7 Year-Old Boy Has Saved Over 1,000 Shelter Dogs Through Viral Videos

At four years previous, Roman McConn knew something, that he sought after to lend a hand save canine. Something struck him when he and his mom had been out of doors of a PetSmart in San Angelo, Texas, in June of 2015 the place Critter Shack Rescue used to be there with adoptable canine wanting houses.

“It was very sad,” Roman mentioned. “I knew immediately from when I saw them in the cages in the baking hot sun that I wanted to get them out.”

It didn’t make sense to him. “His 4-year-old mind was asking, ‘Why are these dogs here?’” mentioned Jen McConn, Roman’s mom. “I said, ‘They need homes.’ And he then said, ‘What’s the problem? Get them a home.’”

It used to be then that Roman made up our minds that for his four^th birthday he sought after to assemble donations for the rescue as a substitute of receiving presents. His selfless gesture helped raised $200. “Every single dollar went to the shelter,” he mentioned.

“I guess I really had no choice but to like dogs because I’ve been with dogs my entire life,” Roman mentioned. When he used to be born there have been two canine in the house. “I always counted them as family,” he mentioned. “They are my brothers and sister or my cousins.”

So, it didn’t make sense to Roman when he noticed the canine in cages. “I thought the money would help them find homes.”

And that used to be only the start of an adventurous challenge that took him and his mom to lend a hand save numerous canine from demise row.

An Eye-Opener

After they donated the cash to the rescue, McConn noticed a photograph in her Facebook feed of a canine at San Angelo Animal Services, the town’s high-kill refuge. The canine resembled person who the circle of relatives had misplaced a couple of years prior. It introduced McConn and her husband, Roman’s father Jeff, into the refuge, exposing them to masses of kennels of canine. And it used to be overwhelming.

She and her husband followed the canine within the picture and named her Luna, who have been on the refuge thrice. “That was when we decided that we needed to do more,” McConn mentioned.

“Helping is not easy but once I was exposed to everything there, not helping was no longer an option. As hard as it was for me it wasn’t about me, it was about the dogs living in that environment. I put my feelings aside and did what needed to be done.”

They began visiting the refuge regularly and making movies to lend a hand get the canine extra publicity. One of the primary questions folks requested used to be whether or not explicit canine had been kid-friendly. It used to be then that McConn mentioned with Roman about serving to on the refuge. “I was all aboard the ship to go save dogs,” Roman mentioned.

McConn then began bringing Roman. But by the point she introduced him, the refuge now not allowed someone to stroll the kennels. Instead, the canine had been delivered to the visitation room to hang around with Roman. He’d play they usually’d make a video that includes Roman speaking in regards to the canine.

The Big Move

In early 2016, McConn and Roman raised $10,000 in two months just by soliciting for donations. “There was no organizational structure to the process at all,” McConn mentioned.

They raised the cash thru McConn’s social media channels and used it to hide adoptions and hosted adoption occasions. They additionally helped different rescues within the house with occasions and fundraising.

By June of 2016, the McConns moved to Washington state. McConn’s husband, who serves within the Navy, used to be deployed to Japan.

“There was not the same need in Washington shelters and our hearts wanted to still help in Texas,” McConn mentioned. “We knew we needed to help the Texas dogs.” The thought used to be to switch canine from the high-kill shelters in Texas and convey them to no-kill rescues in Washington.

The rescues may duvet required vetting bills however delivery used to be an excessive amount of cash. McConn’s thought used to be to bridge the distance and canopy that expense.

In December 2016, they accrued donations and raised sufficient cash to rent a delivery corporate that may carry 31 canine from Texas to Washington, in particular operating with rescues in Tacoma and Burlington.

Bringing Dogs to Freedom

They weren’t a rescue they usually weren’t a delivery corporate. But what they had been doing used to be connecting undesirable canine (and a few cats) who had been slated for euthanasia in high-kill shelters to no-kill rescues, humane societies, and households.

The challenge wanted a reputation they usually got here up with Project Freedom Ride for the reason that canine actually had been taking their freedom trip. “It was cut and dry what our mission was,” McConn mentioned.

The first respectable delivery from Texas to Washington used to be on Dec. 6, 2016.

McConn didn’t wish to be a 501 (c) (three). She and Roman simply sought after to lend a hand canine, however so as to give protection to the entirety she created, McConn filed forms ultimate summer time and is looking forward to nonprofit standing to be finished.

The Face of Project Freedom Ride

While McConn based Project Freedom Ride, Roman has mainly turn into the acquainted face of the movies that characteristic adoptable canine.

“Roman has always been very empathetic, compassionate and a driven child from early on,” McConn mentioned. “He is learning at a very young age that his actions can change something. We’ve always told him that he has the ability to make his world better than ours but he has to do something. He can’t wait for other people to do it. I think he is starting to realize his actions not only are changing things for dogs but his actions are inspiring other people to get involved. That’s pretty big for somebody who is only 7.”

Kid of the Year 

Not handiest has Roman impressed others to lend a hand save canine, however he used to be additionally stated by means of the ASPCA. In 2018, Roman won the ASPCA Tommy P. Monahan Kid of the Year Award and gave a speech on the Humane Awards Luncheon on Nov. 15, 2018 in New York City.

“I was very surprised but I felt what I had done was helpful to dogs,” Roman mentioned.

Family Affair

Jeff additionally will get concerned when he’s house, which is now in Georgia. He every so often is going to the shelters or is helping by means of retaining down the castle at house when McConn and Roman are out getting issues finished for Project Freedom Ride. The circle of relatives’s personal pack lately contains Luna, Ru (who’s deaf) and Zion, all of whom are rescues from Texas.

The long run for Project Freedom Ride seems very promising. They are operating with The Dodo to enlarge their challenge, which incorporates a international TV challenge that may air later this 12 months. “We have a feeling 2019 will bring a lot of good change for us,” McConn mentioned. “We didn’t know we’d be where we are now.”

Project Freedom Ride is 100 p.c donation-driven. To date, it has helped delivery 1,400 canine and 50 cats. “We can’t do it without the thousands upon thousands of people who believe in what we’re doing,” McConn mentioned. “People always ask what is Project Freedom Ride, and I tell them it’s a community of people who have rallied behind this young boy’s desire to save dogs.”

And that still contains Roman’s thought that everybody will have to know that animals want lend a hand and folks will have to at all times undertake. “They deserve more than a life in a kennel,” he mentioned. “I want every rescue and shelter dog to be adopted.”

Check out Roman on The Ellen Show!

You can in finding out extra about Project Freedom Ride on Facebook and Instagram.

Featured Image: Project Freedom Ride