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PR Pros in Alabama, Texas and New York come together to save lives

Animal rescue and welfare is a passion for many people, and animal shelters across the country have been hit hard during COVID19. While individual communities rally to support local organizations, a few leaders from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) have come together to help each other in ways they couldn’t accomplish on their own.

In addition to serving as President of Strategic Communications, Crystal DeStefano is also the Northeast Regional Representative for PRSA and she is the Board President for Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in Syracuse, NY.

Helping Hounds transports dogs from Alabama and Texas – dogs who are otherwise at risk of euthanasia due to overcrowded shelters – and finds homes in NY for the dogs. (Helping Hounds actually just built a beautiful new building which opened in January, which has temporarily closed due to COVID19.)

While New York State is under a “stay at home” mandate, not allowing anyone in or out, that means no dogs can be transported from Alabama or Texas to New York.

But Crystal never likes to talk about problems without offering creative solutions! In an effort to uphold Helping Hounds’ mission of getting dogs out of overcrowded shelter systems and into loving homes, she reached out to the PRSA Chapters in Alabama and Texas to ask for their help finding a few extra fosters, volunteers and/or donors to help delay any euthanasia until we can resume transports.

All of the local chapters responded with tremendous enthusiasm! And an army of public relations professionals is a powerful thing.

The PRSA chapters in Alabama and Texas reached out to their members, their personal networks, and even their local media to create awareness and action during this time of extreme need.

When you focus on the mission and goals of an organization, there is almost always a solution to be found – and you’re able communicate through even the most unexpected of challenges. Especially when you have a strong network with PR, media, and community-leader organizations.