A 14-year-old girl has raised $14,000 to help senior dogs left behind at shelters find permanent and loving homes.
“Meena Kumar at nine months old was found abandoned in a basket on a college campus in Pune, India. After spending a year in an orphanage, she was adopted by a couple in Mumbai and brought to San Jose, California,” according to CNN.
Since she was little, Meena has had a love for dogs. When she moved to the United States, Meena took frequent trips to the Humane Society or to visit Muttville Senior Dog Rescue.
“Muttville’s mission is to give senior dogs a second chance at life. We rescue them, give them the care they need, find them loving homes, and spread the word about how WONDERFUL they are!” the rescue’s website said.
Because Meena had been left behind as a baby, she wanted to help the elderly dogs find loving families to care for them as she did. The only problem was she had to be 17-years-old to volunteer at the rescue and she was only 12-years-old at the time.
However, that did not stop her from coming up with a way to raise money to help the pups.
“She advertised on Nextdoor offering pet sitting and Pet Fairy Services was born,” the CNN article noted.
The rescue shared a video July 9 on Twitter of the young woman talking about her adoption story and pet sitting business:
The teen raised $7,000 for the rescue over the last few years and thanks to a matching donation program at Intel where her father worked, that number was doubled.
On its Facebook page Sunday, Muttville praised her efforts and said, “We’re so proud of Meena, who just loves senior dogs and is pet sitting to raise money, $14,000 so far!!”
“More people should adopt senior dogs,” Meena told CNN, adding, “They give you the same unconditional love as any other dog.”