I have always wanted to help people and stray animals. It really started in Girl Scouts. I went camping, did a lot of baking, worked really hard to earn badges, and all kinds of fun things. My mom was a Girl Scout leader too. When you're young, a lot of your Girl Scout badges require you to do nice things for others, but as a child you aren't thinking, "Oh, I need to help my elderly neighbor," although you have a relationship. I probably didn't realize it at the time, but having a relationship with elderly neighbors was probably very good for them because our street was a real mix of old and young. My Girl Scout troop had a sister-brother, Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop. They used to have anybody with disabilities. Some kids had a variety of disabilities that were either mental or physical, and my Girl Scout troop used to go help them. I remember feeling that it was an extremely good thing to do because at that time those kids were isolated. I thought that it was the right and fair thing to do.

I got involved with helping and rescuing animals because I guess when I saw anything being victimized, it always mattered to me. I don't like to see things suffer unnecessarily. I don't like to see an animal cast aside because of how it looks. I mean, breeders cast aside animals every day because of their looks and I think, "Oh my God, if people were choosing who was going to live and die at birth with humans, most of us would be dead because most of us are really ugly at birth." You know, everybody is just exactly what they are. I mean most humans would not measure up to someone else's subjective standard. So I think because there was probably a fair bit of insensitivity around me, the need to help out just seemed strong, very strong. When it comes to helping others and helping animals, it's not that you do it to martyr yourself. You're not helping because, "Oh, look at me. I'm so wonderful." You do it because it's actually quite mutually beneficial and you reap the rewards of meeting a lot of people that you might not have normally met.