Nikki Moustaki is living the dog lover's dream.
"It's like Christmas every day when I open the mailbox," the Miami Beach woman says.
Inside her mailbox, she finds picture after picture of dogs smiling back at her. They're a reminder of the success of her "Pet Postcard Project."
"I get thousands of postcards a month," said Moustaki, who came up with this idea three years ago, as a fun way to feed homeless pets.
Here's how it works. Moustaki asks a pet food company to pledge a certain number of meals to a local shelter (per postcard that gets mailed in). This month, the shelter is Miami-Dade Animal Services and if they can get the public to mail in 1,000 postcards, Ellen DeGeneres' pet-food company, Halo, will donate 5,000 meals.
"It comes out to 1,250 pounds," says Moustaki, confident they'll generate 1,000 postcards.
So everyone benefits: the shelters get free food, the donating company gets positive exposure and animal-lovers get to see their pets and others on Moustaki's website: petpostcardproject.com
Local
"My favorite cards are the funny ones and the ones with a heart-warming message," she says, holding a card that's "written" from a dog. It says, "If I could talk, I'd be telling you where I peed."
Besides helping shelters get food, Moustaki also coordinates adoptions. A few times a month she goes to Miami-Dade Animal Services and pulls dogs or cats and then, through her network, finds them a suitable home.
So far, the "Pet Postcard Project" has raised about 100,000 pounds of food for shelter animals and the project continues to grow.
If you'd like to mail a postcard, send it to:
Pet Postcard Project
676A Ninth Ave.
#321
New York, NY 10036
