During this challenging time, I hope you can take a moment to celebrate with us. This #satostrong community made 130 dreams come true this month. That's 130 lives rescued from the streets and 130 families made a little more complete. Please keep reading below to learn more about our most recent transport of 130 dogs and cats. The success of this Freedom Flight brings our new total to 884 dogs and cats flown to new lives so far in 2020. And our team has already started rescuing more.

Saving all these lives is no small feat and I want you to know how grateful my team and I are for the support of our community. We could not do this without you. .

Top: Our team in Puerto Rico loads 130 dogs and cats into the airplane during the early hours of the morning. Bottom: The precious cargo arrives in NJ, where our East Coast team carefully unloads each crate. Bottom photos by Alexandra Lloyd.

Thanks to the efforts of our donors, supporters, volunteers, and team members another 130 satos and gatos have officially begun their new lives this month! On October 10th, along with our Freedom Flight partners Wings of Rescue and Greater Good Charities, we flew 130 rescue dogs and cats from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Morristown, NJ. Upon landing, each special Puerto Rican treasure was passed into the welcoming arms of their awaiting forever family, foster family or shelter partner. These included dogs like Pooh Bear, a senior sato-poodle who was found in the streets with blinding eye ulcers, Alana, a young pregnant mum who needed a c-section in order to give birth, and Blythe, who was rescued full of parasites and covered in mange (see these lucky faces with their new families in the banner photo above!). Now all of these dogs are already happily settled into their new lives of comfy beds and endless love. Their former lives of suffering in the streets of Puerto Rico are long behind them.

In addition to all of our supporters and volunteers who helped make this Freedom Flight possible, we would like to say a special ‘thank you’ to our generous match donors: Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co., The Howard E. Stark Foundation, Moroccanoil, Nana’s Tea Time Treats, and The Rosemont Foundation. 

None of this work would be possible without the support of our incredible #satostrong community. Thanks to this transport clearing space in our kennels, our rescue team has already been able to rescue more dogs from the streets and take them into safety.

Once off the airplane, our East Coast team of volunteers hands each sato off to their forever family, foster family, or shelter partner. Click here or on the image above to see more photos of this magical day in action. All photos by Alexandra Lloyd.

Want to learn more about our most recent Freedom Flight success? Click on the image below to see last week's feature in People Magazine!

Featured photo by Alexandra Lloyd.

We are excited to announce a win-win for dog lovers and coffee drinkers! Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co. selected The Sato Project as their Rescue Roast partner this month. This means that from now until November 15th, 100% of all proceeds from their ‘Rescue Roast’ coffee blend will be donated directly to The Sato Project to help support our rescue efforts. You can learn more about this life-saving partnership by clicking here or on the image below. Even if you are not a coffee drinker, you can still help by spreading the word to anyone you know who is. Every cup of coffee we drink this month, will help us rescue more satos!

Photo courtesy of Grounds & Hounds Coffee Co. from @kellythedogmom. Click on the image above to learn more about our exciting new partnership from now until November 15th.

After her adoption, Mimosa immediately fell in love with her two human sisters; however, she was sadly afraid of her dad at first. Her previous life in the streets left her with a fear of men. But her dad was very patient and it didn't take long for Mimosa to fall in love with him too!

Mimosa was rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico in mid-July, along with four puppies she was dutifully caring for. As soon as this family came into our care, our team knew something was wrong. Mimosa’s ears were erect and the skin on her face looked stretched and pulled back from her mouth. This made it very difficult for her to eat or drink. Fortunately, our veterinarian was able to identify the problem right away: poor Mimosa had tetanus. We immediately put her on an IV and began her extensive treatment while she continued to nurse and care for her four puppies.

We are proud to share that this wonderful mum made a full recovery, took her Freedom Flight, and got adopted by the family of her dreams. As soon as she arrived at the airport, they were right there to pick her up. 

Now lucky Mimosa is finally living the life she deserves. Her and Sussy immediately became best friends, she has two human sisters she adores, and two loving parents. She has been renamed Sandy and very quickly embraced her new identity as beloved family member. Congratulations, sweet Sandy! Your trials and troubles are finally over. 

Left: Mimosa smiles with her new sato sister, Sussy, who was adopted last year. Right: Mimosa meets her new family for the first time at the airport in Morristown, NJ.