Our Cause
Putting Heart Into Our Work
At HuggleGroup™, our values are written into our mission and embodied in the HuggleGroup™ Heart we hand-stitch on each and every one of our unique and cuddly companions. However, those values, which include a genuine love and compassion for pets and pet owners, are more than just words—and more than just a lovingly-stitched symbol.
Those values have now given birth to HuggleCause™, our ongoing give-back campaign that launched in early 2021! Each year, we select a few vital, mission-based organizations that are doing real work to help those in need. From there, we work with them to design a HuggleGroup™ toy that matches their fighting spirit. A portion of proceeds from the sale of that toy goes directly to funding their efforts. These organizations represent the changes we want to see in the world and help us transform the love we have for your pets into practical support for those who need it most.
Check out what we've done so far!
In late 2022, HuggleCause™ focused on Warrior Canine Connection (WCC). WCC is a pioneering organization that utilizes a Mission-Based Trauma Recovery (MBTR) model to help recovering Warriors reconnect with life, their families, their communities, and each other. Warrior Trainers and WCC have seen incredible results through their program.
For Fall 2022, HuggleCause™ is once again supporting Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a nationwide nonprofit that provides trusted information and a community of support to anyone impacted by breast cancer. For 30 years, LBBC has helped celebrate the widely diverse stories of those living with breast cancer, as well as the families and friends who advocate for their loved ones’ care. In solidarity with such amazing and tireless efforts, HuggleGroup™ will dedicate a portion of all proceeds of our Pink Bones to support the efforts of Living Beyond Breast Cancer.
For the Summer of 2022, our HuggleCause™ initiative focused on The Sato Project—an organization whose small-but-mighty team works around the clock to rescue the abused & abandoned dogs of Puerto Rico. With a combination of recent natural disasters and a low amount of veterinary care in the region, there are currently an estimated 500,000 stray dogs roaming the island’s streets and beaches. With no access to food, fresh water, or veterinary care, many of these dogs live daily lives of severe suffering. The municipal shelter system is overwhelmed, with only five shelters across all 78 of the island’s municipalities. These shelters have a combined euthanasia rate of over 94%. For thousands of stray and abandoned dogs across Puerto Rico, The Sato Project is their only hope.
Our Q2 HuggleCause™ for 2022 focused on BADRAP—an organization whose mission is to provide community support for pit bull-type dogs & their owners. Since 2005, BADRAP support has included spay/neuter work and emergency vet care in addition to vaccinations, microchips, and general support to pit bulls and their owners. This organization works to help families maintain the bond with their dog(s) during times of crisis such as housing shortages, financial setbacks, and natural disasters through their “Keep’em Home Project”. Additionally, BADRAP routinely travels out of state to support authorities with evaluations of pit bull-type dogs from natural disasters and cruelty cases. BADRAP works to help shelters around the country create solutions for the pit bulls in their community, specifically viable education/adoption programs for their sheltered pit bulls.
Our first initiative of 2022 kicked off with K-9 Axel Knottie® to support Project K9 Hero and Axel, their national ambassador. A portion of proceeds from the sale of this toy went to supporting their work providing medical care, food, and death benefit assistance for our nation’s retired Police and Military Working Dogs.
In the fall of 2021 during September & October, our chosen cause was Living Beyond Breast Cancer. This organization works with breast cancer patients and their caregivers through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Founded in 1991, LBBC aims to provide relevant information to patients based on their personal experience with breast cancer. It also supports health care studies with a particular focus on age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and diagnosis. For this partnership, we launched a pink toy bone to support LBBC and their incredibly important work.
For the latter half of the summer of 2021, we supported Living Free Animal Sanctuary with our limited edition Seaver the Seagull Knottie®. This remarkable organization saves dogs and cats who are scheduled for euthanization at public shelters. With 155 acres in Southern California that is also home to an immersive equine therapy program for veterans, Living Free gives a vast, happy sanctuary to second-chance animals.
In May and June of 2021, HuggleGroup™ saluted Humane Rescue Alliance, a not-for-profit organization in D.C. that provides direct rescue and care of animals in need. After merging with St. Hubert’s animal welfare center in New Jersey, HRA has become the first regional, community-based, multi-state animal welfare organization in the nation. HRA promotes compassion and encourages people to find joy, comfort, and companionship through the love and appreciation of animals. Remarkably, last year, HRA saved 15,211 lives through adoption and transport, distributed more than 450,000 pet meals to low-income families, and HRA’s field officers responded to more than 20,000 calls for help in NJ and DC. HRA protects animals, supports families, and advocates for positive change to create a world where all animals can thrive.
For Autism Awareness Month in April, we partnered with NEADS World Class Service Dogs, which provides service dogs to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. NEADS Service Dogs are trained in a variety of tasks that can address a range of symptoms, behaviors and issues caused by a child’s autism. This task work can help with the child’s socialization skills, behavioral skills, and fine and gross motor skills. NEADS Service Dogs for Children with Autism are selected for their special chemistry with children. All NEADS Service Dogs are gentle, tolerant and well-trained, but each has its own personality that can be matched with an appropriate child.
Our March donation was directed to VCA Charities, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping pets in need receive access to care. Since 2005, VCA Charities has provided free veterinary services, medication, food, and financial support to more than 100 nonprofit shelters and animal welfare organizations in local communities and across the nation. Together with individuals like you, VCA Charities makes a better world for pets-and the people who love them.
In February 2021, our team selected House With A Heart Senior Pet Sanctuary. Using two seasonal heart-shaped toys, it served to remind us that while February may be National Heart Health month, there are efforts underway all across the country to mend the hearts of pets by giving them a healthy, heart-filled home. Sanctuary residents are dogs and cats who have lost families and homes, often due to an owner’s passing and, because of their advanced age & medical condition, have less chance of being adopted. Once a dog becomes a resident, they have a loving home for life. The Sanctuary’s mission is to provide a ‘’Helping Hand” for senior pets.
Our first HuggleCause™ partner was our friends at Warrior Canine Connection using our Limited Edition Labrador Retriever toys. These two adorable canines—one Black & one Yellow—were only available for a short time as they debuted our HuggleCause. WCC is especially important to HuggleGroup™, as we’ve worked with them for a number of years and greatly admire their mission. A pioneering organization that utilizes clinically-based Animal Assisted Therapy to help wounded Warriors reconnect with life, their families, their communities and each other, WCC enlists recovering Warriors in a therapeutic mission of learning to train service dogs for their fellow Veterans.