My journey into rescue started when I was ten years old. It was the beginning of lockdown, summer of 2020. I was ten years old. My friend and I had started a dog sitting and dog walking business and I realized how much I loved working with animals. I started to think that I might want to become a veterinarian. Then I decided to start researching animal rescues to see if I could find a way to volunteer. It was very hard to find one that I could work with because of my age, and I remember being overjoyed when I found Lucky Dog's youth program. I immediately applied and looked for upcoming events. Because of the pandemic, there weren't many. So I decided to hold a yard sale and sell my old toys to raise money for Lucky Dog. It turned out better than I'd hoped for and we raised $150. I felt so happy when I delivered the check, and I knew that I wanted to keep doing this.

The next opportunity came when I saw that Lucky Dog was running a Holiday Donation Drive that winter. I volunteered to decorate a donation box, jingle bells and all, and to collect donations every week The Big Bad Woof in Takoma Park. It was really fun and felt good to be doing something for animals during the holidays. And, just a few days before Christmas, my family actually got our own dog! She is a black Lab named Eliza. She is a companion animal from Susquehanna Service Dogs, and she's a Lucky Dog volunteer, too.

Summer rolled around and my friend and I were able to help out with puppy transport to one of the first big adoption events at PETCO, after things had been shut down for so long. I enjoyed that, especially meeting all the dogs. The puppy we transported was really shy and not feeling his best, and I liked that Lucky Dog had a vet there who could take care of him.

This winter, I again participated in the Holiday Donation Drive. But, this time, I decorated five boxes and collected donations every week from five different places in the Bethesda area: Elysium, Loyal Companion, Bone Jour, Palisades Veterinarian, and Chien de Luxe. My mom is the driver, and she and I really got in the holiday spirit and loved talking with all the store owners. This year we did pictures with them for Lucky Dog's social media. It was very fun. I can't wait to see what I will do with Lucky Dog next.