The PAWS Project

My name is Molly, and I am seventeen years old. I have two rescue dogs named Riley and Gracie. We adopted Riley as a puppy; her pregnant mom had been abandoned at the top of a mountain in Tennessee. Hikers found her and carried her down to have her six puppies, including Riley. We fostered Gracie when she was three years old and soon realized we couldn’t live without her. She was abandoned when she was pregnant in Georgia. She ended up in a county shelter after being hit by a car.

After having ten babies there, she was about to be put down because she had pneumonia, heartworm, and other illnesses, but luckily she was saved. Once I learned more about what happens to dogs in the South, I wanted to help as a thank you to some of the groups that rescued my own dogs. When I was twelve, I started a yearlong project that I named the PAWS Project (which stands for Precious Animals, Wonderful Shelters). My goal was to raise $2,500 by hosting tables at events where I would sell my homemade dog toys, treats, and key chains and t-shirts with the logo I created for my project. I also wanted to donate volunteer hours to several shelters.

I started Facebook and GoFund Me pages, hoping to show people what happens to dogs in shelters in the South. Within the first six weeks, I had passed my $2,500 goal, so I changed it to $10,000. I reached that goal in the first six months. By the end of my first year, I had raised $80,000 in funds and collected $40,000 in new donated items from corporations I had written letters to. I spent over four hundred hours raising money and volunteering in shelters in four different states. I even took a trip to Georgia to volunteer for the group that rescued my Gracie. I spent a lot of time visiting local county shelters there and rescuing dogs with the money I had raised. At all of the shelters I visited, the majority of the dogs were being put down. All of these animals were abused, abandoned, and helpless—and all of them deserved a second chance.

I couldn’t end the project when the year was up, so instead I made it into a nonprofit that I called PAWS Project Foundation. Since then I have been to Georgia four more times and started focusing on saving more dogs from shelters. We have partners in the South that help us rescue dogs, and we have partners up north to help find these dogs good homes. As of now (as of the publication date of this in Inspiring Stories October 2019) I have saved over 750 dogs (many of which we have fostered) and raised over $290,000. With 350,000 dogs entering shelters each year, it will take many people to save their lives. The one thing I’ve learned is that anyone can help make a difference—especially kids. And even if it doesn’t seem like you are doing much, everything adds up and helps makes a difference