Dave Anderson
Photo from Dave Anderson
When Dave Anderson retired from his career in the Navy, he sought out various volunteer opportunities.
“I was looking for something to do and looking for some way to give back to the community,” says Anderson, who lives in Honolulu with wife Judy.
The husband and wife embarked on a slew of various service activities, including volunteering at Hawaii Public Radio, where Judy is a program announcer and Dave does data entry. The pair also can often be found picking up trash in Ala Moana Beach Park.
But within the last couple of years, Anderson really has found his community service specialty: raising money for animal-welfare organizations through artwork. A lifelong lover of dogs, Anderson began drawing pictures of dogs a few years ago, and also adds corresponding limericks about what the animal might be thinking.
“I exhausted all the dog candidates within my family,” Anderson says. Looking for more dogs to draw, he visited Hawaiian Humane Society. “I started drawing the dogs there, and I have done probably about 150 dogs from the Hawaiian Humane Society.
“Eventually I started thinking, ‘OK, I have got all these dogs done, what can I do to give back to the humane society?'”
He worked with the humane society to have the illustrations and poems posted on its social media accounts. Together, they coordinated a small fundraising effort – anybody could get a copy of their favorite drawing in exchange for a donation to Hawaiian Humane Society. The campaign collected donations from about 30 individuals. Anderson lives in Missouri for half of the year, and also has started working with the Great Plains SPCA. So far, he has raised about $200 for the organization.
He has compiled a collection of his work in Doggerel – PoochPics and PoochPoems, which is available as an e-book on Kindle and iTunes. Any proceeds that Anderson makes from book sales through Jan. 18 will be donated to the Hawaiian Humane Society to help local animals in need. (After the month is up, proceeds will continue to be split among the various organizations he works with.) Anderson also offers to do drawings of your dog for a suggested donation of $25 to the Hawaiian Humane Society.
“I am hoping that the funds can just help these groups in their missions,” he says. “I am just a firm believer in the missions of all of the SPCAs and humane societies to rescue dogs from environments where they are not wanted or they are not healthy or safe.
“I like their mission to find dogs, spay and neuter dogs, get them off the street and care for them,” he says. “Particularly, I try to find the ones that minimize the euthanasia. I like when they can find homes for the dogs.”
For more information and to see examples of his work, visit daveand65.com/Hawaiian_Humane_Society_Dog_Art/Dog_Sketches.html.
