Hill's Pet Nutrition Teams Up with JoAnna Garcia Swisher and 15 Minor League Baseball Teams to Spotlight Shelter Pet Adoption Across the Nation

NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hill's Pet Nutrition, a global leader in premium pet nutrition, announced partnerships today with actress and entrepreneur JoAnna Garcia Swisher, and 15 Minor League Baseball teams to launch #HillsForLife.  This initiative celebrates Hill's Pet Nutrition's support of NBCUniversal Local's annual Clear The Shelters™ nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign through a multipronged program.  The #HillsForLife initiative encourages people to adopt from their local shelters and aims to raise $10,000 to support shelter pets across the U.S.

Consumers are invited to participate in the #HillsForLife social sweepstakes on Instagram from August 24 through September 19.  Participants who share a picture of their favorite adopted furry friend(s) with the program hashtags will be entered for a chance to win Hill's science-led pet nutrition for a year. Five lucky pet parents will be randomly selected and notified of their winning.  Animal lover, JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Netflix's Sweet Magnolias), will lead off with a post of her family's rescue pet, Romeo.  Every valid post will count as a sweepstakes entry, and entries also will trigger a donation from Hill's Pet Nutrition that directly supports the ongoing animal shelter work of Greater Good Charities. Click here to read program rules and eligibility information.

"As a rescue pet owner myself, I know firsthand the importance of giving animals in need a forever home," said JoAnna Garcia Swisher. "#HillsForLife creates a space for people to share the impact their pets have on their lives, something I find really special. I'm thrilled to partner with Hill's Pet Nutrition to bring more awareness to pet adoption and support for animal shelters across the nation."

To further celebrate NBCUniversal Local's Clear The Shelters™ campaign, 15 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams in various markets across the U.S. will be hosting themed nights in partnership with Hill's Pet Nutrition. During the dedicated theme night, local shelters in select markets will provide a variety of ways for attendees to learn about pet adoption, shelter support opportunities, engage with the #HillsForLife Instagram campaign and more. Hill's ongoing support for shelter pets and #HillsForLife messaging will be highlighted at each MiLB club during the month-long partnership.

"Pets are a huge part in both our players', fans' and staff's lives," said Kurt Hunzeker, VP of Minor League Business Operations at Major League Baseball. "Our hope is that these themed shelter nights can educate our consumers on the importance of pet adoption, as well as giving them the opportunity to get involved themselves in local animal shelters. #HillsForLife recognizes the impact adopting a pet can have, and we look forward to spreading that message during the month-long activation this season." 

As an extension of its year-round support for shelter animals, Hill's is returning for a fourth consecutive year as the national sponsor of NBCUniversal Local's Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign. Now in its seventh year, the campaign has helped more than half a million shelter pets find new homes throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

"At Hill's, we believe that science-led nutrition plays an important role in helping shelter pets be healthy, happy and ready to find their forever homes," said Nicki Baty, President and General Manager of Hill's US. "That's why we created our Food, Shelter & Love program in 2002, which provides nutritional support to over 800 North American shelters today, and has helped more than 12 million pets find new homes.  We're proud to return as the national sponsor for Clear The Shelters and are excited about our new partnership with JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Minor League Baseball to promote #HillsForLife social sweepstakes.  Not only does it highlight pets already in loving homes, but it encourages the adoption of other pets in need."

For more information and news about the NBC and Telemundo owned stations' Clear The Shelters pet adoption and donation campaign, visit ClearTheShelters.com. To access information in Spanish, please visit DesocuparlosAlbergues.com and follow #DesocuparlosAlbergues.

About Hill's Pet Nutrition
At Hill's, our decades of science and research guide us in creating nutrition that's a step ahead —so pets and pet parents can enjoy every day together. As the US #1 Veterinarian Recommended pet food brand, knowledge is our first ingredient with 220+ veterinarians, PhD nutritionists and food scientists working to develop breakthrough innovations in pet health. Hill's Prescription Diet therapeutic nutrition plus our everyday foods, Hill's Science Diet, Hill's Healthy Advantage and Hill's Bioactive Recipe, are sold at vet clinics and pet specialty retailers worldwide. For more information about Hill's, our products and our forward-thinking approach to nutrition, visit us at HillsPet.com or HillsVet.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.  To learn more about Hill's support for shelter pets year-round, visit us at HillsPet.com/shelter.

About Clear The Shelters
Clear The Shelters™ / Desocupar Los Albergues® is an annual, nationwide pet adoption campaign that is spearheaded by NBCUniversal Local, a division of NBCUniversal. Every year, NBCUniversal Local's NBC and Telemundo owned stations, plus affiliated stations, partner with animal shelters and rescues in their communities to host Clear The Shelters events. NBCUniversal Local's Clear The Shelters campaign was inspired by a 2014 North Texas pet adoption event hosted by NBC 5 / KXAS and Telemundo 39 / KXTX and dozens of area shelters that resulted in the most adopted pets in one day for North Texas. Since 2015, NBCUniversal Local's Clear The Shelters pet adoption campaign has resulted in more than a half million pets finding new homes. Visit  ClearTheShelters.com and DesocuparLosAlbergues.com  for more information.

About NBCUniversal Local
NBCUniversal Local is NBCUniversal's local media division that delivers English and Spanish-speakers and bilingual audiences in 31 U.S. markets and Puerto Rico, the very best in local sports, news, weather, consumer and investigative reporting, and lifestyle entertainment across any platform and screen. NBCUniversal Local is comprised of three individual media groups including the NBC Owned Television Stations, the NBC Sports Regional Networks and the Telemundo Station Group. The division is also home to multicast networks NBCLX, COZI TV and TeleXitos, the regional cable news network NECN, as well as NBC Spot On, an advanced video advertising business designed for local/regional CTV and OTT advertisers and several in-house companies including production company LXTV, marketing and promotions company Skycastle, its out-of-home business NBC Everywhere, and the Arthouse, a graphics design group. With seven regional sports networks and 42 NBC and Telemundo stations serving 38 percent of U.S. homes, NBCUniversal Local is the only network-owned local media division that is home to the largest bilingual local newsrooms within the country's top 10 TV markets. NBCUniversal Local's stations and networks serve diverse audiences and communities across linear, streaming, OTT, digital web, mobile and audio, and cable platforms and work together to keep local audiences informed anytime and anywhere. For more information, visit NBCUniversal.com.

About Minor League Baseball
Minor League Baseball is the governing body for all professional baseball teams in the United States, Canada, and the Dominican Republic that are affiliated with Major League Baseball® clubs through their farm systems. In 2019, Minor League Baseball attracted over 41.5 million fans to its ballparks to see baseball's future stars and experience affordable family-friendly entertainment that has been a staple of Minor League Baseball since 1901. For more information, visit www.MiLB.com. Follow Minor League Baseball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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