0229: The Mr. Mo Project with Chris & Mariesa Hughes

A candid discussion of starting and operating an animal welfare not-for-profit with Mariesa and Chris Hughes from The Mr. Mo Project.

Check out their donation options including their Amazon Smile Wishlist.

From the Dog Words archives:
0113: How Rosie Inspired a Foundation
0120: Flying Dogs to Their Forever Homes with Julian Javor
0211: Best Friends Animal Society with Brent Toellner

Celebrate 5 years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate at RosieFund.org or through our Facebook page. You can contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com. Also check out our page on BarkYours, the online mall with gifts for people who love their dogs.

Music for this episode is provided by alternative string duo, The Wires. Visit them at TheWires.info. Learn fiddle and cello-fiddle online — even if you've never played before — from Laurel Morgan Parks and Sascha Groshang at FiddleLife.com. Join The Wires as they explore new music on their show Sound Currents.

The transcript for this episode is available on the Dog Words Buzzsprout page: Buzzsprout.com/840565.

Make a donation at RosieFund.org or through our Facebook page. You can contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website or buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com. Also check out our page on BarkYours, the online mall with gifts for people who love their dogs.

Rosie Fund online:
RosieFund.org
Facebook.com/rosiefund
Instagram.com/rosiefund
YouTube.com/rosiefund

Transcript

CHRIS  0:02 
There's something that we always really, really push to remember. And that's, you know, everything that's happened is because of one dog. And that's something that we strive for our fosters to remember and for us to remember that, you know, one dog saved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of senior dogs.

PHIL   0:20 
I'm Phil Hatterman and this is Dog Words presented by Rosie Fund.

Today, Mariesa and Chris Hughes share the story of Moses, the dog that inspired them to do the impossible.

If you're new to Dog Words, in each episode we explore the world of dog care and companionship. "We save each other," is the motto of Rosie Fund, which simply means the more we do for dogs, the more they do for us. And they already do a lot.

If you love dogs, you'll love Dog Words. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Go to the podcast page at RosieFund.org to share your thoughts. Please download, follow, rate, and most importantly, share Dog Words.

Celebrate five years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the store on our website, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com, or buying our note cards and shirts on BarkYours.com. Links are in the description. Your donations and purchases help fund the Rosie Life Starter Kits that make sure these senior and harder-to-adopt dogs have some of the items they'll need in their forever home.

Please follow Rosie Fund on social media. Subscribe to the free Rosie Fund YouTube channel that offers great videos of Rosie, Peaches, and shelter dogs, including some exclusive content like the sweet KC Pet Project dog featured in our latest post.

Next time on Dog Words, Kaitlin Thompson tells us how Melissa's Second Chances is uniting pets with their forever families.

The mission of Rosie Fund is to provide humans with the resources and education they need to give senior and harder-to-adopt dogs a better life. We thank you for joining our mission.

Today on Dog Words we welcome Chris and Mariesa Hughes, the founders of the Mr. Mo Project. Thank you for joining us from Albany, New York.

CHRIS  2:09 
Thank you very much.

MARIESA  2:10 
Thanks for having us.

PHIL   2:12 
Mr. Mo Project is aligned perfectly with the mission of Rosie Fund, the sponsor of Dog Words. We tried to help senior and harder-to-adopt dogs find their forever home. And that's exactly what you're doing for senior dogs. I want to know all about that. But first, give me the background on both of you. Have you always been dog people? What is your connection with dogs?

MARIESA  2:37 
Yeah, I am more a dog person and then I am a human person I think at this point. I have been in rescue since I was about 23, I guess. I got my first greyhound from a greyhound rescue group locally. And then when I met Chris he had six dogs and I had two and we kind of merged our families. And it's been bliss ever since until we grew to a pack of at one point we had 22 and now we're at 19.

CHRIS  3:08 
Yep. And I have also been—Same boat. Been involved with dogs my whole life. We moved here from England when I was young and my mom was not allowed to have dogs in her family. So we started adopting dogs really young and I've always had multiple dogs in our house.

PHIL   3:25 
I've seen some of them in the background already and our listeners will hear a few of them. You have some beautiful dogs as your pack has grown. What prompted you to move this beyond just having your own giant pack to starting The Mr. Mo project?

CHRIS  3:43 
I've been involved in rescue. Like I started a rescue—I moved back home—called Rowdy to the Rescue when I was about 22 years old and I ended up taking a dog being Moses who was a senior at a shelter in Seminole County, Florida. He was surrendered for being too old. And then they tried to adopt a puppy that same day from the shelter. And I received this picture of him wearing this black tie. And it was this professional picture. He just looked so dapper. I just kind of knew I needed him. He was this pittie that had really horribly cropped ears and he was just adorable. And so we brought him home and with all the intentions of actually adopting him out through the rescue. Like he was not supposed to stay. But he ended up fitting so well into the house that he ended up just kind of becoming part of the pack. And this was right before I met Mariesa.

PHIL   4:32 
And this is a dog that a family had decided does not fit our household anymore.

CHRIS  4:39 
Yeah.

PHIL   4:39 
Turns it in. Surrenders it. Which I get. 'Cause we volunteer at KC Pet Project and I get it when somebody is senior themselves and they can't take care of themselves or they're having to go into assisted living and it breaks their heart that they have to give up their canine or feline companion. But I don't have the same understanding for someone who does that so that they can adopt a puppy.

CHRIS  5:08 
Yeah, I don't, I don't get it. I really don't. I'm happy I don't get it. Because I feel like if I got it, I would be in their mindset and I don't want to be in their mindset.

PHIL   5:17 
And a puppy is less work than a senior dog?

CHRIS  5:20 
Yeah, I just I don't I don't I really don't get it.

PHIL   5:23 
Yeah, most senior dogs are less work than a puppy. Yes, they'll have health issues that you need to address. But you're not teaching them how to be house trained and to sit and stay and walk on a leash.

CHRIS  5:39 
No, it is. I mean, I mean, Moses came here and he fit right in. He just slept and you know, played and ran around like, I don't know, he was just like a perfect dog.

MARIESA  5:48 
Moses was truly like the glue of our pack. He was like the grandfather of the pack. He didn't need anything for 21 months. And then on month 22 he just had some trouble walking and we took him to the vet. And they said he had old man vestibular. It was Valentine's Day, actually. And neither of us felt comfortable with that diagnosis. It just didn't, it just didn't fit. So that weekend, Chris took him to Cornell Veterinary College, which is just like three hours from us. And we're so so grateful it is because we're there all the time. And he ended up being diagnosed with an inoperable spinal cord tumor that was growing into his spinal cord. And they gave him four weeks to live. As a mother, I was not willing to let someone give my child four weeks to live. So I gave him more than that. But not by much. He lived five weeks. And he died at home in our arms. And it was terrible. As newlyweds, we spent everything we had. We sold everything in our house that wasn't nailed down to pay for, for what we could for MRI.

CHRIS  7:04 
MRI. Yeah, we sold our hot tub. Like we needed an MRI and that was the only way we can get a true diagnosis. You know, we moved in, we have a house, we, you know, we put all of our money into this, this, you know, your, you know, marriage and the home. And we didn't want to, you know, not do it. So we had a hot tub. And I put it up on Craigslist at the time, because that was the way to sell things. And put it for the exact price needed for the MRI. And it sold that day. And you know, we were able to get the MRI done.

PHIL   7:34 
I know if you were put in the same situation, you would make the same sacrifices again. So there's no need for me to say I'm sorry you had to sell your all your earthly possessions. But that's I guess, it's hard not to be disappointed that someone would give up a dog like Moses. But I'm so glad that we live in a world where Moses ended up where he needed to be. If their mindset was already that they were considering abandoning a dog, surrendering a dog that's inconvenient, there was no way they would have given him the best four, five weeks of his life that you were able to give him.

CHRIS  8:26 
There's something that we always really, really push to remember. And that's, you know, everything that's happened is because of one dog. And that's something that we strive for our fosters to remember and for us to remember that, you know, one dog has saved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of senior dogs. We're very grateful to have been able to be his parents, really.

PHIL   8:48 
Listeners who don't know the story of Rosie, the inspiration for Rosie Fund. I'll link to the episode where we talk about our short time with her and how she inspired us to start this foundation that's helped dogs the same way Moses has inspired you to help hundreds of dogs. So you gave Moses the best end of life care any animal could have. Not just a dog. Any loved one. But it's a big step to go from taking care of your Moses to then helping dogs you've never even met. How did that happen?

CHRIS  9:33 
Well, I mean, I remember after Moses passed away, you know, everything that we put into it, everything, you know, the cost wise, we were driving down the road and I looked at Mariesa and said, "We should start saving senior dogs and paying all of their medical expenses the rest of their life."

MARIESA  9:51 
And I said, "That's an awful idea. That is like the worst idea you've ever had. We just, you know, we just went through everything. We had to pay for Moses, just to pass away. How are we going to do that?" And he said, "I don't know, but we're gonna do it." And I thought, okay, you know, he likes to start stuff and then not finish it. So this will be something else that he starts and doesn't finish. Well, I have never been so wrong. He started this. And within weeks had the paperwork. Had the 501(c)(3). Had the bylaws. Had it all figured out. And we started saving dogs immediately.

PHIL   10:32 
Courage isn't the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of fear. I think it says more that Mariesa was practical. Like, that's, that's a terrible idea. It is a terrible idea. How could you possibly pull that off?

CHRIS  10:45 
I mean, it's eight years later, still probably one of my worst and best ideas I've ever had. Because the stress that has come from this and the heartbreak, you know. There's an incredibly happy moments, but there's something just incredibly heartbreaking moments that you wish and just never have to go through. But I don't know. I mean, the project, it's truly our life's work. Like everything that kind of embodies, you know, her and I together is in the project.

PHIL   11:15 
People who don't run a non-for-profit, especially one that's a literal mom and pop like yours, they may think, alright, you're doing charity, golf tournaments and fundraisers, and having gala events. And then you sort through applications and mail off checks. That's how your nonprofit works. And then you accept your awards for all the great work that you do.

CHRIS  11:43 
Yeah.

PHIL   11:44 
It's 99% glamour. It's like, no, it's not even 1% glamour, it's zero glamour.

MARIESA  11:50 
No.

CHRIS  11:50 
No. I think it's one thing when you have the time, and you know, we both work full time jobs. It's like three full time jobs, you know. We have our actual full time job, the full time job of running the project with 130 plus dogs currently in foster care. And then our 19 dogs at our house. Like it's nonstop. So I'm still waiting for that 1% glamour to find its way to us.

PHIL   12:15 
Yeah, take a picture of that moment. Post that. How do you connect with the dogs that need your program?

MARIESA  12:25 
Somehow they find us. It's incredible actually how it happens. I think Moses has a hand in it. I think just the universe has a hand in it. We work with New York City a lot. They reach out to us. There's a lot of really incredible shelters that are doing a lot of hard work every day. New York City shelters are one of them. North Carolina shelters, they know to reach out to us when they have a dog that they will literally say, "This is a Mr. Mo dog."

CHRIS  12:56 
Somebody just called.

MARIESA  12:57 
We just missed a call from the rescue coordinator in North Carolina. So that means, "I have a Mr. Mo dog!" is what she'll say. Sometimes it's the cat. Owners will call us when they you know have an animal that they need to surrender or that they need help with that they love dearly and want to keep but they just don't have the funds to do it. So they find us and when they do it's like very meant to be and we feel a connection with those people and with those animals. And we end up staying in touch with either the owners, the fosters, the shelters, all of them forever.

CHRIS  13:39 
There are many arms to the Mr. Mo project. It started as one like kind of center hub, I guess, you know, where we wanted to save senior dogs. But as the years have gone by, and things have evolved, and we've met new people, and we've met new shelters, and we've met new veterinarians and hospitals, we've branched off into where now we have like the senior which the main, you know, the 90-95% of our program is senior. But then we have our special needs care where we take congenitally defective puppies from breeders that would otherwise euthanize them and then we have the emergency side. I'm very honored that they've call us because they trust us to take care of it. But you know, Cornell University, the best hospital in the country, calls us when they have a medical care that you know a dog was surrendered or something that happened in the ICU that the people can no longer afford or people can no longer take care of. You know, they call us to do it. Capital District Veterinary Referral Hospital, which is our main emergency hospital here. We get calls from them for Parvo puppies left and right. So it's the branches just kind of ever growing with the project and we've met some incredible people and I think that's how I got into this tangent was talking about staying in touch with people. We had two dogs come in that we brought in from India last week, and I was at the emergency when a hit-by-car was brought in, and it's awful to see. And you know, the family is frantic. And I went back the next day to pick the dogs up and that family was still sitting in a car in front of the hospital, and I'm talking with the doctor, and I'm like, "What's the deal?" She's like, "Well, the dog needs an amputation. They're trying to figure out funding." You know, I understand vets are not, it's not a free, free for all. They are a business and they do as much as they possibly can.

PHIL   15:30 
Because they have to stay in business to be able to help other dogs.

CHRIS  15:33 
Correct. And, and I said, "Let me go out and talk to them." And they're all like, Well, you know, I know what he's gonna do. And I'm like, you know, I'm just gonna go talk to them. And I walk out there and I walk up to him, I'm like, you know, I didn't introduce myself, I don't tell them anything about the project. I just recognize that I saw him here yesterday and today. And he's sitting in the driver's seat with all these coins that he's collected coins for years. And he's selling them on Facebook Marketplace to try to come up with money to pay this hit by—this dog that they got that squeaked out the door while they open the door that got hit by a car. He was selling coins to pay for this bill. And I ended up calling Mariesa and we ended up paying, you know, $1,000 towards their bill to bring that down and, uh, emotion, like when I tell them, you know, we want to help. They don't know me, I don't know them. But I know that if they didn't care for this dog, they wouldn't you know, walk away, hands up. Well, we can't do it. And that's when we get a call from the emergency vet say, "Hey, I need you to take this dog." So you meet some incredible people. And we're very lucky to be able to help and support these people.

PHIL   16:39 
It's great that you're able to contribute $1,000. But even if you did just said, "Here's a $5 bill. This is what I've got in my pocket right now." That would have meant the world to them knowing that someone else was empathizing with what they were going through.

CHRIS  16:54 
His girlfriend was there. And it's like, she was just blown away that people are you know, she's always tried to be kind in her life. And now, you know, something's coming back to her. And she's like, you know, it's just really, it meant a lot to her. And I, you know, she actually called me yesterday, letting me know that the dog had made it home from the amputation. Is doing great. It's nice. But we have the senior side where they're in foster homes, we pay for all these expenses. And that you know, when you say mom and pop like where a mom and pop, it's just Mariesa and I that do this with expenses of a huge, I mean we spent $700,000 on vet bills last year. So that's where the stress comes in.

PHIL   17:31 
And it's sad that you're raising and spending $700,000. Yet there's still so much more to be done.

CHRIS  17:41 
Oh, it's a drop in the bucket.

MARIESA  17:43 
And that's where the burnout comes in, I think. You know? It's just there's no end in sight. There's no, you just can't catch up. You can't get ahead.

PHIL   17:54 
My wife, Dawn, and I find that very frustrating with Rosie Fund. We help as many dogs as we can. And we know that we're not helping all of them that need help. And they just keep coming into the shelter and people surrendering senior dogs because they're senior. Not because they can't take care of the dog. But then you see one picture of a dog that we've sponsored in their forever home, sleeping on a dog bed or playing in a yard. We helped one dog.

CHRIS  18:29 
Yeah, that helps. I mean, it helps to see the final product of tears and the stress. And you know. like Crouton is a dog that just came to us from New York City. And Mariesa got a picture from the foster. You know, this is a dog with major, you know, head tilt like this, the whole body's twisted around. 13-14 years old. Somehow a stray in Brooklyn. But now just diving into a food bowl, you know, with a face covered in food. Like that's worth more than anything.

PHIL   19:00 
I hope our listeners are inspired to take action to be of service. I talk about this a lot on the show. It doesn't even have to be about dogs. If there's something else that's important to you. Recycling. Homeless. Education. Whatever is important to you, do something. Don't wait for someone else to decide. Especially don't wait for the government to say, "This is going to be our priority," because they can't handle everything and they don't know what's going on in your backyard. So what you can do to help locally, that's where it has to start. But I think an easy way to make a difference would be to help the Mr. Mo Project. So what are the different ways our listeners can help the Mr. Mo Project?

MARIESA  19:43 
We're always looking for foster homes. Forever foster homes or even temporary foster homes. But we love to keep our seniors, our special needs dogs in permanent forever foster homes where we pay the medical expenses for the rest of their life. We are based in New York but our dogs are all over the country. We are always in need of donations, of course. And you can do that via PayPal or Venmo. I think you just search the Mr. Mo Project.

CHRIS  20:10 
Yeah, if you go on our website, there's a button that you can click.

PHIL   20:13 
I will link to your website in the description for this episode. But then I will also put a direct link to the donation page. So there'll be links both to your home page and to your donation page. So it will be easy for our listeners to find it. And anyone who wants to foster, I'm looking at your web page right now. Right there in the menu. Foster application. Foster agreement. Couldn't be easier to start that process. And as Mariesa said, all over the country, and maybe they're not someplace that's accessible to where the Mr. Mo Project needs a dog, I guarantee you there is a shelter close to every listener that would love to have a foster. And even if you're not directly helping the Mr. Mo Project, that's gonna be one less dog that will need to be part of the Mr. Mo Project.

CHRIS  21:08 
Yep, absolutely.

PHIL   21:11 
So help out how you can or start your own program. Do the impossible, like Chris and Mariesa did.

CHRIS  21:19 
Jump in feet first.

PHIL   21:22 
It kind of like, what's the like, how do you eat a car? One bite at a time. And that's how you start a not-for-profit. It's one bite at a time. Like, okay, I've got to fill out this application. I have to wait for the government to approve this. And then I've got to submit that to my local state or whatever the rules are in your municipality. But bit by bit you get through it. And it's overwhelming if you look at everything you have to do. But if you just start taking those steps, it'll fall into place.

CHRIS  21:55 
There's a lot of great help guides online. You know, when we went through all of our getting the EIN number, getting the nonprofit status, getting 501(c)(3) status, making sure you're registered with the state, the Charities Bureau, there's a lot of guides out there to make sure it isn't so overwhelming. Because it is overwhelming when you look at, "Alright, I need to do all this, this, this and this." And you have to be so transparent. That's one of the reasons where we have so much support in the sense of what we're doing is because we don't hide things. Like this is rescue. This is the highs, the lows. We don't hide anything from anybody. So when people donate, they know exactly what it's going to.

PHIL   22:34 
It's not like George Costanza's the Human Fund on Seinfeld.

CHRIS  22:38 
Right!

PHIL   22:39 
It just sounds like oh, I guess they're doing something. And there are charities like that, where you see the fundraiser and it's like, "I'm not really sure what they do."

CHRIS  22:48 
Yeah.

PHIL   22:48 
Where does this money go? If you look at the Mr. Mo website, it's pretty clear what you guys are doing. And it's wonderful.

CHRIS  22:53 
We put all of our tax documents and we don't hide anything. We have everything on the website because we want people to understand and trust they're helping a dog. They're helping the senior dog, a special needs dog. They're helping an animal.

PHIL   23:05 
What's the future for the Mr. Mo Project? Just keep plugging away? Are there any initiatives or projects that are in the works or dream?

CHRIS  23:16 
We like to live month by month. Fundraising-wise, we fundraise 60 to $60,000 a month. That's our goal to keep the project running. I don't know. I mean, one day, I hope to not to have to do this honestly. I think everybody says that, don't you?

MARIESA  23:32 
I'd like to take a vacation.

CHRIS  23:35 
Yeah.

PHIL   23:36 
And it sounds like you've probably earned a vacation. And as far as not having to do this anymore. We had Brent Toellner of Best Friends Animal Society on a few weeks ago, about month and a half ago. Talking about—It's more than that. I lose track of time in the age of COVID. It could have been last year. But their goal is no kill shelters and no more strays in the United States. And again, that's like eating the car. That's overwhelming. But one municipality at a time. But also, groups like the Mr. Mo Project connecting dogs at home with people who are looking for a dog helps close that gap. And Julian Javor with Pet Rescue Pilots said this a couple of weeks ago, he would be fine with not having to fly animals to Canada. He could find other ways to volunteer his airplane other than getting dogs out of kill shelters or out of overflowing shelters. And as he pointed out, there's always natural disasters and things that displace people and animals. There'll be other things for him to do. And it'd be nice if he had more resources to do those unavoidable things. If we would all get together and fix these avoidable things, these fixable things, like getting senior and harder-to-adapt dogs in their forever home.

MARIESA  25:06 
Yep.

CHRIS  25:07 
Yeah.

PHIL   25:09 
Listeners, whatever you can do to help or whatever you want to do to make this world a better place to prove that we're worthy of dogs, to show that we're the kind of people that dogs think we are. There's lots that we can do. Let's do it. Chris, Mariesa, any final thoughts for our listeners?

MARIESA  25:28 
The one thing we always say is age is not a disease. And we just hope people realize that and we'll give seniors a chance and special needs, as well. We have a lot of special needs dogs. And they're just wonderful additions to our home.

CHRIS  25:42 
Yep.

PHIL   25:43 
Well, thank you again for the work that you do and for taking time out to share your story with our listeners. And I hope that it will help your story spread and it will get you more donations and more fosters. I'm gonna let you go so you can return the call to someone who needs the Mr. Mo Project.

CHRIS  26:04 
We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us because this is the way you help spread our mission and help us put dogs in new homes by, you know, telling people who don't know about the project. We really, really appreciate that.

MARIESA  26:16 
Thank you so much.

PHIL   26:21 
Phil Hatterman and you've been listening to Dog Words presented by Rosie Fund.

Thank you to Mariesa and Chris Hughes from the Mr. Mo Project. There's a link to their website and their donation page in the description. There are also links to the Dog Words episodes we referenced in today's interview. If you find an old episode you like, be sure to share it with your friends.

Next time on Dog Words, Kaitlin Thompson tells us how Melissa's Second Chances is uniting pets with their forever families.

A big thank you to alternative string duo The Wires featuring cellist Sascha Groshang and violinist Laurel Morgan Parks for playing the wonderful music you've heard on today's and previous episodes of Dog Words. Supporting The Wires supports our mission. Now you can join Laurel and Sascha as they explore new music and delve into the inspiration behind each work as hosts of Sound Currents on 91.9 Classical KC. Click on the Sound Currents link in the description for more information. Learn more about The Wires at The Wires.info and download their music on iTunes. Check out FiddleLife.com and learn to play fiddle and cello-fiddle online from Laurel and Sasha even if you've never played before.

Celebrate five years of Rosie Fund by supporting our campaign to sponsor 50 dogs. You can donate on our website or Facebook page. You can also contribute by making a purchase from the website store, buying a t-shirt at Bonfire.com, or putting some of our merch in your cart when you shop it BarkYours. Links are in the description. Your donations help fund the Rosie Life Starter Kits that make sure these senior and harder-to-adopt dogs have some of the items they'll need in their forever home.

As always, please download, follow, rate, and share Dog Words. This helps us with sponsorships. Then Rosie Fund can help more dogs. Support Rosie Fund by following us on social media and please subscribe to the free Rosie Fund YouTube channel. Our latest post features a sweet KC Pet Project dog looking for a forever home. Send us your comments, questions, and suggestions at Rosie fund.org. And let us know if you would like to be a sponsor or guest of the Dog Words podcast.

Thank you for listening and remember, we save each other.

DISCLAIMER: This document is a transcription obtained through a third party. There is no claim to accuracy on the content provided in this document and divergence from the audio file is to be expected. Some content may be omitted, particularly when there is crosstalk.

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