The following was written by Sue Varner, the Project Starfish volunteer who organized the PA transport and fundraising effort. Thank you Sue, Jackie, Kathy, Kim, Leslie, and Bill!

The Pennsylvania transport hit the road on Thursday, Sept. 29th at 6:30 PM. We were heading to Broken Down Dogs in Alexandria, LA to load our horse trailer with dogs and cats and come back to PA. In addition to myself, our group consisted of Jackie Carson, Dr. Kathy Wilderoder, DVM, Kim Sharp, Leslie Bachman, and Bill Kamerer.

After driving all night, the crew was hungry for breakfast. We stopped at a truck stop in Memphis, TN for a quick breakfast. This is where we met “Memphis Pete,” the little dog who liked to chase tractor trailers.

When we drove into the truck stop, I saw a small tan and white dog running around the parking lot chasing birds and trucks (he was actually trying to bite their tires!) I asked the waitress if she had seen this dog before. She said that he had been hanging around for days and she was worried that he would be killed. Our crew could not leave this guy behind, so Memphis Pete joined the caravan and went to Broken Down Dogs with us.

We arrived at BDD Shelter around 6:30 PM on Friday. The first thing we did was test the dogs for heartworm and after finding the negative ones, we loaded 11 dogs and 20 cats on the trailer. We didn’t leave until about 2:30 AM on Saturday!

Our second non-planned rescue was a tiny gray kitten that came into the shelter in a motor home as we were leaving. Kathy saw how weak and ill the kitten was and knew he would be dead by morning, so she took her straight from the rescue vehicle and right into her van. She worked on this poor flea-infested kitten while in transit and is happy to report that he is now stable and gaining weight already! Dr. Kathy saved his life.

We arrived home at 12:30 PM on Sunday. We went directly to our fair grounds and were greeted by 100 to 150 people. The newspaper here said “The Katrina animals got a taste of Butler County hospitality.” I couldn’t agree more!

All the animals were immediately in good hands—several local vets had volunteered their services. After settling the animals in, bathing then, and doing a vet check, the new foster/adoptive families (who were right there all day) took these “babies” home to more even more love and comfort.

I send a huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped with this transport. These dedicated people gave their all to the animals during the exhausting three and a half day trip (and didn’t even complain too much when I would forget to stop and feed them). I also want to thank the community of Butler County who stepped up to the plate and supported us with donations, prayers, and well wishes.

Now that the dust has settled, I feel the best way to describe this trip is long, exhausting, unbelievable, devastating, sad, and oh so gratifying. The feeling was wonderful when we would open our trailer doors for a break and see those loving, wonderful, grateful eyes staring at us with tails wagging like crazy. I wouldn’t trade that feeling for the world. As you read this, we are planning our next rescue mission with the help of the Butler County Humane Society and can’t wait to go.

We may have only made a small dent in the huge homeless situation but to us our small dent is enormous!