Today is Remember Me Thursday, a worldwide pet adoption awareness campaign now in its eighth year.

RMT was established in 2013 by Helen Woodward Animal Center President and CEO Mike Arms. Moved by the staggering statistics that over a million homeless pets lose their lives each year in the U.S., Arms put out a call to rescue organizations in an attempt to create a social media global awareness campaign.

The campaign 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.

How To Get Involved

1. Post on social media using #SeeTheLight and #RememberMeThursday.

On Sept. 24, help make sure everyone who opens their social media accounts sees a message about pet adoption by sharing your rescue pet’s story, or sharing ready-made graphics available at this link: Downloadable graphics.

2. Enter the #RememberMeThursday Contest.

Animal-lovers can also win life-saving funds, toys and food for adoptable pets looking for forever families at their favorite non-profit, pet adoption organization.

There are two ways to enter:

• Submit your pet’s photo and story to the contest page.
• Post a picture of your pet on social media using the hashtags #RememberMeThursday and #SeeTheLight.

Don’t forget to nominate your favorite shelter or rescue.

In addition to the Top 3 entries selected by judges, a fourth winner will be chosen as The People’s Choice Winner and will receive pawsome Remember Me Thursday swag, along with a gift basket filled with a choice of cat or dog gear, toys and accessories. (After entering on the contest website, you will receive a custom link to share with family and friends so they can cast their vote for you and your beloved rescue pet.)

3. Virtually Light a Candle.

This year’s Remember Me Thursday Candle Lighting was held via a one-of-a-kind Zoom event and united animal rescue advocates all over the world. If you missed it, you can still light a virtual candle for an animal or animals by going to this link: https://remembermethursday.org/gallery-sign-up/?_ga=2.226110365.662368549.1600992287-1707132077.1600992287

4. Download the song

You can download the official Remember Me Thursday song, “This Candle Burns Bright” by Stevie Woodward, on ITunes.

5. Adopt

The Helen Woodward Center is inviting people to visit their local shelter to adopt, and to encourage friends and family to do the same.

To see adoptable animals available at the Helen Woodward Center, click here.

We at Wow my pet did that! have adopted many wonderful pets over the years, some still with us, some gone but fondly remembered. In honor of this day, we are re-sharing a post below about one of our more unusual adoption stories involving our awesome orange cat, Jingles. We’re also resharing an infographic — Five reasons to adopt an adult cat.

Coincidence or fate, and a cat named Jingles or Morris

Five reasons to adopt an adult cat