(bright music) - ManyPaws Animal Rescue gives vulnerable animals a second chance.

Lizzy Sawyer is here with one of those animals, Meadow, to show how the organization changes lives for the better.

Welcome.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you for having us.

We appreciate it.

- Tell me a little bit more about Meadow.

- Yeah, so Meadow was a street dog in California.

She was brought into a local shelter along with three other dogs, and she was pretty quickly put on their euthanasia list.

She actually ended up having a litter of five puppies at that shelter, and they were one day from euthanasia when we pulled them, so- - [Liz] Wow.

- yeah, she's a survivor.

- Yeah.

Like many of the dogs that you guys have at- - Yeah.

- at ManyPaws.

Why is it that you guys choose to focus on overlooked animals?

- Yeah, that's a great question.

So all of us on the board, especially our founder, Crystal, have a soft spot for animals who didn't get a fair shake in life.

And so for us, that has become our main focus, because we want to make sure that they still get the same chances that other dogs do.

- Yeah.

And they deserve that second chance, right?

- They really do.

Yeah.

- What are some of the things that people can do to get involved and to help out?

- Gosh, we love volunteers.

We're a very collaborative rescue, and so they can reach out to us, they can fill out a volunteer application.

We always need fosters, people who are willing to open their homes so we can save even more animals, dogs and cats.

And so if they go to our website and apply there, we go ahead and schedule an interview with them.

- [Liz] Is that difficult to do?

- No, it's so easy.

They literally take two minutes to fill out the interview questionnaire, and then we reach out to them.

A board member reaches out to them within 24 to 48 hours.

- And what kind of a difference does it make to foster a pet and not have them in a shelter?

- It makes all the difference.

So you see a lot of cases where dogs start to self-harm in their kennels.

That's really common.

We actually have a couple of dogs that have come into our rescue because they were self-harming.

One who was adopted, his name was Sheriff, was ramming his head into the wall.

- Oh my gosh.

So just heartbreaking stories.

But people definitely can make a difference if they volunteer.

Well, thank you so much, Lizzy, for bringing Meadow in, and introducing us to your organization.

If you would like to learn more about ManyPaws Animal Rescue, just head to the website that's on your screen.

That's manypaws.org for more details.

I'm Liz Adeola, and thank you for watching "Contact."

(bright music) Philanthropy, Arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Liz Adeola, the host of Contact, a show that connects you with local events and organizations that serve your community.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to be on Contact, please visit pbs.org/contact