the environment, nutrition, and fitness in NYC public schools. Pure Food and Wine’s Executive Pastry Chef, Jana Keith-Jennings, began volunteering with WITS to help work towards reforming the school lunch programs item by item in twenty NYC public schools.
Here Jana describes the alarming situation they’re up against: “At current, nothing is cooked from scratch. All food arrives canned or boxed or frozen and is then defrosted and heated to health code standards. About the most creative cooking I have seen so far, is making “barbecue sauce” from scratch, which consists of mixing grape jelly and ketchup together. It’s incredibly depressing what we are feeding these kids. To give you an idea of some of the effects these sugary, nutrition-less meals have on children, here are some statistics: 43% of NYC kids are overweight, and over half of those are technically obese. Right now 1 in 3 children in NYC have type 2 diabetes, which is directly linked to diet and lack of exercise, and they are predicting that ratio to rise to 1 in 2 kids in the next year. If we don’t make changes and raise awareness soon, this generation of children will not outlive their parents. The program’s goals are to eliminate all food items that have more than 5 ingredients, eliminate chocolate milk from the menu, cook at least 2 vegetarian meals a week, and very slowly begin to cook more and more of the meals from scratch. Eventually they hope to work with local farms and get local and organic produce into menu circulation, but that will take some time. There is a lot of red tape to get through, as well as a lot of resistance, and lack of understanding as to why these changes would be beneficial.”
The values these charities represent are right in line with the core values of One Lucky Duck. The welfare of animals as well as the nutrition and well-being of children in public schools are of deep concern to Sarma and all of us at One Lucky Duck. Thanks for your generous support!
Tags: charity, gifts, gifts that give back, one lucky duck, pets, raw food, sarma