A Small Town Rescue with a Big Heart...

I have been wanting to publish a brochure and a newsletter for the South Hamilton Animal Alliance for years now.  It is one of those things that takes a fair amount of time to do, and so has been put on the back burner for quite some time. 

In August, we tried to enlist local kids into a "Design A Logo" contest as we did not have a logo for the Animal Alliance.  I thought it would be fun to do, a good incentive for kids to be creative, and a great way to get locals, even the young ones, involved in our cause.  We put an article in the paper, sent notices to the local art teachers and schools.  The contest began and ended, and we did not get one single submission.  Thus, no new logo.  I had written up a rough draft of a brochure but was waiting for the contest to end so we could add our "new logo" from the contest onto the brochure.  So here I sat with a partially completed brochure, and ZERO art skills.... although I did create the Jewell Animal Hospital logo all by myself.

I knew I did not have it in me to come up with something that meant enough to be the logo of the rescue.  It needed to be more than just a cute animal or two.  So what did I do?  I sat on it...and sat on it...

Here we are in May, eight months later, and I suddenly decided that we need to make this happen.  People need to know what is going on here.  We cannot expect people to help us if we are not getting the word out about what we do.

My high school friend, Matt, owns a graphic design business.  Although we probably talk only once a year, it feels as though it was just yesterday that we lost my car in Newport, RI.  It didn't occur to any of us as we walked away from the car, that we should remember the name of the street on which I parked my car.  When we were done gallavanting around Newport, we headed back to the car.  We were all following each other, and no one was actaully leading since no one knew where the car was.  It took a while but we finally realized, no one knows where we parked!  After what seemed like hours of searching, I threw my hands in the air in surrender, and shouted, "We need to call the police" in a panic, wondering, "How am I going to explain this one to Mom?".  Then I hear someone shout, "There it is"!  And there it was just sitting there, directly across the street from where we were standing, mocking me.  Can cars smirk?  I breathed a sigh of relief and we all laughed as we climbed into the car.

So a week ago I called Matt.  "I need help!"  I wonder if he thought I lost my car again?  I told him I wanted a logo for the animal alliance and could he help?  He agreed immediately and asked me to send him information about our group.  I emailed him a copy of the brochure I made.  And he wrote back, "Can't open it."  Ok, seriously, Matthew the computer and art whiz can't open it?!  What am I supposed to do now?  I know very little about computers with the minor exceptions of ebay and petfinder! 

I copied and pasted the text and photos of the document I created, and sent it on to Matt in an email.  On the cover of the logo-less original was the phrase "The Small Town Rescue with a Big Heart".  I had never used this phrase before but something inspired me to use it this time.  Inside of my brochure were the words, "Remember your small town animal shelter.  Small size often means greater need."

Wow, did Matt work fast, and come up with some amazing work.  He had designed a bunch of doggie/kitty logos, but he said none of them seemed quite right.  He kept getting drawn back to my statement about being a small town rescue with a big heart.  From those words he designed our new logo.  Not only did he create our new logo, he layed out a new professional brochure for us.  What a difference that makes!  He used my words and his artistic ability to create a wonderful new document for us to use.  And he did it for free.

I am going to keep you in suspense a bit. Our new brochures should be arriving this week, just in time for our yard sale fundraiser!  If you would like a free copy of one, send me your mailing address, and I will mail one to you when we get them in.  Email your postal address to Immydog@msn.com .  Then you can see the new logo and brochure for yourself.

I will admit that I was surprised there was no dog or cat in the logo, perhaps even disappointed initially.  Doesn't every rescue want a puppy or kitty logo?  Then he sent me our new poster!  He could not have expressed my words and the feelings they provoke in me better. 

Here is your preview... feel free to share.

Thank you, Matt!



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