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Abstract

This article will consist of a reflection upon my community engagement experience with Almost Home Humane Society. For the Multimedia Writing course offered at Purdue, I chose to single-handedly take on a project in which I created a magazine to be individually mailed to past donors, serving as personalized appreciation for their help, as well as a request for future donations in an entertaining format. I personally pitched the idea to Almost Home Humane Society’s marketing manager, Justin Henry, and I worked alongside him to gather the information necessary to make the magazine successful and visually appealing to the target audience. In addition to supplying me with content for the magazine, he also introduced me to other staff members and provided insight on what it is like to work at an animal shelter. The magazine was produced within a span of about four weeks, and I believe the status of its distribution is still pending due to Almost Home Humane Society’s change in management. Throughout the four weeks, Justin and I met in his office twice and maintained correspondence via text and email about information that may not have been readily available at the time of our in-person meetings, or about other questions I had during the design process. I created the magazine fully on Adobe InDesign. Photos were provided by Almost Home Humane Society staff members and textual information was written based on one-on-one interviews I conducted, outcome statistics extrapolated by Justin, and existing text from the organization’s website, such as their mission and biographical data on available pets. After submitting this project, I visited the shelter a couple more times because this project led me to volunteer, build relationships with the staff, and then personally adopt a previously stray dog named Boo in December 2018. With this article, I intend to fully elaborate upon my experience working with Almost Home Humane Society while informing and inspiring others about the impact of adopting pets from a shelter.

DOI

10.5703/1288284317237

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