Nashville.com Visitors Guide To Nashville, TN
Are you an animal lover who also enjoys art, music, cocktails and relaxation? Then we’ve got an event tailor-made for you! On Saturday, Sept. 17 at OZ Arts Nashville, Pet Community Center (PCC) will host the 15th annual Art for Animals, sponsored by Mars Petcare. The fundraising event will include live and silent auctions, a seated dinner, a special presentation and more. All proceeds from Art for Animals will benefit PCC’s life-saving spay/neuter, preventive veterinary care and outreach programs.
Pet Community Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the human-animal bond through accessible veterinary care and support services. PCC operates a high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter and vaccine clinic in East Nashville. Serving thousands of animals annually, PCC focuses on the health and well-being of animals in Nashville. Additionally, Pet Community Center is tackling barriers to veterinary care and provides additional support to pet owners in zip codes with the highest rates of pet homelessness. The results of PCC’s work include lower pet homelessness rates, lower shelter intake and euthanasia rates and increased access to veterinary care for pets living in poverty.
Art for Animals will begin at 6:30 PM with a cocktail hour and preview of featured auction items. Suzanne Alexander of American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks and news anchor with RFD-TV Network will return to emcee the event for the fourth time. During the evening, Pet Community Center will present volunteer and animal welfare advocate, Melissa Mathews, with the Jourdan Parenteau Excellence in Service Award.
Photo by Karen Will Rogers
Mathews began volunteering with Pet Community Center in 2017 by helping the organization with its press and marketing efforts. For the past five years, she has devoted countless hours to growing PCC’s client and donor base, planning and executing fundraising events and supporting many other organizational needs, all while leading a successful PR career in the music industry.
Mathews’ impact on animal welfare extends well beyond Pet Community Center. Together with her husband, Gil, she has fostered 59 rescue animals from local organizations, including Metro Animal Care and Control, Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, Dogs Deserve Better and Gigi’s Rescue. When asked about her favorite part of volunteering with animals, Mathews answered, “My husband and I both would agree that it is seeing former fosters’ happy faces once they’re settled into their forever home. The before and after photos say everything.”
Some auction items to look out for at Art for Animals include two large format original paintings by Dalia Kantor; an original painting titled “Soul Mates” by Peach McComb; a one-night stay at East Nashville’s Urban Cowboy; two tickets to see Reba McEntire and Terri Clark in concert at Bridgestone Arena; two tickets to see Luke Bryan in concert at Resort World in Las Vegas; four tickets to see country music star Walker Hayes in concert in Corbin, Ky.; two bottles of rare allocated bourbon from Buffalo Trace; a mosaic on canvas by photographer Penny Adams; a private cocktail class at The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club; two hours of organization by The Home Edit; a weekend getaway to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch at Hurricane Mills; and a seven-night stay in a beachfront home on Oak Island, N.C.
Tickets for Art for Animals are $125 per individual ticket and $1,000 for a table of eight. For more information about the fundraiser and tickets, please visit bidpal.net/artforanimals. Supporters who cannot attend the event but would still like to donate or bid on silent auction items can do so at the same link.
To learn more about Pet Community Center, visit www.petcommunitycenter.org and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
About Pet Community Center
Pet Community Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the human-animal bond through accessible veterinary care and support services. Pet Community Center assists the public with free and low-cost spay/neuter services and low-cost preventive veterinary services. Since 2011, Pet Community Center has served more than 100,000 animals and produced measurable decreases in the number of homeless animals that enter local shelters.
