14 Ways to Make Your Stimulus Check Count for Animals
The third round of stimulus checks is hitting bank accounts, and you’re thinking up ways to make the money count. An extra $1,400 might not be a lifesaver for you, but it could be for animals in need—and some humans, too.
Here are 14 animal-friendly and uplifting ways to use your stimulus check to pay it forward:
1. Feed Two Birds With One Scone
Support local vegan restaurants by buying gift certificates and giving them away to nonvegan people who have lost jobs or are facing other difficulties.
2. Bring Warmth to a Cold, Lonely Dog
Be an “angel” for a lonely dog who’s chained outside 24/7. When you sponsor a sturdy, custom-built PETA doghouse, you’ll be supplying desperately needed protection from the elements and a dry place to curl up to a neglected chained or penned dog like Friend:
3. Fund the Future
Grow your money for good. Food-tech companies like Air Protein and BioBQ are creating vegan meats that don’t cause pandemics or animal suffering. As thriving companies like Beyond Meat prove, vegan investing is “green” in more ways than one!
4. Help Readers Become Animal Rights Leaders
Buy a copy of PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s latest book, Animalkind, for every school or library in your county. Its awe-inspiring animal stories and ideas for ending cruelty will inspire the next generation of animal rights leaders.
5. Fill ’Em With Kindness
Donate nonperishable vegan foods like Loma Linda’s Tuno and Chipotle Bowl, Annie’s Vegan Mac, and staples like pasta, rice, and dried beans to a local food bank or homeless shelter, especially in food deserts.
6. Don’t Forget Hungry Dogs and Cats
Many food bank patrons’ families include animals, so drop off some cat or dog food (like v-dog, a PETA Business Friend) with your contribution. You can also donate dog or cat beds, sheets, blankets, and toys to your local shelter or ship dog or cat food to the address below—PETA’s field team “miracle workers” will put your donations to good use.
PETA
Attn.: Community Animal Project
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
7. Give a Gift That Gives Back
Missing a friend or family member or know someone who needs a lift? Send a present to let them know you’re thinking of them. Check out the PETA Shop for ethical clothing, cruelty-free toiletries, vegan treats, and other gifts that will put a smile on your loved one’s face while supporting our work.
8. Help PETA ‘Fix’ Animal Homelessness
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, PETA was working to end the epidemic of animal homelessness, by performing low- and no-cost spay/neuter surgeries on animals like Ringo, pictured below. Our team has “fixed” more than 150,000 animals since this life-changing program began—preventing hundreds of thousands more from being born only to end up homeless or neglected. With your help, we can reach even more!
9. Make School Cool, Not Cruel
Subsidize the cost of a class trip to a real animal sanctuary, a nature preserve, an open-admission animal shelter, or a museum instead of to cruel roadside zoos, aquariums, or marine abusement parks like SeaWorld.
10. Give Your Wardrobe a Humane Makeover
Your sweatpants—and animals—need a break: Upgrade to fashions that are free from leather, wool, alpaca fleece, angora, or anything else cruelly stolen from animals. And after a long winter, why not treat your feet to some vegan sandals, like those from PETA Business Friend Nomadic State of Mind?
11. Feed the Piggy (Bank, That Is)
As 2020 reminded us, it makes good cents to build a financial cushion. Set aside emergency funds to cover veterinary bills in case your animal companions become ill or injured. Or if you know a companion animal guardian who is on a fixed income, set up a veterinary care emergency fund in their name. The peace of mind a guardian will feel knowing that their loved ones are covered is priceless.
12. Take a Task off a Busy Parent’s Plate
Make life a little less hectic for a working mom or dad—while showing them how delicious it is to eat kindly—by giving them a vegan meal subscription for their family.
13. Make a Difference for Animals in India
There’s no working from home for bullocks, donkeys, ponies, and other “beasts of burden” in India who are forced to haul heavy loads day after day. Help Animal Rahat (a PETA-supported organization) give these animals much-needed relief—your donation will sponsor care for an animal at one of its sanctuaries or even help fund a truck or tractor that will allow impoverished families to retire their animals.
14. Spread the Cruelty-Free Love
Donate cruelty-free personal-care supplies to a women’s shelter, a domestic violence and abuse shelter, or other transitional housing. Search PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies database to find products like hand sanitizer, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste that aren’t tested on animals. You can also download the free app version (via the App Store or Google Play) to search right from your phone.
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If you use your stimulus check to help someone in need, thank you for paying it forward. Click below for even more ideas:
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