Attending a crowdfunding event you expect to see young people pitching a new tech gadget or app. You can imagine my surprise seeing someone in a huge puppy costume walking through the crowd with a funding number attached. It was so unexpected that I just had to hear their story as I followed the puppy.
This week’s podcast episode is about a group of dedicated volunteer animal rescue members who are trying to raise money for a state of the art mobile adoption unit. They know it will reduce the number of animals at the local animal shelter. I watched the puppy work the crowd like a pro pitching with the best of them about their idea. Evidently the puppy read a few business books because I found out later the group came in fifth in terms of votes for funding in their category.
Later, when I had a chance to sit down with the leaders of Friends of Jax Animals I learned that they were a group of animal lovers who were outraged that approximately 10% of the animals taken into the local shelter actually made it out to find a home. Outrage is one thing, listen to the group members describe how they took it a step further and went about the work of setting up a non-profit to make sure more animals made it out. The puppy and crowd funding was part of their plan to take their work to the next level of going neighborhood by neighborhood with their mobile adoption unit to save an animal’s life and grease the wheels of pet ownership.
Theirs is a truly inspiring story, especially when you consider that they all work as volunteers. Listening to their story and plans for the future restores your faith in selfless giving to creatures who, through no fault of their own, have ended up in desperate circumstances. If you are able to help, by all means do. If not, please share the link to their story so that others will know of their efforts
