Bestselling author Gwen Cooper embarks on national book tour of no-kill animal shelters

Via PRWeb - In support of her new novel "Love Saves the Day" (Bantam, 2013), narrated primarily from the perspective of a rescue cat named Prudence, New York Times bestselling author Gwen Cooper is forgoing the usual author tour of bookstores. Instead, Cooper has selected 15 no-kill animal shelters, sanctuaries and rescue groups across the country to participate in the Love Saves the Day National Tour.

Cooper will read from her new book; meet fans, fellow aurophiles, shelter volunteers and staff; and distribute desperately needed in-kind donations collected from corporate and private donors. Additionally, Litter Genie® litter disposal system will donate a complimentary Litter Genie® to all event attendees at each tour stop*.

The three-month tour will kick-off in New York City at Bideawee on May 2, culminating in August with a reading and event at Best Friends in Los Angeles. Cooper will also make two additional September stops in North and South Carolina.

“When you help animals, you help people,” says Cooper, whose 2009 memoir "Homer’s Odyssey" about her blind cat, Homer was an instant bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and has been published in more than 15 foreign languages and 25 countries across the globe.

“Every rescue organization in this country is doing its part to promote cleaner, safer, happier communities by taking animals off the street and placing them in loving homes,” she adds. “Hundreds of them have taken that mission of community service even further with unique programs that also directly serve people. I'm incredibly proud to be working with a select handful of them on this tour.”

Love does save the day for millions of abused and abandoned animals and for humans as well. The shelters and rescue groups on the Love Saves the Day Tour have been selected on the strength of innovative programs that extend their work with animals into programs that also serve people with outreach initiatives that serve the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, at-risk children, military families, disaster survivors, domestic violence victims and more.

Some of them are small — such as the Pixie Project in Portland, currently housing only 13 cats — and some are large — such as LA-based Best Friends, one of the largest no-kill rescue organizations in the country. But all of them are changing lives for the better, whether those lives go on four legs or two.

“Many people believe that helping animals may come at the expense of helping humans who also need assistance,” says Cooper. “The fifteen shelters on this tour — representative of the kind of work being done by so many others — prove that helping animals and helping people go hand-in-hand.”

Chikako Harada, Brand Manager for Litter Genie®, notes “Litter Genie® is honored to be a part of Gwen’s book tour and support animal welfare. We love all cats and hope that the Litter Genie® disposal system makes it that much easier for people to care for their pets and consider adoption for the future.”

In addition to corporate/sponsor donations of food, litter and Litter Genies®, Cooper has designated a “Homer’s Hero” in each of the 15 tour cities to wrangle thousands of individual donations of toys, blankets, and other creature comforts arriving from across the U.S. and abroad, and ensure that they are distributed to the tour shelters.

 “Corporate generosity is indispensable to the non-profit community,” says Cooper, “but grass-roots support is essential as well. This tour highlights how companies and individuals can work together to change the lives of people and animals for the better.”

*Litter Genie® system provided to all event attendees while supplies last. In the event that turnout exceeds supply, coupons for $5.00 off the purchase of a Litter Genie® system will be provided.