Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Brodsky.
Hi Pamela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a children’s literacy, rescue dog advocate by night, promotional products salesperson by day. In 2016, my daughter heard about an event through Karma Rescue at our local library where she could read books to a dog. My daughter loves all animals, but at that time, she did not love to read. At the library, she visited dogs and practiced reading – it was a win-win.
Not long after our first library visit, my daughter and I began volunteering as reading aides. Very shortly after that, we adopted a rescue dog of our own, Coco, who became an avid listener at events.
In addition to volunteering at dog adoptions and animal welfare events, and eventually fostering dogs, we visited libraries across Los Angeles where reluctant readers blossomed as a patient pup listened to them. When the libraries and schools were forced to close due to COVID in 2020, a Librarian reached out and asked if it would be possible to hold an event via Zoom. It was absolutely possible. I decided it was time to begin my own organization dedicated to children’s literacy and animal welfare/rescue and Reading to the Rescue was born.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Reading to the Rescue launched during a pandemic, which provided some “free” time to navigate forming a non-profit entity. Of course, learning how to use Zoom was challenging at first, but with each event, our volunteers grew more confident. We also had to get creative to keep the volunteer dogs on camera(!) and awake(!) – because there is no substitute for interacting with the kids in person.
However, being totally virtual allowed us to adopt a classroom of 2nd Graders from a distance. Each Friday, we read the class stories about rescue dogs (The Story of Keiko and Niko, Belly Rubbins for Bubbins) and the children asked questions about our dogs, spay and neuter, adopting, and general animal care.
Our volunteers and dogs also participated in a Read Across America Event with a school located in Pennsylvania. That was only possible because we were all virtual! So, it was a rough year, but some wonderful opportunities presented themselves.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Reading to the Rescue?
Our mission is two-fold: Promote children’s literacy and advocate for animal welfare.
The dogs are calming, non-judgmental listeners, which encourages the children to practice reading books, and to read to them again at future events, so tracking improvement is tangible. Many of our dogs are Pitbulls and ambassadors for their breed. They represent dogs that were given a second chance after being discarded or abused. During a Reading to the Rescue event, educating the children about the proper way to approach a dog and pet, why you should adopt a dog from the shelter or a rescue and the importance of spay neuter, microchipping and ID tags comes up naturally.
What’s next?
Reading to the Rescue is now a non-profit organization and our next step is acquiring our 501c3 status. Our volunteers have always purchased books for special events and prizes for each book read out of their own pockets, so being able to provide these items via tax deductible donations will be wonderful. We also hope to expand our volunteer group, which means adding more rescued Canine Good Citizen certified dogs to our network.
We currently partner with the Los Angeles Public Library and are looking forward to expanding the program to include more schools and opportunities to advocate for children’s literacy and animal rescue. The dogs can’t wait. And the human volunteers are pretty excited too.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@
readingtotherescue.com - Website: www.
readingtotherescue.com - Instagram: @readingtotherescue
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reading2Rescue
- Twitter: @Reading2Rescue
