By Renee Larr
On June 23 Painting with a Twist in Carmel will host a fundraising event for Dogs on Deployment. PWAT pairs an instructional painting class with friends and beverages. Once a month, PWAT hosts a Painting with a Purpose evening. Guests pay to create a work of art with half the proceeds going toward a particular charity.
“Part of the company motto is to give back to our local communities every month,” said Jeanne Shirley, owner of PWAT in Carmel.
Dogs on Deployment is a national organization whose mission is to give military members peace of mind concerning their pets during their service commitments by providing them with the ability to find people and resources able to help them.
“The guard and the reserves are very active in Indiana. Those are the people that get deployed a lot and lots of times don’t have a consistent pet caretaker. They end up with a short notice deployment and then don’t know what they should do with their dog or cat. A lot of them get surrendered to shelters because people don’t know there is another option,” said Diann Wellman, Indiana coordinator for DOD.
Wellman is a military spouse and an animal lover. She’s been involved with DOD for a little over a year. She’s always looking for more volunteers and events.
Participants need to register in advance through PWAT. Tickets are $35 to participate. Each person will create a dog-centric piece of art that they will be able to take home. The painting is a play on the famous piece called Love by Robert Indiana with a paw print replacing the letter “O”.
Guests will be walked step by step through creating the piece of artwork by an instructor. PWAT encourages guests of all skill levels to get involved. They call it fun art not fine art. There will be a bar available with beverages for purchase.
For more information on DOD visit dogsondeployment.com. For more information on PWAT in Carmel visit paintingwithatwist.com.
