A year ago, Jordan's Way was born out of Kris Rotonda’s desire to honor the life of his rescued German Shepherd, Jordan. Today, using Jordan’s Way as his platform, Rotonda strives to give voices to the voiceless animals that, like Jordan, spend a part of their lives in a shelter or rescue.
“No animal should have to spend their life in a shelter, and I’m passionate to highlight and support the many organizations across our country who work relentlessly to ensure these pets find loving homes, despite their age, breed, or health issues,” Rotonda said.
A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Jordan’s Way is dedicated to sharing meaningful animal welfare stories that inspire people to adopt rather than shop for animals. The organization’s efforts are publicized on social media to influence the Clearing of Shelters, according to the Jordan’s Way website.
Early efforts to bring awareness to Jordan’s Way included Rotonda, as a longtime bodybuilder, performing physical challenges like pushing, pulling and flipping a 250-pound tractor trailer tire for 13 miles, according to a Jordan’s Way news release. Over time his challenges grew to become more eye-opening. He once spent 72 hours inside a dog cage at a Florida animal shelter to convey the necessity for helping rescue and shelter animals.
During each broadcasted event, donations rushed in from viewers who were inspired by the organization’s mission to help animals and raise money for local rescues and shelters.
Realizing the potential of Jordan’s Way, Rotonda and his team decided to organize a countrywide tour where Jordan’s Way would visit local animal rescues and shelters in each state.
Today, the Jordan’s Way team visits a minimum of 16 organizations during each of their eight-day, two-state trips which occur monthly. So far, the tour has reached 45 states and helped local animal welfare groups raise over $3 million and counting.
During each visit to a local shelter or rescue, the Jordan’s Way team facilitates a live broadcasted fundraising event to raise money. To ensure the donations will go toward the shelter or rescue directly instead of Jordan’s Way, the benefitting organization posts the link to the event’s livestream on their own Facebook page, according to Erica Barrett, fundraising coordinator for Jordan’s Way.
Each event lasts four hours, during which Rotonda introduces and tells the story of each dog at the shelter or rescue, Barrett said, as well as those of the organization’s staff and volunteers. To keep the event lively, Jordan’s Way and the organization’s staff also participate in fun challenges, Barrett added.
“(Rotonda) spends a lot of one-on-one time with each dog and, since it’s a live feed, these dogs’ stories are being broadcasted live to people all over the country,” Barrett said, adding the event is an effort to increase dogs’ possibility of being adopted.
“Each stop on the Jordan’s Way tour offers the ability to bring awareness to the importance of the saying ‘adopt, don’t shop’ to an entirely new community,” Rotonda said.
Following each event, a recording of the livestream stays up on the organization’s Facebook page, where community members can continue to donate to the fundraiser throughout a seven day period, Barrett said.
Most of the time, the money raised by Jordan’s Way for shelters and rescues goes toward that organization’s bills, according to Barrett, specifically, the medical bills they accumulate by taking in animals that are pregnant, sick or in bad condition, she said.
“It’s actually insane how fast those numbers can stack up — just like with people, medical bills for animals are extremely expensive,” Barrett explained, “especially when they’re rescuing a litter of ten puppies and the puppies are starved and have all sorts of stuff going on. There are a lot of medical costs with those types of rescues and that’s what (the organizations will) be using the funds for.”
Colorado is the 46th state on the tour for Jordan’s Way and, luckily for Longmont, Moe Moe’s Rescue of the Rockies was nominated for a visit.
“For them to have selected us — I have so much gratitude for them and we’re so grateful for this opportunity,” Heather Heren from Moe Moe’s Rescue of the Rockies said, adding that she can’t stop her tears of happiness from flowing.
Like many other shelters and rescues that are visited by Jordan’s Way, Moe Moe’s Rescue of the Rockies plans to use the money raised by the event, in part, for its animals’ medical bills. Specifically, Heren said, the money will contribute towards a $3,500 surgery that one of the rescue’s dogs needs done on his ACL.
Additionally, the money will aid Moe Moe’s Rescue of the Rockies in their efforts to provide its often special-needs animals with basic necessities including food, medication, diapers and specialized creams, Heren said.
Donations to Moe Moe’s Rescue of the Rockies will be accepted until Feb. 3.
