BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – During a cold winter of 2018, Christine Rasnake was devasted to learn that 38 dogs had been found frozen to death from lack of shelter.
After that, Rasnake decided to take matters into her own hands.
“I started calling everyone I knew asking to please donate dog houses,” says Rasnake. “I immediately went and got straw and dog food, and we were just driving around neighborhoods and just giving them away to whoever needed it.”
The circumstances led Rasnake to start Dogs Under Cover, a grassroots group whose mission is to provide warm, dry shelter for outdoor pets.
To help out, the Stewards Individual Placement program and WVU Tech came to Dogs Under Cover Saturday to build dog houses and give them away for free to homes that might need them.
“Just taking some old plywood or some old crates that you get from Lowes, taking those things and building a dog house out of them is just rewarding, knowing a dog is going to be able to live in that house and not be exposed to the cold is worth it just for that,” says Josh Jones with Stewards Individual Placement.
The groups have already built a total of 60 dog houses and plan to keep up the operation until dogs around the community all have a place to stay warm.
“It feels good to be out in the community and just helping others,” Josiah Baker says, a student volunteer from WVU Tech. “We have a bunch of dog lovers in the club so that makes it even better.”
To keep up the mission, Dogs Under Cover is in need of supplies and volunteers. If you would like to help out or would like to donate supplies or a dog house, you can call them at (304)208-8008.
