Events

For more details about any of the following events or activities, please see our About page.

Hangout

Our goal is to have at least one team on campus for about an hour and a half every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday when volunteer capacity and weather permit. Because wet dogs aren’t nearly as much fun plus they really don’t smell great. When we are on campus for a stroll during the week, one team is always at “Blue’s Corner” and on the weekends our primary location is generally in front of Davis Library, next to the Pit. Our social media is updated with the times and names of the scheduled pup(s) before each hangout. Our social media accounts – Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit in r/HAPPEE_HugsandPups – are linked on the bottom right of our website pages.

Here are some pictures from our time on campus.

Painting Rocks

Another way we scatter love is by painting rocks with positive and inspirational messages to leave around campus to be found by students. Volunteers can paint rocks at home or in a group and then put them around campus by themselves or another volunteer can collect them and “hide” them around campus. Spoiler: we don’t “hide” them very well. 😉

Special Events

One of our favorite special events is “Who Makes You HAPPEE?”, held every year on or around Valentine’s Day. Students stop by our tables to write and address a card to someone who makes them smile. Afterwards, we attach postage and mail it on their behalf. The purpose of all of our special events is to provide opportunities for students to do something fun and meaningful and in doing so, build a student community to promote mental wellness even when we aren’t around with our Hugs and Pups.

We often partner with student and community organizations. In the past, we’ve partnered with: Healthy Heels, Paws with a Cause (a/k/a Helping Paws), UNC-CH Mental Health Ambassadors, Active Minds at Carolina, Arts Everywhere, the International Student Center, CUAB, UNC’s Walk.Support.Glow, and various UNC schools, dorms, and Greek organizations.