54 dogs of all ages, from puppies to seniors, made the journey from danger to safety over the weekend after we cleared out two shelters of all of their dogs! Landpilots David Stash and Diane Fasciano braved challenging driving conditions while on their way to meet our rescue partners, Wags To Riches – Helping Animals In Need, Wolfe County Animal Shelter and Morgan County Animal Shelter -West Liberty,Kentucky shelters in Kentucky.

Dave and Diane headed to Kentucky Friday night to get a good night’s sleep prior to their adventure. It was an extremely early morning, meeting the shelters at 5:45am to load dogs on and begin the voyage northward. First stop was meeting our friends at Bridge To Home Animal Rescue where our first lucky passengers hopped off! The Landpilots then continued on to the Allegheny County Airport where they met up with volunteers from Cross Your Paws Rescue and Senior Hearts Rescue & Renewal where even more lucky dogs were offloaded.

From here we switched teams and Landpilots Timothy Bouvy and Kelly Genovese took the wheel to keep the rest of the precious cargo going east. They reached our friends at Adams County SPCA in Gettysburg and it wasn’t over yet! From there they headed to our very last stop, to meet up with our new rescue partner One Step Closer Animal Rescue OSCAR. The last of these wonderful dogs exited the vehicle and our team then headed back home, returning to the Allegheny County Airport at about 4:30am Sunday Morning. Whew!

This mission had a lot of moving parts with lots of people and coordination all over. Getting everyone in sync is always one of our biggest challenges. These rescues happen because of our loyal volunteers, our hardworking rescue partners and our incredible donors and supporters! We are so proud to say that No Dog Left Behind helped to empty two entire shelters, making much needed room for new arrivals.

This mission was done in honor of our very good friends at the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation whose help each year helps us fulfill our mission: To save the lives of animals in danger while enriching the lives of people. Thank you Pens for your incredible support to not only No Dog Left Behind, but hundreds of other charities all whose missions benefit from your unwavering support.