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The Virginian Helps To Draw New Hope For Senior Dogs

Posted on Oct 10, 2023

The Virginian has made the news once again. This time in People Magazine and on ABC World News Tonight on the residents' artistic endeavors to help adoptable senior dogs find new, loving homes.

Recently, The Virginian's resident artists participated in an innovative new program called the Grandpaws Initiative. This unique program was created by Draw for Paws, a project started by an 8-year-old cancer patient and animal lover, Scarlett Chwatko, to raise money for animals in need through art.

The Grandpaws Initiative recruits seniors to create drawings of older animals needing adoption. Working with local Fairfax animal shelter Homeward Tails, three lucky senior dogs – 11-year-old Pippa, 9-year-old Bo, and Cali, an 8-year-old – were selected as the artistic muses for The Virginian's senior artists.

The talented residents then carefully created portraits of these lucky pups, hoping to capture their unique personalities and help them find loving homes to spend their golden years.

Through efforts like the Grandpaws Initiative, Draws for Paws has generated tens of thousands of dollars for shelter animals. And though their young founder lost her battle with cancer in 2019, the organization she founded has ground bigger and stronger every year and continues to find loving older pets their own picture-perfect forever home.