The Tilly Challenge is a nonprofit began in Maine that connects pet homeowners and photographers around the globe with assets and one another.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — A nonprofit began in Maine helps folks navigate the grief that comes with shedding a pet by connecting them with assets and native photographers.

The Tilly Challenge was created by Lauren Kennedy again in 2021 and began as a small Fb group. Kennedy, who lives in South Portland, obtained the thought after she acquired a message from a buddy about the place one might discover an urn to retailer a pet’s ashes.

“I stated, ‘You recognize, I will must look into that, however let her know if she desires any free pictures of her and her canine and her household, and their canine earlier than they put her down, simply let me know,'” Kennedy stated.

The pet proprietor, who Kennedy had by no means met, took her up on the provide.

“It was heartbreaking and it was additionally such an honor to have the ability to seize their love along with her,” Kennedy stated. “I requested for permission from the household if I might simply put it on the market and share what I did, and I did and it went viral.”

The video, which was shared on TikTok, has greater than 100K likes and 1000’s of feedback.

Inside hours, Kennedy’s inbox was flooded with requests from pet homeowners and messages from different photographers across the nation. Some even provided to fly her out to them to have pictures of their pets taken.

“I noticed that I used to be not going to have the ability to do that all myself,” Kennedy stated.

That’s how the Tilly Challenge was born. The Fb group turned nonprofit is an end-of-life pet pictures community that gives assets for pet loss and bereavement and creates a assist system for individuals who have misplaced or are about to lose a pet.

Kennedy named it after her personal cat, Tilly, who died a number of years prior.

“I misplaced her in a really tragic accident proper in entrance of me,” Kennedy stated. “She was so candy. She was my little shadow, she adopted me all over the place.”

“It obtained to the time the place I needed to give you a reputation for what I used to be doing and I believed there was no higher means than to talk her title and to talk it incessantly and infrequently, and to have the ability to use it in a means that’s celebrating the love that I shared along with her,” Kennedy added.

Since its begin, the Tilly Challenge has attracted greater than 1,200 photographers from around the globe. Ashley Carroll, a photographer from New York, noticed Kennedy’s publish on social media and immediately knew she needed to be part of the challenge.

“Some folks, after I say I do end-of-life pet pictures, they are saying, ‘Oh my god, that is so unhappy, how do you do it?'” Carroll stated. “Clearly, it is unhappy however I do not discover it unhappy. It is lovely. You might be specializing in a pet and you’re making certain that you simply’re exhibiting how a lot these pets love you.”

That love will be seen within the many pictures Carroll has captured between homeowners and their pets. Carroll’s recommendation: get your pictures taken sooner somewhat than later.

She stated the response has been overwhelmingly constructive.

“I have never had one destructive remark,” Carroll stated. “After I end their gallery and I ship it off, often I get a reply again with simply an essay of how a lot these pictures imply to them, they’re identical to, ‘Oh my gosh, you need to have given me a warning as a result of I am within the car parking zone crying.'”

There was a lot demand for end-of-life pet pictures, making it attainable for the Tilly Challenge to now be a nonprofit. Kennedy stated she hopes to see the challenge and its assets develop within the coming years. Considered one of her objectives is to create brochures with an inventory of native providers and photographers to be handed out in varied areas. Typically, the photographer will present end-of-life pet pictures for free of charge.

She provides these pictures not solely assist to memorialize a pet however can be utilized as a device to navigate the grief that comes with saying goodbye.

“I feel it serves in a means larger image than simply getting pictures along with your animal,” Kennedy stated. “Grief is horrible and the lack of a pet is among the worst heartbreaks that I feel you’ll be able to ever undergo, so it simply seems like I am … I do not wish to say that I am serving to in any means however, once more, it simply permits them one additional factor to have the ability to navigate by means of that grief and have the ability to look again on it and actually have the ability to validate that grief as properly.”

To study extra about Kennedy and the Tilly Challenge, click on right here.