Hello everyone,

I'm Serena Brown, founder of MeMe, JJ & Friends and creator of Adopt a Heart, a rescue storytelling and community engagement initiative.

My children's stories are inspired by real rescue pets. My Chihuahua, JJ, was adopted from a shelter, and that relationship inspired a partnership rooted in animal welfare storytelling.

That connection later helped shape Trooper's animated adoption story. Trooper had spent more than six months in one shelter before being transferred to the shelter where I adopted JJ. When I learned his story, I felt compelled to use my storytelling platform to help bring visibility to his adoption journey.

I'm happy to share that Trooper has since been adopted into his forever home.

This experience led me to think bigger about how storytelling, family engagement, literacy programming, and community partnerships might help shelters increase adoption visibility, strengthen public connection, and create fundraising opportunities that directly support animal welfare organizations.

I'd love to learn whether others here have explored storytelling, educational outreach, or community-based engagement as part of shelter support, fundraising, or adoption efforts.

#CommunityPartnerships*
#EducationandTraining
#MarketingandSocialMedia

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Serena Brown
author creator
MeMe JJ and Friends, LLC
GA
https://memejjandfriends.com/community-advocacy/
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Hi Serena,

Welcome aboard. Storytelling is one of the most underused levers in animal welfare, and it's exactly where I think the field is headed.

At Animal-Angels Foundation we've been treating real cases as content from day one. Lisa called our Pet Help Desk from a hospital bed about her dog Buddy. Eleven days of follow-up texts later, Buddy was in a crisis foster home and Lisa could heal knowing he was safe. That story now lives on our website, in our grant applications, on our podcast, and on social. The story isn't separate from the work, it IS the work, just told twice.

We've also built an AI mascot ecosystem (Cotton, our Dog CEO, and a comedic training video series called Keep The Pet) to make prevention content reach renters and pet owners who don't follow traditional animal welfare channels.

Two specific connections I want to make for you.

First, Sara Kimball just joined our team this week as our Volunteer Coordinator. She's a fellow children's book author (her book is "Rowen and the Animal Shelter") and runs Ralph's Responders, a kids' program teaching animal care and disaster planning. You two should absolutely be talking. Happy to make a warm intro if you'd like.

Second, Trooper's animation is the kind of asset more shelters need. Most rescues can write a Facebook post but can't produce media content that travels. If you've built a workflow that scales, that's a contribution to the whole field.

I'd love to talk. calendly.com/animal-angels.

Thank you for sharing,

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BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 5/13/2026 2:12:00 AM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: RE: Can storytelling and community literacy partnerships help shelters increase adoption visibility and fundraising?

Hi Serena,

Welcome aboard. Storytelling is one of the most underused levers in animal welfare, and it's exactly where I think the field is headed.

At Animal-Angels Foundation we've been treating real cases as content from day one. Lisa called our Pet Help Desk from a hospital bed about her dog Buddy. Eleven days of follow-up texts later, Buddy was in a crisis foster home and Lisa could heal knowing he was safe. That story now lives on our website, in our grant applications, on our podcast, and on social. The story isn't separate from the work, it IS the work, just told twice.

We've also built an AI mascot ecosystem (Cotton, our Dog CEO, and a comedic training video series called Keep The Pet) to make prevention content reach renters and pet owners who don't follow traditional animal welfare channels.

Two specific connections I want to make for you.

First, Sara Kimball just joined our team this week as our Volunteer Coordinator. She's a fellow children's book author (her book is "Rowen and the Animal Shelter") and runs Ralph's Responders, a kids' program teaching animal care and disaster planning. You two should absolutely be talking. Happy to make a warm intro if you'd like.

Second, Trooper's animation is the kind of asset more shelters need. Most rescues can write a Facebook post but can't produce media content that travels. If you've built a workflow that scales, that's a contribution to the whole field.

I'd love to talk. calendly.com/animal-angels.

Thank you for sharing,

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
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