Today we’d like to introduce you to Bruna Freitas.
Hi Bruna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Bruna, I was born and raised in Brazil. I grew up in São Paulo (the largest city in Brazil, and one of the biggest cities in the world by population). To “escape” from the busy of the city, my parents bought a piece of land on the country side, only 1 hour away from where we lived, in a city called Guararema. We started spending every weekend there. A place with a lot of green, mountains, and nature, quite the opposite of where we lived. Thats where i started building a lot of my favorite memories and came in contact with rescuing animals.
I was a kid who loved playing outside, and was always riding my bike everywhere. Whenever I would come across a stray dog, sick, or hurt, I would always try to take them and sneak them into my home. My parents would always give me that look “ Bruna… another one? We cant keep them” but they would always give in and help me find a solution!
During my teenage years, i always thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. But when I was 16 years old, my dad, who worked with IT, was hired by an American company, and we all had to move to the United States. Here in Georgia, i finished High School and decided I didn’t want to be a veterinarian. I wanted to be involved with animals in a different way, but couldn’t figure out how.
I became an esthetician, and this became my full time job.
Years went by, and in 2017 me and my boyfriend bought our first house. Since we are both dog lovers we decided to go visit our local shelter. And that was the big day!! We met Gustavo! One of the saddest dogs at the shelter, he was just sitting in a corner with his head down. We didn’t even think twice. We took him home and he is the happiest boy, now, 8 years old. A few months later my boyfriend was coming home and came across a dog that had just been dumped. He picked him up and Gustavo now had a brother, Hugo! They are inseparable!
After years of thinking about the shelter dogs, i finally took the courage to become a volunteer at the same shelter I adopted Gustavo from – Cobb County Animal Services. I am not going to lie, the first days were sad, but that only made me realize that the dogs really needed all the love and help they could get.
I would go to the shelter to walk the dogs and I also started making short videos of them and posting on my personal social media. So i decided to create a page (@sharing.lov) just for the shelter dogs, where they could reach more people. Thats when I realized how people are good and blessed. They want to help, but sometimes dont know how to. That’s why I have dedicated a lot of time with this page, trying to bring awareness and sharing a lot of the dogs in need to hopefully inspire people to adopt, foster, volunteer, or help in any way they can by sharing love!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The hardest part in knowing that here in the US there are still a lot of shelters that euthanize. Young, healthy, amazing animals lose their lives over space. The worst feeling is walking up to one of the kennels, to say hello to a dog I love, and then seeing a different face in that kennel. Feeling so helpless at times, knowing a amazing wonderful dog is out of time, and there is nothing I can do to change that 💔
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a volunteer at Cobb County Animal Services. I go there to walk the dogs. There are over 100 dogs in that facility, so each volunteer is usually responsible for 1 row of dogs, which goes anywhere from 10 to 14 dogs. Each dog only gets out once a day, for about 15-20 minutes. If more people volunteer, the dogs would be able to go out more times, or for longer period of times. A few months after I had started volunteering, I started making some videos of the dogs, and I would post it on my personal Instagram page. Then, I decided to Create a social media just for this type of video. Showing the dogs available for adoption, and my routine as a volunteer at the shelter. I have noticed that showing the dogs on a video, help so much more than a simple picture of them. On the video, people get to see their personalities, how they act, how sweet, or playful they are. So now, when I go to the shelter, on top of walking my row of dogs, I try to make videos for every single one of them. Then I edit it and post on all of my social media accounts with the goal that someone will see that specific dog and adopt them! I believe that there is a person for every single dog out there, they just haven’t met yet 🥹
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think it’s my love for the animals. It has always been something so real and natural for me. I always try to bring that same feeling with me to the shelter and into my videos. I don’t have to try to be anybody else, or pretend anything, I can just be myself. That’s the foundation I have chosen for this journey. Making videos with the dogs is easy, and fun, and they bring me so much joy. It is really something I truly enjoy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharing.lov
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1XfzJv5RuP/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sharing.lov3
