CharlieDog and Friends Wins $25K in Small Business Challenge

CharlieDog and Friends has won the small business challenge, which means they have a $25,000 grand prize to spend on marketing and job creation. Read more about their mission and the challenge here.

Here is a message CharlieDog posted on its Facebook page: 

We'll never forget what it feels like to have so many good-hearted people supporting us, especially in our infancy, as we "get this baby off the ground". THANK YOU for your amazing support, for all the sharing of our annoying vote requests, during the Small Business Challenge, and I'm so proud and happy to say: WE WON.

Now it's time to wring every drop of publicity out of this contest to promote shelter pets as THE way to go for the family pet. This first prize includes a stunning grand total of $12,000 in marketing, and we're going to make it count.

Thank you, CharlieDog's friends and @Brooke Slater'sBruised Not Broken ARMY. BNB is truly a force to be reckoned with -- not only because of its sheer numbers, but in the dedication and engagement of its fans. 

Thanks to EVERYONE who posted and shared our vote requests from the past week. Every time the score went up, I considered it a personal favor, and I was really touched. Thank you.

Thank you, good folk at EarlyShares.com and your sponsors for this inspiring contest and the generosity of your time and prizes, for a website that never failed, and for your support of the contestants in so many ways. 

And, thanks: my unflappable sister Maura Kennedy, texting me all the way from Ithaca to Boston with the "election returns". And my partner in plush Kathy Voerg Illustrator/Artist/Toy Designer, who has been in it every step of the way. Team work, as they say, makes the dream work. THANKS.