An event on Thursday, Sept. 27, will raise awareness of the millions of healthy pets awaiting adoption in animal shelters and encourage communities to opt to adopt and reduce the number of orphan pets euthanized each year.

Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation (HARF) is uniting with animal lovers and welfare organizations around the world to participate in the sixth annual Remember Me Thursday candle-lighting ceremony. The community is invited to participate.

The event aims to unite individuals and pet adoption organizations to be an unstoppable, integrated voice advocating for orphan pets to live in forever homes – not die waiting for them.

“There are approximately seven million pets in homes throughout the U.S., but only 30 percent of these pets come from rescue facilities. The rest come from pet stores, puppy mills and breeders,” said Dawn Hall of HARF. “Millions of beautiful, healthy orphan pets die every year without the benefit of a loving home, simply because the public is not aware of how truly amazing these animals are.

“The team here at HARF sees so many wonderful pets that are simply abandoned because their owners had to move or didn’t understand the time and care that a pet requires. These pets can be purebred, well-behaved, loving animals, but they don’t get a second chance because there is so little awareness of the types of animals available at local rescue facilities.”

HARF invites the community to be part of the movement at this very special Remember Me Thursday Facebook candle-lighting ceremony.

On Sept. 27, post a photo of your rescue pet to Facebook and tag it with #RememberMeThursday and Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation.

In addition, for that day, go to HARF’s Facebook page and update your profile picture with the #RememberMeThursday logo. Any supporters that would like to help save more orphaned animals can use the Facebook Fundraising tool and hold a personal fundraiser with proceeds going to HARF’s animal rescue program.

For more information on Remember Me Thursday, contact Hall at (808) 876-0022 or dawn@hawaiianimalrescue.org.

This is a day to remember orphan animals that lost their lives without the benefit of a loving home and, equally important, to encourage friends and family to always adopt their pets.