About

Marissa Johnston is an avid environmental and animal advocate in and around her community who actively particpates in a number of conferences and projects. Her initial curiousity and love for animals sprouted from watching veterinary shows from a young age and the time spent with her first two dogs, Nakio and Akela.

Tragically, both dogs passed away in the first week of January 2017 at 14 and 16; however, this only ignited Marissa's desire to ensure every animal lives a life full of love and comfort no matter the cost. This led her to volunteer hundreds of hours at the local humane society and her neighbor's rescue and recovery service, Rico Pet Recovery. This ultimately led her family to foster countless dogs and adopt her two present pups, Maka and Kalea, who are both the inspirations behind her Gold Award project.

Maka was adopted from Delaware County Humane Society after her initial owner gave her up due to a new job opportunity that negotiated a substancial amount of travel. On Maka's way to her new home, it was quickly revealed that her new owner could not take her due to a limitation on the number of dogs allowed in the neighborhood, so she was dropped off at the local shelter where she was found by Marissa who happened to be volunteering the same day Maka came in.

Kalea became a foster fail when she was adopted by Marissa's family from Rico Pet Recovery. When they first got her, she was covered in fleas and behind on all vaccinations. Little was known about her past except that she had been living in a car with her owner since they both escaped from a domestic abuse case.

In addition to her own dogs, Marissa has had the experience to foster, trap and rescue dogs with the founder of Rico Pet Recovery, Marci Dop. This opened her eyes to the extent of many problems surrounding dog rescue, of which includes the lack of accessibility and administration of vaccines and neuter surgeries. With her project, she not only hopes to become a leader for future Gold Award girl scouts and to provide a resource and model for future animal projects and initiatives, but also to make a sustainable and profound change in the lives of people and their dogs whether it is through her clinics or her informative videos and articles.

Although we know this won't be easy, we are so thankful for all the support from our community partners and volunteers for making this possible and helping to transform lives through education and direct action.