I'll Clean the Dog Poop if You Help Pay the Vet! Friends – This November, I'm doing something I've never done before: Going to a foreign(ish) land to volunteer for a week, doing hard labor ... and I'm sure I'll step in plenty of dog poop. What did I get myself into??? I've committed to doing the hard part. But I need your help – or actually, the "Satos" in Puerto Rico do. Vet bills for abandoned, injured dogs are astronomical! And the island's animals have been suffering since Hurricane Maria. Even before the hurricane, about <a href="https://www.cesarsway.com/get-involved/helping-a-lost-stray-dog/saving-the-satos-stray-dogs">100,000 stray dogs</a>  known as "Satos" were left to die in the streets  of Puerto Rico and on “Dead Dog Beach.” These pups are ignored – or worse, abused – and the island’s high-kill shelters execute 500 dogs a day. But over the past 20+ years, one woman has nearly single-handedly saved 20,000 dogs and cats. Her name is Gloria Marti, and she runs "<a href="http://www.saveasato.org/">Save a Sato</a> ," a shelter she built in her own back yard (<a href="https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/videos/162374">watch this video!</a>). It’s a nonprofit organization that rescues abandoned animals in severe conditions – the ones most likely to be overlooked – and partners with no-kill shelters in the States and with independent volunteers to find them safe and loving homes. Save a Sato is a primitive space that lost its roof during the hurricane, and Gloria usually has 100 dogs at a given time – and often NO volunteers. So Gloria herself spends every waking moment of every day caring for the dogs, feeding them, bathing them, cleaning their crates and ultimately showing them love, day in and day out.  365 days a year...she never takes a vacation. With my sister-in-law, Juliana, I am going to spend a week in Puerto Rico this November giving Gloria a hand (and a hug!). But hands alone are not enough. Every Sato Gloria rescues needs vet care ... often a LOT of it. She incurs thousands of dollars of debt in the form of IOUs with a local veterinarian -- not to mention the costs for transporting hopeful "Satos" on their flights to their new forever homes! Please donate any amount you can. Donate for me, as this is a type of venture I've never undertaken before, and I'm not sure how it'll go. Donate for Gloria, who as far as I can tell is a saint. And most of all, donate for the Satos! They deserve our help more than anything. THANK YOU!!!!!

Kristin Johnson

Anonymous

Edelman DC Office

Taylor Soergel

Aaron Guiterman

Lyla Shaibi

Isaac Futrovsky

Kelley Smith

Rebecca Brown

Alex Abrahamson

Kelly McGonnigle

Zachary Koch

Helen Lapkovsky 

Jenn London

Kim Greco

Gail Kinsey

Save Puerto Rican Dogs With Me

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