The freezing temperatures may be keeping most of us indoors, but that's not stopping two women from Jackson who are making it their mission to help animals left out in the cold.
April Lewis and Jodi Brown take turns driving around looking to make sure animals have shelters outside, fresh food, straw to keep them warm, and they do it all out of their own pockets. The two women started doing this only a couple weeks ago.
April tells FOX 47 the response from the community to help them with their efforts was not expected.
"The donations have been overwhelming. We did not expect any of this. We started doing this all on just us going out and looking for dogs and give them some straw and food. Then people caught word of us and wanted to help us with gas money and food, " said April Lewis.
A few weeks ago Lewis and Brown helped out two dogs that were living outside in dog houses without insulation and frozen water.They went and stuffed the house's with straw and installed a flap to keep the cold out. Hours after their efforts they received multiple calls and emails about other pets that were cold and hungry, and the two didn't hesitate to continue to help out.
"We get messages through our Facebook of people who have neighbors that have dogs with no houses, no straw. So we go out and we check on that. People are losing sleep over these dogs being left out," said Lewis.
Mary Gutkowski heard about the two women's efforts and decided to offer up her antique shop to help with donations.
"I said wow those girls are great, I mean seriously, to go out there and do that and they are freezing. But you care and you are actually doing something," said Gutkowski.
Gutkowski held a sale today at her shop and all the proceeds went towards the movement.
"Just to try to get them some gas money. You know i'm just trying to help them keep going and doing what they are doing," said Gutkowski.
Although there has been positive feedback, there has also been negative. But the women say at the end of the day, their main goal is to help the animals.
"I think about these pets left outside and I also have to focus on the good.Think about the animals that we have saved and got off the streets and that is what keeps me going," said Lewis.
"We are not trying to step on anybody's toes, we are not trying to judge anyone, we are just trying to help," said Gutkowski.
If you would like to donate to their efforts...You can visit their GoFundMe page at --
https://www.gofundme.com/rpvcpz-animal-rescue
