CARBONDALE, Ill. – Prior to Southern Illinois hosting Youngstown State for a home football game on November 11, Saluki fans will have the opportunity to participate in a first-of-its-kind event and find a forever “dawg”. Prior to the 1 p.m. kickoff, SIU Athletics’ partner Pure Pet will host “Adopt-A-Dawg” in the Saluki Row Tailgate Zone to benefit St. Francis Animal Shelter. The event, originally scheduled for November 4th, has been rescheduled to November 11th, due to inclement weather.

For each dog adopted, Pure Pet will provide a “Best Paw Forward” care package, which includes a free dawg wash, I.D. tag, food, and much more. Pure Pet Natural Pet Market and Dog Wash, located at 2355 Sweets Drive in Carbondale, is hosting the pre-game event to provide a much-needed assist to St. Francis, a non-profit animal shelter.

“We’ve been planning ‘Adopt-A-Dawg’ for months, and we’re really excited to bring it to the SIU tailgate,” said Pure Pet Owner Jay Webb. “We are confident many ‘dawgs’ from St. Francis Animal Shelter looking for forever homes will find them that day. We can’t wait for November 11th and look forward to meeting Saluki fans from here in the community.”

Pure Pet works closely with Learfield’s Saluki Sports Properties, which oversees the corporate partner platform on behalf of Southern Illinois University Athletics. In addition to teaming with St. Francis Animal Shelter for “Adopt-A-Dawg” Day, Pure Pet receives an in-venue videoboard feature during all home football games, as well as ads on the radio network and SIUSalukis.com during the season.

“We encourage fans to come out to Saluki Row Tailgate Zone before we kick off against Youngstown State and visit with our friends from Pure Pet and St. Francis Animal Shelter. There are many dogs in Southern Illinois available for adoption, and we’ve enjoyed partnering with Pure Pet on creating awareness for this event and the great need that exists in our region,” said Saluki Sports Properties‘ General Manager Jon Ihrig.

In addition to SIU, Learfield manages the multimedia rights and sponsorship initiatives for nearly 130 collegiate properties nationwide. Learfield, an industry leader for more than four decades, has a deep presence in the college athletics landscape and supports athletic departments at all competitive levels as title sponsor of the prestigious Learfield Directors’ Cup. The company also provides its collegiate partners access to professional concessions and ticket sales; branding, licensing and trademark consulting; digital and social platform expertise; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue and technology systems through its affiliated companies.