He was a black dog. I never knew his name. His owners never knew why he didn’t come home – not that night, not ever again. They also don’t know that a chance meeting with their pet changed my life forever.

As a sixteen year old driving through a Cleveland, Ohio parking lot on a dark, wintry night, I did something other drivers ahead of me didn’t. Instead of swerving around an injured animal laying on the cold pavement, I stopped. I picked him up and rushed off to an animal hospital where they told me he was brain dead. He was euthanized. But his death was not in vain. Because of this black dog, I was motivated to do something – big or small – to help the voiceless and the vulnerable. I hope you might feel encouraged to join me.