Photo and story by Delaney Dickey / Contributing Writer
Located in the heart of Murfreesboro, Loveless Fine Photography is known for their exquisite photos and welcoming staff. Now, the company gives back to the community by providing free pet portraits for clients who donate at least one bag of cat or dog food. The offer is good through Feb. 2, and all pet food will be donated to Rutherford Country PAWS.
“The thing is, a lot of people give a lot of donations to the shelters during Christmas, but after that, they tend to forget about them so the shelters sent us a wish list,” said Macie Biggs of Loveless Fine Photography. “We are doing pretty good right now.”
Biggs glanced at an overflowing pile of pet treats, gleaming with satisfaction.
Donations to shelters in Rutherford County and surrounding areas are slow around the new year, which made for an easy, admirable decision by Loveless Photography in hosting such a charitable special.
“We do special events for things like Santa and Easter, which are pretty much done every year,” Biggs said. “We came up with some new stuff to get us through the slow period, which is new and fun. Plus, we really get excited when pets come in.”
On Friday, Desiree Ruiz brought in her two dogs, a German Shepherd named “Johnny” Cash and Carley the Golden Retriever, to have their free portraits made. It was evident that the owner had made an effort with the dogs’ appearance, as their coat was shiny and the dogs were very well presented. Whether it was taking the dogs to a pet grooming specialist, giving them a Dog Multivitamin regularly, or the owner is good at looking after the pets, it is always nice to see how well kept some animals can be.
“I heard about this event on Facebook,” Ruiz said. “It is neat because this special going on is charitable. I mean, who doesn’t like giving back?”
Loveless Photography utilized social media as the primary means for promotion of this charitable special.
“Social media is the best way to reach to a lot of people and make it easy for people to kind of recognize an event going on like this one,” Biggs explained. “Facebook is really good because they have the option to create events, so that is very useful. We also utilized Instagram for promoting this event and other specials alike.” If you want to reach out to people using social media and apps such as Instagram then you will want to grow your instagram in order to build a platform and a successful following, it can take a lot of work to do this and you may want some extra helping hands to support you and your event. There are professionals such as Upleap that can help you with meeting your social media needs.
Immediately after Ruiz’s session was over, Kate Childers walked into the small waiting room with her two small dogs, Cookie and Dyson.
“I thought it was fun. It’s a good way to get some puppy chow to the shelters. I try to do as much as I can for the shelters,” Childers said as she flipped through the different background choices available.
While this may have been the first time Loveless Photography held a charitable special benefiting a local animal shelter, they have talked about hosting another special during the summer time, according to Biggs.
To participate in this event, clients must call Loveless Fine Photography to book an appointment or check out their Facebook page for more details.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Tayhlor Stephenson, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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