I have exciting Project updates for you!! First things first, we’ve changed our Project name from the Don’t You Want Me Project to ‘Rescued by Love’ and speaking of love - I’m beyond excited to announce that for Valentine’s Day the Project partnered with dog friendly queer owned iconic Toronto bar Sweaty Bettys. Together, we’re seeking sponsors for 10 Rescued by Love photo shoots over the next few months, with the resulting portraits to be exhibited at Sweaty Betty’s during Pride.

The Pride exhibit will serve as a powerful testament to the transformative power of love, creating a visual celebration of the intersection of love, identity, and the unconditional bond between rescue dogs and their owners. By inviting businesses to sponsor individual photo sessions, I can provide the participant with a beautiful piece of artwork from their session in addition to creating the Pride exhibit and paying and mentoring a 2SLGBTQ photography student during the session. Local businesses or individuals interested in sponsoring a photo session can find our more here. 2SLGBTQ individuals interested in being a part of the free photo project click here to start the process.

We absolutely love Sweaty Betty’s - it’s a seriously cool bar that I can take Jet Jackson to with me!. Please help us in unleashing love this Valentine’s Day - if you know any businesses that might want to sponsor and support the local queer and trans community whilst also supporting a non-profit that highlights the benefits of dog ownership/rescue please share away!

And finally….the Rescued by Love Canadian tour continues. After the huge success of our 2022 tour that told stories of 2SLGBTQ people and their rescue dogs from Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax and Calgary I’m excited to announce that we’ll be kicking off this year with a tour of BC on Trans Day of Visibility, then heading to the Yukon for Pride at the beginning of August and finally we’ll be headed to Newfoundland for Trans Awareness Week in November.  If you know of anyone in these provinces that you think might like to take part in our photography and storytelling project, please share this with them and ask them to contact Jack here.