Pets victims of housing foreclosures
Benefit book to raise money for local animal shelter
Millions of households have pets and, annually, billions of dollars are spent on pet supplies and food. However, The Humane Society of the United States shares a much more sobering statistic.
Each year, millions of cats and dogs are left with shelters or abandoned to die on the streets.
With unemployment at a 14-year high and housing foreclosures at 60 percent, the situation is worsening. Pets are silent, invisible victims of housing foreclosures. It’s hard for people to find a place to live, pay bills and care for their pets.
To help ease the financial strain of the increasing numbers of abandoned pets, 10 authors have collaborated on Tails of Love, a romance benefit anthology scheduled for release June 2009 by Berkley Publishing. The authors and their agents are donating all of their proceeds to the Animal Adoption Foundation (AAF), a no-kill animal shelter in Hamilton County, Ohio.
A worthy cause
“This particular shelter has long impressed me as being very caring and very responsible to all animals,” explained New York Times best-selling novelist Lori Foster, the project’s lead author. “I visit the AAF and can see firsthand how caring and protective they are with the animals.”
In addition to Foster, Stella Cameron, Dianne Castell, Kate Angell, Ann Christopher, Marcia James, Donna MacMeans, Sarah McCarty, Patricia Sargeant and Sue-Ellen Welfonder have contributed original short stories to Tails of Love.
“Animals bring so much joy to our lives, and yet so many are left abandoned, sometimes even abused,” Foster said. “It breaks my heart to see animals in shelters. I want to bring them all home. I can’t donate time walking them or caring for them. The next best thing is to donate money to ensure that they always have what they need.”
Foster has a list of other non-profit organizations she’d eventually like to help with a benefit book. She tries to choose local places, such as the AAF. And, in 2008, she and 11 other authors contributed short stories to The Power of Love, an anthology benefiting the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter.
“Without the support of truly wonderful readers, the benefit books wouldn’t be a success,” Foster said. “To all my readers, thank you so very, very much.”
For more information on Foster and Tails of Love, please visit her Web site
Tails of Love trailer
Contact: Lori Foster
LoriLFoster@Gmail.com
