The Atwater High girls volleyball team added some furry four-legged friends to the roster for their media day. Names like Petunia, Bear, Donut, Skittles, Potato, Snoopy and Ducky were honorary Falcons as the team joined forces with the Merced County Animal Shelter to help bring awareness to animal adoption.

 

Atwater players posed for photos holding shelter animals during their team media day with Phor Groath Photography capturing the images. The hope was the photos of the players holding the dogs and cats would help bring awareness to the pets in need of a home.

 

The idea was a success. The girls took photos with 15 dogs and one cat. Five of the dogs were adopted and the other 10 dogs are guaranteed to be rescued by a local rescue shelter if they aren’t adopted in time. 

 

“This cause was important to the team because one of our team focuses this season is to be more involved with the community,” said Atwater coach Lauren Leonardo. “Caylor Gibson and her family work closely with the shelter and are actually a foster home for over 20 dogs. The girls had a blast! They are already talking about doing it again next year. Our push for community involvement started this summer, as we teamed up with Golden Valley and their varsity program to host our first annual Soar & Roar Youth Clinic.”

 

There were dogs of all breeds, colors and sizes dressed up with colorful scarves, some of which had the words “Adopt me” written on them. There was even one yellow bowtie. By choosing to use their media day as a platform, it gave the animals an opportunity to be seen by potential adopters.

 

“We are incredibly grateful to these young women for choosing to use their platform to bring attention to animals in need,” the Merced County Sheriff’s Animal Service Bureau stated in a social media post. “Their kindness, generosity, and willingness to support their community meant so much to our staff, and even more to the animals who got their moment in front of the camera.”

 

Amanda Gibson, who volunteers for the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, approached Leonardo with the idea. Her daughter Cami Gibson, who is a former Falcon volleyball player, helps run the Instagram account for the Merced County Animal Shelter. They were able to get permission from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, worked with the animal shelter and found a photographer.

 

“I think this started as a cute idea, and then it just sort of snowballed into wait, can we rescue them all?” said Gibson. “Five is a pretty big number to get adopted but we didn’t want to leave any of the animals behind. We've been tagging rescues and sending the cute pictures to other rescues, and we got a local rescue that has agreed to help us place the remaining animals. “I don't think anyone had that in mind when we started snapping the photographs.”

 

What started as a cute idea had a real impact. “Exposure for these animals, getting them seen, getting a good photograph, not just the scared snapshot of the dog when they first get brought into the shelter is huge,” Gibson said. “Getting a professional photographer for the dog meant a lot for the dog. We also get to see the dogs interact with youth in a positive way.”

 

It’s not going to stop with the Atwater volleyball team. “We are calling out Golden Valley (volleyball) this week to take on the Media Day Adoption Challenge as well,” Leonardo said. “We hope that this spreads awareness throughout our community and maybe even those communities surrounding us.”

 

Leonardo says Golden Valley volleyball coach Jacqueline Wooding has agreed to accept the challenge. The Merced County Sheriff’s Animal Service Bureau stated, “We would love to collaborate with other local teams and organizations for future media days. It’s a simple way to give shelter animals more visibility and, hopefully, help them find their way into a foster, rescue, or forever home.”

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.