Remember Me Thursday Unites World Animal Advocates for Orphaned Pets

Culminating on Sept. 24, also known as Remember Me Thursday (RMT), a worldwide pet adoption awareness campaign now in its 8th year will unite animal advocates from locations as far away as Estonia, Bulgaria and Singapore, virtually via video chat, to simultaneously light up the world for orphan pets. Helen Woodward Animal Center invites the public to a Zoom event on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 9 a.m. PST to #SeeTheLight about pet adoption.

RMT was established in 2013 by Helen Woodward Animal Center President and CEO Mike Arms. “We understand not everyone is in the position to adopt a pet,” explained Arms, “but we also know anyone who loves animals and is tapped into social media has the ability to share a message of support. By uniting all of these social media voices on one day, we can make a larger impact and really affect change.”

Now in its eighth year, RMT has been supported by 190 countries with hundreds of thousands of individuals and more than 1,000 separate animal welfare organizations around the globe holding candle-lighting ceremonies of their own, spreading the message on social media or lighting a virtual candle. The enormous swell of celebrity support includes stars such as Bethenny Frankel, Kristin Chenoweth, Carrie Ann Inaba, Katherine Heigl, Rick Springfield, Wynonna Judd, George Lopez, along with dozens of athletes, designers, musicians and social media influencers. With more than 100 luminaries onboard, the star power behind the campaign has resulted in the topic trending each year on both Facebook and Twitter, garnering more than 1 billion social media impressions since its start.

This year, for the first time ever, representatives from animal welfare organizations and campaign luminaries from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, New York, North Carolina, Singapore and the United Kingdom, have decided to unite on an international Zoom call to share the significance of RMT within their respective organizations and countries. Speakers from each organization will share the state of animal welfare in their area and how they are commemorating the pet adoption awareness campaign. At the same time, essential staff at Helen Woodward Animal Center will wave hello from Rancho Santa Fe as part of the virtual program which kicks off Thursday, Sept. 24 at a.m. PST.

The virtual program will also include words from RMT founder and Center President and CEO Mike Arms, a reading of the official RMT poem and a presentation of the RMT Rescue Pet Hero award. The ceremony will end with a heartfelt international candle lighting in remembrance of the millions of orphan pets still waiting in shelters for their own forever homes.

The one-of-a-kind international RMT Zoom call will be available online for the animal-loving public to watch. Those who wish to register to watch can click here.

For more information on Remember Me Thursday and a full list of participating celebrities and animal welfare organizations, go to www.remembermethursday.org.