We are huge animal lovers in our house and so when it was time for Max to come up with a mitzvah project, it was a no brainer. We have two dogs currently, goldendoodles named Izzi and Roxi, and although they aren’t rescues our first dog Vera, a Doberman was.

Max worked two Saturdays in a row at our local Pet Smart helping Friends Forever Rescue.  Friends Forever is a not-for-profit group that fosters and finds forever homes for homeless pets.  Max was assigned to different dogs each Saturday, walking them around the store, basically advertising the dogs up for adoption. He really enjoyed it and felt great about helping the dogs to find homes.For the second part of his project, we did a drive to help homeless animals.  The drive benefitted The Miami Pet Assistance Coalition or MPAC.  A local deli, Mitch’s Westside Bagels, let us hold the collection there on a busy Saturday morning. We used social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote it in the two weeks leading up to it.  In addition to all of our friends and family, we had monetary donations from the majority of the customers in the restaurant. All of our friends brought bowls, leashes, food, treats, you name it.  We collected a boatload of supplies and a couple hundred dollars in cash.This was a great mitzvah project for us and I recommend it if you are an animal lover. It gave Max a sense of responsibility and pride, as he did such a kind thing for someone less fortunate. Hence the whole point of the mitzvah project. 

Submitted by Max’s Mom, Lesley Rousso