Otis, a coonhound, was born into the cruel world of animal testing and subjected to many invasive and painful procedures. But Otis is one of the lucky ones, he was rescued by Robert Sturman who joins Anitha to talk about Otis’ life—then and now.
Robert talks about the harsh world of animal testing that subjects millions of animals to painful procedures despite their being cruelty free alternatives.
But the majority of the conversation focuses on Otis, from his favourite things to do (car rides, running on the beach, and joining Robert on the yoga mat) to his immense capacity for forgiveness. Despite being harmed by humans, Otis loves people.
An incredible episode showcasing the healing power of love.
To learn more about Otis and follow him as he celebrates life while also raising awareness about the animal testing industry, check out his Instagram account:
As a thank you to Robert for sharing Otis’ story, Anitha donated to Gentle Jake’s Coonhound Rescue. This Ontario based not-for-profit is dedicated to the memory of the founder’s beloved Coonhound, Jake. This rescue is dedicated to helping homeless and abandoned Coonhounds find their loving and forever homes.
Anitha chats with 15-year-old Will Finch. Will and his sister Jada appeared on the podcast back in 2021 to talk about their incredible efforts to help stray dogs and cats find forever loving homes. The siblings created an organization called GOOD WILL GOOD KARMA. Will returns to talk about all that been happening with their non-profit animal rescue—including birthday fundraisers, starting a clothing line to raise money for animal rescue, heartwarming stories of dogs and cats they’ve helped, AND, that to date, GOOD WILL GOOD KARMA has raised a whopping $1 million for animals in need!
Flight AngelsFlight AngelsTeshaWill & Groot
An episode full of heart and inspiration of what it means to create GOOD WILL and GOOD KARMA for all beings.
To learn more about Will and all he is doing to help animals, check out these links:
As a thank you to Will for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Autism Dog Services. This charity, provides service dogs for individuals over three years of age who have autism and related disorders in most parts of Southwestern Ontario.
As a thank you to Kelsey for sharing her story, Anitha donated to The Animal Pad in San Diego. Thisnon-profit, all breed dog rescue, focuses on saving dogs from high kill shelters and the streets of Mexico. They get the dogs vet care, place them in foster homes and then find them loving forever families.
Kathryn Nicolai, the creator of the number one sleep podcast Nothing Much Happens® joins Anitha to talk about how she makes SO much happen for others.
With her soothing voice, her promise of holding on to your worries while you sleep, and gently tucking listeners in for the night, Kathryn has helped so many folks fall asleep.
For many, including Anitha, the quiet of nighttime is not conducive to sleep, instead it’s a time for negative thoughts to spiral and past traumas to impose themselves. That’s where Kathryn and her stories step in. They give listeners something else to attach their minds to and amazingly fall asleep!
Kathryn talks about the gratitude and responsibility she feels knowing that sometimes her voice is the last thing someone in hospice care will hear, or how folks who have suffered traumas and unbearable losses and night terrors are finally able to fall asleep because of her stories and her podcast.
In addition, to helping people through her podcast and books, Kathryn donates to a charity every week!
Cricket & Ladybug
To learn more about Kathryn and her podcast, check out her website: nothingmuchhappens.com
As a thank you to Kathryn for sharing her story, Anitha donated to I Heart Dogs Rescue and Animal Haven, a no-kill shelter that rescues, rehabilitates, re-homes and provides a refuge for homeless dogs.
To learn more about this rescue, click here: Iheartdogs
The incredible, Katy Brink from the dodo joins Anitha to talk about her love for animals, fostering dogs, and being a part of an amazing organization all about animals.
With Lola & JakeSasha with Lorna & Libby
Katy shares what it’s like working as an executive editor at the dodo, (which may be Anitha’s dream job) The dodo is a wonderful organization that highlights heart-warming stories about animals . . . and the stories always have happy endings.
In addition to working as an editor, Katy generously devotes a lot of her time to fostering dogs. She talks about the devastating overcrowding situation at animal shelters and how fostering literally saves lives.
Katy has some wonderful stories about the dogs who are and have been in her life, including her current foster, a sweet girl named Cartier.
Cartier
To learn more about Katy, Cartier and the dodo, click on the following links.
As a thank you to Katy for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Mr. Bones & Co.— a volunteer-run animal welfare non-profit. They specialize in helping dogs who face extraordinary challenges, such as extensive emergency veterinary care/surgery, unfair breed discrimination or those languishing in municipal shelters with behavioral issues that make them harder to place.
Fourteen-year old Annora Wu and her eleven-year old brother Andrew join Anitha to share their stories of kindness.
A talented musician, Annora talks about what it was like performing for residents of nursing homes and the joy she felt knowing she was making a positive difference in their lives.
Not to be outdone by his older sister, Andrew shares his amazing initiative of combining his love of Lego and animals to create Lego For Charity.
Andrew collects donated sets of Lego. He spends time sanitizing and sorting the pieces, and then puts together ‘new’ sets that he sells. The funds raised are donated to the SPCA.
This is a wonderful episode for everyone who loves music, animals and of course stories of kindness.
To learn more about Explore Hop, the organization that provided Annora with the skills to create the Lego For Charity website and promote its goals, click here: https://explorerhop.com/
As a thank you to Annora and Andrew for sharing their story, Anitha donated to the SPCA. For more information about all the wonderful work the SPCA does to help animals, please check out their website: https://spca.bc.ca/locations/vancouver/
Eleven-year-old Will and seventeen-year old Jada Finch share their inspiring story of turning personal heartache into helping animals. When Will was 7 and Jada was 12, the family adopted an adorable puppy they named Karma Rose. Sadly, within a few short weeks, Karma died from canine parvo-virus. Despite being devastated at the loss of his beloved puppy, Will decided to honor Karma on his 8th birthday. In lieu of gifts, he requested donations of money and pet supplies to donate to a local animal rescue. And soon after, Good Will Good Karma was born.
Will and Jada talk to Anitha about their amazing initiative to raise money and awareness to help animals. This podcast is a must for anyone who loves animals and wants to hear uplifting stories of how this incredible brother and sister team have dedicated their lives to helping animals.
As a thank you for sharing their story, Anitha donated to All Paws Cat Rescue. To learn more about this rescue, click here: http://allpawsrescue.weebly.com/
I’m sure many of us have dreamt about what we would do if we had Google level funding. Literary agent, Kelly Thomas was asked this exact question on one of my favorite podcasts—The Manuscript Academy. It is a question the creators of the podcast often pose to guests and the answers are varied. But Kelly’s response had me beaming!
Kelly talked about the dogs she adopted from Animal Lighthouse Rescue (ALR), an organization that rescues dogs in Puerto Rico and brings them to New York City to find their forever homes.
It is a challenge to fly rescue dogs from Puerto Rico to New York City. Each dog must have a designated human escort travelling with them before they are allowed on the plane. Once this hurdle is overcome, the dogs are placed in the cargo section of the plane, which can be very loud and frightening, especially to a dog who has already suffered trauma. But for now, this is the only option available.
But if Kelly had Google level funding, she would change this. She would buy a plane specifically to fly dogs in need of help to their forever homes. Any dog that didn’t find a family, Kelly would keep as her own.
As soon as I heard Kelly’s answer, I knew I had to find out more about her. The only contact information I had was her literary agency email. This email is normally used for writers submitting material to the agency in hopes of acquiring representation. I took a chance and emailed Kelly on her agency email. I explained who I was and that I was hoping to share her story on my Kindness Is Everything blog. Within minutes, Kelly emailed back, saying she would love to! And not only that, she put me in touch with the founder of Animal Lighthouse Rescue so that I could share their story as well.
It was such a joy to speak with Kelly. Whenever she talked about her dogs, both whom she adopted from Animal Lighthouse Rescue, her voice overflowed with love.
Kelly’s love of animals came from her father and grandmother. At one time, her grandmother had fourteen cats under her care. When Kelly was growing up, dogs and cats were always a part of her family. Her dad even threw her canine sibling birthday parties.
Kelly’s dad & Tammy.
When Kelly left home, she was saddened to discover she’d developed an allergy to dogs. This sudden onset sometimes happens when people are no longer around pets. As she was living in a small apartment in New York, having a pet wasn’t possible, so the allergy wasn’t much of an issue. However, in 2013, Kelly moved to a larger, pet-friendly place and was determined to once again have a dog in her life, even if it meant allergy shots or medication.
Her search began.
Kelly started looking for dogs in need of a home on a website called Pet Finder. This led her to connect with Julie Sinaw, the founder of ALR.
Julie had three rescue dogs in NYC at the time. Kelly met them and immediately fell in love with Lila. The feeling was clearly mutual as Lila came up to Kelly and nuzzled right into her.
Lila and Kelly
Kelly’s relationship with the rescue didn’t end once she brought Lila home. Kelly was so impressed by Julie’s dedication and efforts to rescue and find forever homes for the Puerto Rican dogs, that she started to volunteer.
She spent time helping out at dog adoption events. Kelly and the other volunteers would each be partnered with one of the dogs. They would learn everything they could about the dog—their history, special needs, if the dog got along with other dogs, cats, children, and if they were an active dog.
Kelly would then meet people who were interested in adopting the dog to determine whether or not it was a good match—for dog and human. Prospective adopters are thoroughly vetted to make sure they are committed to caring for a dog.
Kelly wanted to make sure each dog she was responsible for found a loving home like her own Lila.
Sadly, Lila passed away in February of 2020. Kelly was devastated. After about a month, she contacted Julie wanting to once again adopt a dog from Puerto Rico. This time it was a dog named Daisy who won Kelly’s heart. Soon after Kelly adopted Daisy, she changed her name to Hazel.
Kelly and Hazel moved to Florida, in November of 2020. She even found a place that not only boasts a swimming pool and gym, but also a dog park!
Hazel
Though living in Florida means it’s no longer possible for Kelly to volunteer at the adoption events, she is hoping to find other ways to help Animal Lighthouse Rescue. Perhaps one day, she’ll buy them that plane!
When asked if there was only one thing she could change in the world, what that would be—her response: “For more people to be aware of how amazing animals are and to rescue them so that they all have a loving home and enough food. No animal should have to go hungry.”
Christian and Rocky (left), Christian and one of the dogs he helped transport (right)!
In 2012, Christian Marcello and his family adopted a dog from an animal shelter. Little did Christian know that adopting Rocky would not only change the dog’s life, but his as well.
Christian shares what it was like seeing all those dogs in the shelter, learning that not all dogs find their happily ever after, and how that inspired him to create a business dedicated to helping dogs find a loving home.
If you love dogs, you’ll definitely want to hear Christian’s story of kindness.
As a thank you for sharing his story of kindness, Anitha donated to Team Dog Rescue on behalf of Christian. This is the rescue where Christian and his family adopted their second dog, Holly.
For more information about Team Plover and how you can help, please click here: https://teamplover.com/
For more information about Team Dog Rescue and how you can help, please click here: https://teamdogrescue.ca/
This episode was produced by Stephen Hurley of VoicEd Radio.
Anitha Rao-Robinson 