Our WHY!

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We started Summit Lost Pet Rescue in March of 2020, because searching for lost pets has been a passion of Melissa & Brandon's for many years! We both have unofficially searched for lost pets since 2015, before we teamed up in Fall of 2019 on Outlaw's rescue on Vail Pass with Katie Albright. Melissa initially volunteered with Summit County Animal Control & Shelter and fell in love with the shelter animals. She assisted Animal Control and Shelter staff with many lost dog searches around the county and was heavily involved with the searches for Jackson in Summit Cove, Lucy in Keystone, and Chevy at Herman's Gulch. When they were all found safely, she knew her passion was to find lost pets and has continued to help with many more!! Brandon initially started Summit County Loves Their Pets facebook page to help find a a Summit community member's lost dog. This page grew in popularity among all animal lovers in the county, and people starting sharing posts about lost pets and it just took off with lost pet searches. Brandon has since helped with many lost dog rescues in Summit.

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Brandon & Melissa then started working together unofficially on many dog searches over the years and we decided we could better help our Summit community find more lost pets if we teamed up and started this nonprofit! We are so grateful that Katie introduced us to the Missing Animal Response Network and Kat Albrecht.  We completed the MAR Field Course and are officially trained Pet Detectives! We are so thankful for this training and our network partners as well as the Summit County Animal Shelter & Staff's partnership. We are humbled by the support from our Donors, the community's support, and our amazing Volunteers who are the backbone of our organization.  Our Volunteers are so devoted and dedicated to help find lost pets in Summit. It truly takes a village! We couldn't have started this nonprofit without the help of Doug Zidel, Andria Pyn and John Carver. Their hard work and dedication to our mission made this become a reality for us!  We are so grateful for our current Board Members- Casey Martin- President, Teresia Swift- Treasurer, Suzie VerSchure- Secretary, who have helped us take our organization to the next level. We look forward to serving our Summit County pet community more as we grow and reuniting more lost pets with their families!