Run For Rescue: Four-Legged Friends Benefit From Nashville Marathon

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- While many of the runners and walkers in today's Nashville Half Marathon, Marathon & 5K are participating for reasons like improving health, accomplishing a personal goal or just being more active, nearly 100 Mars Petcare Associates will create a sea of yellow on the course, running to help pets in need find loving homes.

In Middle Tennessee alone, more than 10,000 pets are homeless each year, and today, the Run for Rescue team from Mars Petcare, one of the Nashville-area's largest employers, is running with the goal of raising awareness and $50,000 to support the PEDIGREE® Foundation grant program – of which all proceeds go to help shelters and rescues.

The PEDIGREE® Foundation and Mars Petcare have a shared vision for creating a world where all pets are safe, secure, fed well, loved and accepted. Mars Petcare is helping to make Nashville a great city for people and pets, starting with local partnerships and adoption events to bring awareness to the many ways pets can improve communities – and lives.

"At Mars Petcare, helping pets find loving homes is in our DNA," said Lisa Campbell, ‎director of PR & Marketing Communications at Mars Petcare US and a PEDIGREE® Foundation Board Member. "We know firsthand the many benefits pets bring to our lives, and we're thrilled to help raise awareness for the most vulnerable pets in shelters, especially in our hometown of Middle Tennessee."

In 2008, Mars Petcare established the PEDIGREE® Foundation, its own private 501(c)3 to support shelter and rescue organizations across the country. Since its inception, the foundation's grant program has donated more than $5.5 million to more than 4,400 organizations through operation and innovation grants.

This weekend's fundraising and race activities build on a long-standing commitment to helping put as many pets as possible in loving homes, including Mars Petcare's annual Adoption Weekend event – during which this year, the company covered adoption fees for all pets adopted at Nashville Humane Association, Williamson County Animal Center, and Metro Animal Care and Control. Nearly 400 pets were adopted into loving homes during the weekend – an important step toward addressing/fulfilling Mars Petcare's vision statement of A Better World for Pets®.

"We are grateful to the Run for Rescue team for helping support our mission through their participation in the race today," said Bo Segers, President of the PEDIGREE® Foundation. "The funds raised by the Mars Petcare Associates will allow us to help more than 4 million dogs who enter shelters each year find lasting, loving homes."

Grants from the PEDIGREE® Foundation not only impact shelters and rescues across the country, but also those in our own backyard.

"Thanks to support from the PEDIGREE® Foundation, the Agape Animal Rescue puppy program has made great change in our community by saving almost 200 puppies from local animal control," said Tanya Willis, Executive Director of Nashville-based Agape Animal Rescue. "While our priority has been to help pregnant dogs and puppies from Metro Animal Care and Control, we are proud to offer this support to more rural shelters as well and are honored to partner with PEDIGREE® on this effort."

To help support the Run for Rescue team's effort and the PEDIGREE® Foundation's mission, donate at pedigreefoundation.org. For more information on Mars Petcare's BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ initiative, visit http://bettercitiesforpets.tumblr.com/.

About Mars Petcare US
Mars Petcare is the world's leading pet nutrition and health care business. A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS® is the vision statement held by Mars Petcare as we believe that pets make our lives better and that pet ownership brings joy and benefits which should be accessible to everyone. In the United States, Mars Petcare food brands include PEDIGREE®, IAMS®, ROYAL CANIN®, GREENIES®, CESAR®, NUTRO® and SHEBA®. Veterinary practices include BANFIELD® and BLUE PEARL®. Specialty brands include WISDOM PANEL® Canine DNA Tests and WHISTLE® GPS Pet Tracker. The company's WALTHAM™ Centre for Pet Nutrition is a leading scientific authority on pet nutrition and wellbeing. Mars Petcare has more than 37,000 Associates worldwide. For more information about Mars Petcare's vision of A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS™, visit https://www.facebook.com/ABetterWorldforPets.

About the PEDIGREE® Foundation
Formed in 2008 by the makers of PEDIGREE® food for dogs, the PEDIGREE® Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to helping dogs in need find loving homes by supporting the good work of shelters and dog rescue organizations throughout the country. Through no fault of their own, more than four million dogs end up in shelters and rescue organizations every year, and nearly half of them never find a place to call home. For more information on how you can support the foundation visit https://www.pedigreefoundation.org/.

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SOURCE Mars Petcare