Philly family who took in wandering malnourished dog wants to help others
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A Philadelphia family who took in a malnourished dog after it wandered into their home last year wants to give back to others.
Last December, Jack Jokinen says his family woke up to a malnourished dog on the first floor of their Philadelphia home.
Somehow their door was left open during a storm and the dog was able to walk right inside.
But it was the quick thinking of a random stranger, 35-year-old Steven Griendling, who decided to close Jokinen's door as he was walking by the home in the earlier hours of the morning.
The brotherly love was all captured on video.
But the love continued for seven months after the Jokinen family rescued the 9-year-old dog now named Suzy.
Jokinen says people from all over the world made donations to help Suzy. Roughly $40,000 has been donated since December.
Suzy has already had a handful of procedures, including the removal of 17 teeth. To date, Jokinen has spent about $7,000 on vet bills to give his dog the best life possible.
After the news surfaced of Suzy's rescue, Jokinen says he started getting flooded with inspirational stories of adoption thanks to his story.
"It was really cool and it was it was weird to us that like we would inspire anyone when we're just trying to do what you know felt right," said Jokinen.
So now, Jokinen wants to use Suzy's story to inspire others to save an animal's life.
"All along, when people gave us all this money at the beginning for our medical expenses, we said, well we want to use extra money to help other animals," he said.
So to say "thank you" to all those who have supported Suzy, Jokinen plans to put $10,000 to the next 100 adoptions.
"We will be giving $100 to 100 people that adopt from a shelter or rescue and reach out to us through an online form," said Jokinen.
Once things settle on the COVID-19 front, Suzy will need to have more teeth extracted and also needs to spayed.
Jokinen, who was never a dog person, says he's thankful for Suzy and how her story has touched the world.
"We hear all these touching stories that you know we know we're making an impact, we get messages from all over the world. And it's just this at a time where so many people are against each other. It's nice to have that positivity and it's been it's nice for us to get to play a role in it," he says.
To learn about how you can receive $100 toward your next adoption, CLICK HERE.
