'Paws for Pizza' campaign helps island rescue animals find forever homes

Pizza and drinks benefiting Victoria animal rescue Victoria's Virtuous Pie and B.C.'s Nude Vodka Soda are partnering to raise awareness and donations for a local animal rescue organization.

Victoria — A B.C.-based beverage company and a Victoria vegan pizza restaurant are teaming up to help animals in need find forever homes.

When you order from Virtuous Pie in downtown Victoria, you can ask for the "paws for pizza" combo – which adds two Nude Vodka Soda's to your pizza for an additional $8. The beverage company has committed to donating $5, per combo, up to $5,000 to RainCoast Dog Rescue.

"Animal rescue is a big part of what we do, we actually wrote it into the business plan," says Nude Beverage CEO, Julius Makarewicz. "There are a lot of animals that have been in shelters for a long time – we’re talking years – and we’re drawing awareness to these animals, and we’re literally printing them on the front of the pizza boxes."

The pizza boxes feature the profiles of several of the island-based rescue group’s intakes – who have had a particularly difficult time finding forever homes. One of those dogs is Chase, a German Shepard mix who had a difficult start in life.

"We found Chase on the streets of Beirut," says Jesse Adams, RainCoast’s founder. "We got a call that a dog had been dumped, hit by a car and by the time we got to him the next morning, someone had cut off his tail."

Adams and his team committed to bringing Chase back to Canada, nursing him back to health, and finding him a loving home. Because of his injuries, Chase requires a special home preferably with a yard, another dog and an owner who has the time to let him out frequently. The rescue group has been looking for that home for a year and a half now, and is hoping that the new campaign will help them find the perfect fit.

"Honestly, he’ll bring so much joy to whoever adopts him, because he’s got some of the most personality of any dog that I’ve ever met in my life," says Adams.

Helping dogs like Chase find a perfect home is something that Virtuous Pie is happy to help out with.

"What better way to advocate for these puppers and build awareness and get them adopted than to enjoy a Nude and have some pizza," says Virtuous Pie bar manager, Kara Anderson.

RainCoast Dog Rescue says the campaign will help feed recues, cover vet bills and raise awareness for dogs like Chase.