Not Just Pets: The Map of The Future

Did you know that Not Just Pets is more than just funding veterinary bills? It’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and I have gotten to a place where I can finally reveal the roadmap to it all. This map will show you all where we began, where we are now and the milestones we need to achieve to get to our destination. For the past three decades, I've dedicated my life to animals, shaping a dream that has led to the creation of Not Just Pets. Every job, every experience was a step towards this goal.

I’ve always known I wanted to help animals, I just never knew how I was going to do it, how I was going to make the biggest impact, how I was going to get there… If I ever would get there. But here we are today, the life I lived to get here has been a hard tumultuous journey, one that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s a road that I will one day share with you all but one I am still healing from. I was alone for most of it, even though I was surrounded by people, it never felt right. The only time I ever felt like myself was when I was with an animal, any animal. There is a calm about them, even the unruliest creature, I am always able to sense who they are, what intentions they have. I saw them and they saw me.

I knew this innate ability to sense how they feel would work well with behavior and with that I decided to learn everything I could about animals and their patterns. How they moved, how they acted within their environment, out of their environment. I learned everything I could, and I am continuing to learn every day, What I mainly concluded was that animals were in fact very predictable. They had patterns they needed to follow. If that pattern was off something was wrong with them or the environment, it was that simple. Humans on the other hand, were not as simple. Knowing now that animals have the same patterns it was easy to tell when something was wrong. I took this knowledge and worked on obtaining a Dog Training Certification and volunteered at a rescue rehabilitating dogs to ensure they had the best chances for being rehomed.

I met so many kinds of dogs, cats, hamsters and other animals needing to be rehomed. I was happy to be helping any way I could, but it just wasn’t enough. As time went on, I noticed a common theme among the rescue and shelter community. It seemed that no matter what they did, finding funding to help them was almost impossible. I offered classes to adopters in hopes of helping raise money for the organization, but no matter what we did, the bills kept coming, ESPECIALLY the veterinary bills. It was heart breaking to watch time and time again, receiving an animal that was so sick, but the rescue could not afford to pay the extensive costs, even with a “discount”, so the alternative had to be done. This wasn’t fair, I spent days, weeks, months in tears, just completely heartbroken and defeated, I felt helpless. This wasn’t it, there had to be another way to help.

One by one, I watched good rescues close due to unsurmountable bills. When it was time to rehome everyone, the only pets anyone wanted to help with were the babies. The adults were not so lucky, and they were only given one alternative answer. That was the last straw for me, nobody was doing a damn thing about any of this, they just accepted it for what it was, as if it was ok to kill a living thing because it was taking up space in a place where it did not want to be in the first place. I refuse to accept!!! That experience is when my work truly began.

I mapped out a plan that would really make an impactful difference in so many lives, I just needed to start somewhere, but I didn’t really know where. I wanted to help with veterinary bills so I knew that idea was something I could start with to make a meaningful impact. I searched for a way to start raising money for the cause and got to work immediately. Unfortunately, people have a hard time trusting a stranger asking for donations to start a cause for animals, so going door to door was a lot of “fun.” I needed a bigger reach, I needed to make sure my message was going to be heard far and wide, so I decided to start making customizable products and streaming on Twitch to promote more awareness. After a year or so of posting on social media, selling a few products and campaigning in my neighborhood, I was able to raise enough to establish our nonprofit and submit for all the appropriate certificates and whatnots to legitimize our organization. Not Just Pets was officially a nonprofit. My dream has finally entered my reality and I felt so much closer to helping animals. Step one was complete. 🥳🥳🥳🥳

Step two (where we currently are sitting as of this blog post), open grants for families and animal welfare groups that are or were in financial trouble and needed assistance with vet bills. Right away we received an email from a group desperately searching for help for a dog named Paintbrush and a day later one from a desperate rescue mom on disability trying to save her dog Gilbert’s life.

After going through their applications and approving them, I got to work setting up their campaigns, creating content to put out on social media, while I reached out in person for donations (please, donate now, all the funds go to this cause and future animals in need). This is where I will be putting in most of my efforts above anything else, and throughout the course of Not Just Pets, as this was the thing that started the ball rolling to why I am doing what I am doing. I am setting up for in person events, corporate partnerships/donations/support, applying for grants and so much more to get these funds to these two pups. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get them these funds. In a sense step two is our foundation, a place to come back to and focus our efforts on, no matter where we are on the road map. This step of the nonprofit will always come first before all other items on the map, I do plan on this being well taken care of so that is not a worry! For now, please click here to see how you can help these two pups or any animal in the future.

Step three. This step is going to really expand our outreach and I CAN NOT wait for this. The bus. The one and only Not Just Pets Mobile! I plan on going to every state to host events and spread the word to raise awareness of our mission. I want to visit as many shelters and rescues as I possibly can, to help where and how ever I can. To shine a light on these places and really get some animals’ homes. I will be living on this bus with my two pets and kid, he is VERY excited to start traveling and helping animals btw. I want to make this bus as ecofriendly as I can, really make it self-sustaining as possible and I have a beautiful floor plan ready to go. But finding a bus with a copilot seat has been proving harder than I had thought.😅 In the meantime, I am collecting funds so when we finally find it, we can scoop it up and start our USA tour. I hope by that time we will also be able to award grants in person and meet all the pets we have helped along the way! I would love to show case rescues and shelters by streaming these places on Twitch. I would also love to stream awarding our grant recipients to always have something to remind us of why we do what we are doing. A light needs to be shined on this topic, what better way than to live stream it all. I also plan on visiting areas with lower income and areas where finding pet care is sparse. These are the places I want to really focus on during my bus adventures, which will bring me to step four...

Step four is going to be the most grueling part, but it is something that resonates so deeply within my heart. I want to build a fleet of mobile clinics across the US in all the places that need it most. Being someone who had gone through her fair share of turbulences, I can say that when you have a pet that needs your help, and you have no way to bring them to get that help, all you can do is watch helplessly, while something you love so dearly is suffering with no one to turn to for help. This is a pain no pet should have to go through, and it certainly isn’t one pet parents should have to endure either. I want to eliminate that stress and ease pet parents’ worries about how they are going to bring their beloved pet to the vet in a time of need. Or even something as simple as a checkup. I want our clinics to not only accommodate those who cannot bring their pets in, I want them to be affordable to the ones who cannot provide this comfort for their pet. Why should having someone take care of your pet in the comfort of your home be exclusive? Having reliable access to medical care should not be a luxury, it should be something readily available. All animals deserve this right to have the option to stay in a setting that is familiar, not to have an experience that can be so traumatizing to some. This is going to take most of my time for the years to come, I am ready for this task, and I look forward to this long, long, LONG step. Up until I get to my next destination.

My fifth step, is going to bring me to the end of one chapter but the beginning of another. Not Just New Zealand (I’m working on the name y’all 😅) is where I want to build a conservation facility. A place where animals can go when they can’t go back to the wild or for the pets without homes that need a place to live for the rest of their lives freely. This is going to be the stepping stone for me to launch Not Just Pets international and start this process all over again, at any capacity that it is needed from me. I want to build a sanctuary where animals can be what they are and live in peace. I want to build a world where the animals and their environment go back to them. A place we can live in harmony. They have done this for thousands of years with each other. Why can we do the same with them?

These are just the main attractions to my state side expansion leading to international waters. I have plans outside of Not Just Pets that will also help generate funds for all these things, side quests if you will. One you may be aware of, if you have been keeping up with our blog “The Journey,” which hasn’t been talked about, yet, has to do with making an affordable way to help our pet parents who wish they could vacation more, but due to having pets, they have had to hold out on going anywhere at all. And no, I’m not talking about a Kennel. (Make sure you sign up to our newsletter to keep up with our posts!) There are so many animal related plans I have in store for Not Just Pets. Innovative, new and exciting things, so if you are someone who loves animals as much as I do, feel free to join me and help in anyway you can.

You see, this road I have mapped out is NOT going to be easy by any means. It is a road that can be very daunting, time consuming, and at times lonely. For the longest time I fought going down this road because I knew how much I would have to leave behind and the sacrifices I would have to make. But then I remembered who I was and my mission in life. I remembered every animal I have ever come across since I was a child to now. Starting this journey was a decision I made because I had had enough. I was tired of denying myself who I was meant to be, I needed to show the world what I was capable of, and I needed to do what had to be done because no one else was going to do it. This is my focus in life, it is my one true path, and it has been my driving force since I was a child. Quite frankly if you are not an animal or someone who wants to help the cause in some way from a place of love, then please, step aside. I have work to do. There are so many without a voice and I am here to speak up for them in a way that hasn’t been done before. I would gladly give up anything for this cause, anyone can join along, I don’t mind the help. Be warned though, I don’t beg, so you guys can either help along this journey, because you believe in what I am doing here and want to make an impact, or I can do this alone. This is what I’m meant to do, this cause is everything to me and it goes beyond that. I won’t stop till it’s done and animals finally can rest knowing we are looking out for them, or I sure as hell will die trying.

Join us in making a difference. Donate, volunteer, or share your ideas. Together, we can ensure that no animal suffers due to financial constraints. We are a family at Not Just Pets, we only want what’s best for all.