Winter isn’t just about sweater weather and blizzards. It’s also the holiday season that most of us wait for the entire year. For most of us that means decorating the house, hosting parties, and spreading holiday cheer. Sometimes, that holiday cheer can come in the form of charity, whether that is volunteering at a local soup kitchen, donating items, or simply purchasing a hilarious calendar for yourself and loved ones in order to help out puppies in need.
Recently, Lucky Bulldogs Rescue – a nonprofit organization – experienced viral fame for their creative fundraising idea. They created a 2020 calendar entitled “Dad Bods & Rescue Dogs” and was put together by the shelter’s volunteer and board member, Lyndsey Wright.
Lyndsey said to Bored Panda, “A handful of people were throwing around fundraising ideas and I said I could shoot a calendar (I’m a full time Newborn and Family photographer). Someone mentioned something about dad bods and another Board Member (Founder, Stacy Perkins) said Dad Bods & Rescue Dogs and I was instantly sold on the idea!”
In order to make the idea come alive, Lyndsey recruited volunteer models – a task that wasn’t hard.
“I made a post on my personal Facebook page telling people what we were doing because I knew I had some friends who would be great for this project. One of the models is a photography client. I mentioned during their session if he’d be willing to model and we did it right then and thereafter their family photos!” she stated.
Once the photos for the calendar got published, it wasn’t long till they became a big hit after people continued to share them.
“Most people absolutely love it and think it’s hilarious, which was absolutely the point!” Lyndsey said.
However, there were a few people who began to ask questions as to why “dad” bods were chosen as opposed to “mom” bods.
“Some have made comments about why we don’t include ‘Mom Bods,’ but that answer is pretty simple in my opinion… This calendar is about the dogs; the Dad Bods are just included to make it comical and unique. I can’t imagine a Mom Bods & Rescue Dogs calendar would be very well received by the public. This was just a bunch of regular guys who are friends or clients of mine who were up for poking a little fun at themselves and helping me out for a good cause. It wasn’t meant to be a body positivity thing, it was meant to be a dog thing with a funny twist,” she explained.
At present, more than 550 calendars have been sold. And depending on size, they range in price from $20 to $25, with 100% of the proceeds going to the animal rescue organization.
The rescue also has other items in their store, so you can give it a visit in order to see what else they have to offer.
“Along with other items we have for sale in the shop, it has brought in over $4,200 for the rescue! We are currently the top calendar when sorted by ‘most popular,’ which is pretty exciting!”
The organization is currently holding a fundraising auction that ran until November 24th and had over 255 items that were up for bid. Even if you didn’t get to partake in the auction, you can still donate. They welcome any and all donations through their PayPal.
Lucky Bulldogs Rescue is a new organization based in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but some of the volunteers are spread all across the state of Iowa, with one even being in Tennessee. The rescue’s main focus is helping to improve the lives of the dogs with short snouts.
“Our mission is to rescue as many brachycephalic (short snout) dogs as we can from the commercial breeding system, rehabilitate them, and adopt them into loving forever homes so they can experience the spoiled pet life after spending their first years being bred. We focus on English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Pugs, Boston Terriers, and other short-nosed breeds we like to call the smushie faces. All our dogs are fostered in the homes of volunteers who work hard to gain the dogs’ trust and teach them that positive human interaction is possible while also maintaining medical care and sometimes dealing with dogs with special needs,” Lyndsey said.
It sounds like a fun calendar with a good cause behind it. I’ll take 10 for Christmas!
