We all love to eat, and with so many amazing spots in the City of Brotherly Love, dining out is a fun supplementary part of Philly’s culture. Now all diners, drinkers and self-proclaimed foodies can eat out and truly feel good about it by helping our city’s furry friends thanks to a fundraising event happening this Wednesday, Sept. 18—- Dine out for Pet’s Sake.
Help Philly’s furry friends this week during Dine Out for Pet’s Sake
Dine out for Pet’s Sake will feature more than 20 top spots around the city donating 5%, 10% or more of their sales to the Pennsylvania SPCA which will directly benefit the PSPCA’s life-saving mission of helping animals in need around the state.
To make this event possible, the PSCPA linked up with another well-known local spot— Philadelphia Brewing Company. The popular Kensington brewery has not only been a staple for delicious food and refreshing drinks in the community, but they have also served as a supporter of the PSPCA (check out their ‘Caturdays’ every third Saturday of the month in the PBC tasting room), and plenty of other animal welfare organizations in Philadelphia as well.
When Gillian Kocher, Director of Public Relations and Marketing for the PSPCA was looking for someone to partner up with, she immediately thought of the Philadelphia Brewing Co.
“We have have had a wonderful relationship with Nancy and the folks at the Philadelphia Brewing Co. for a while, and the Pennsylvania SPCA has wanted to do something like this for quite some time,” says Kocher. “There are lots of other organizations that do dining events, and we for the last three or four years have really been trying to do more events in the community. The PSPCA has been around for over 100 years, so sometimes we have more of a reputation of being an older organization. So, we wanted to be more out and about and garner a younger crowd, and also let people know if you can’t adopt or volunteer, there are other ways that you can support an organization like ours.”
PBC owner Nancy Barton was more than eager to help out her friends at the PSPCA and use her connections in the industry to find participating spots for the event on Sept 18. “When Gillian came to me and had the idea, I thought it was great, and it’s been fun getting everyone involved from the Philly bar scene as well,” says Barton. “Most people that we know in the bar business are huge animal lovers and want to do whatever they can to help, so this is a great way to do just that. It was really nice to see—almost all of them were immediately on board right away.”
Participating spots include Brickwall Tavern, Cantina Dos Segundos, Fergie’s Pub, HipCityVeg, Lucky 13 Pub, Porta, South Bowl, Tattooed Mom, The Thirsty Soul, SouthHouse, Second District Brewing, Triangle Tavern, The Abbaye, Batter & Crumbs, Chick’s, Cry Baby Pasta, Fishtown Brewpub, For Pete’s Sake, Grace Tavern, Harper’s Garden, McGillan’s Old Ale House, PS & Co., Rosy’s Taco Bar, Memphis Taproom, Standard Tap, Doobie’s Bar, Morgan’s Pier, Oath Pizza, and a whopping 100% of proceeds from custom PSCPA bagels offered at Knead Bagels.
The PSPCA does not receive any city, state or federal funding, meaning events like Dine out for Pet’s Sake provide a much-needed flow of life-saving ammunition for the animal welfare organization.
“Events like this are so important because, quite literally, without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this important work,” says Kocher. “We rely very much on events like this and what better way to support our mission than by going out and having some cocktails or having some delicious food with your friends while making a difference to animals not only here in Philadelphia, but throughout the state.”
This year marks the first for this charitable occasion, but both Kocher and Barton see the opportunity to make Dine Out for Pet’s Sake annual.
“We’re hopeful that we will have a very successful first year, and then hopefully the participating restaurants will want to stay on board for next year and this will also continue to grow,” says Kocher. “The fact that we have between 25-30 spots now is just blowing my mind. I can certainly see this becoming a real signature event for us and raise a lot of money for the animals in this city and throughout. The sky is the limit, and hopefully next year we can double, and then who knows. “
To learn more about Dine out for Pet’s Sake, the Pennsylvania SPCA and Philadelphia Brewing Co. visit pspca.org and philadelphiabrewing.com
