Living the first months of his life in squalid conditions, Becker the white Chihuahua wanted for everything. His front paws were grossly deformed, he had pneumonia, incontinence, was skinny and had a bad liver. When she first saw him, Palena Dorsey recalls, “He was a real mess.” At Dorsey’s rescue in Clewiston, Florida — Sanctuary Animal Refuge — Becker began to gain health, so much so that the 10-month-old can now romp with his pal, an Australian Shepherd. “He is doing so well,” says Dorsey, who attributes Becker’s phenomenal turnaround to canned chicken Halo Spot’s Stew, a high-quality food with a low protein concentration that she explained is what Becker needs to eat to manage his liver shunt, a blood vessel that carries blood around the liver rather than through it. “He is not incontinent anymore, he is alert, that is all thanks to Halo. I’ve never seen anything like Halo.”

And the abandoned, oftentimes crippled animals at Sanctuary Animal Refuge have certainly never met a kinder human than Dorsey. “Palena and her efforts have literally saved thousands of animals,” says Kelly Ausland, whose daughter Mimi’s site Freekibble.com supplies the sanctuary its food each month. And it is Dorsey who Halo and Freekibble.com turned to to help distribute 160,000 meals of canned and dry Halo Spot’s Stew and 10,000 jars of Liv-a-Little Beef Sprinkles to over 40 rescues in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia in 2009 and 2010. (See list below.) Already this year, Halo and Freekibble.com have donated 181,000 meals, many with Palena’s help. “My belief,” says Dorsey, “is that each rescue must support each other.”

Helping began at a young age. At the age of 4, Dorsey found a bird whose nest had fallen. She brought him home, brought him back to health, and thus began a life-long passion. “I was always bringing animals home,” says Dorsey, 58. “I had to walk a mile to get to the school bus and people would dump cats, kittens, dogs. I found a skunk and took it home; the vet deodorized it.”

Nine years ago, Dorsey, a legal secretary, moved to Florida from Virginia, and started her dream of a sanctuary on five acres of land. Within a week, Dorsey went from having five dogs to 40, claiming she had never seen such mistreatment of animals. “I was just appalled.” Dorsey picked up dogs from the road, rescued them from puppy mills. Her special fondness is for pit bulls (she has 78), a breed that is oftentimes misunderstood as vicious and hard to adopt to good homes, and for dogs with special needs.

Through the years, Dorsey recognized that what’s best for the animals is working hand-in-hand with other rescues. “I am nothing but one small grain of sand in a vast ocean of need,” Dorsey says. “All of us who rescue are simply single grains of sand that create the shore for lost souls to wash up on.”

When Dorsey sees a plea from a shelter for help in taking its dogs before they are euthanized, she taps into her vast network of rescue contacts to try and help. What is brought to her doorstep is oftentimes heart-wrenching. There is Brownie, who was shot, poisoned and beaten with a sledge hammer, and in need of surgery due to a bullet in his jaw. Or Slade, a full-grown Doberman who was 56 pounds when Dorsey welcomed him from Georgia around Christmas. His case was more easily solved: Dorsey fed him only Halo, and Slade has grown to 105 pounds. “When I got him,” she says, “he was nothing.”

Several years ago, Dorsey heard about the then fledgling website Freekibble.com that was created by Mimi Ausland, then 11, to help the many shelters facing food shortages. “The ability to have food donated each month is like walking down a dirt road and finding a million dollars,” Dorsey wrote to Mimi two years ago. “Most of the animals we take in are the worst of the worst and stay with us for some time before we can even consider adopting them out. They deserve a chance to find happiness from their lives of abuse and neglect and we give it to them.”

This email, from the hundreds of shelters requesting kibble donations, captured the attention of Mimi, now 14, and her dad, Kelly. “It was immediately clear that she was a special person,” says Kelly, “and doing amazing work at Sanctuary Animal Rescue.” That letter led to Freekibble.com becoming the sole provider of food for Sanctuary Animal Rescue’s almost 200 animals. “Palena cares deeply and works tirelessly to save as many animals as she possibly can,” says Kelly. “It truly is her life’s mission.”

Superior Mutts, Orlando, Florida
Second Chance Rescue, Bunnell, Florida
Akita Rescue of Florida, Jacksonville, FL.
Pet Rescue of Jax, Jacksonville, FL
Cocker Rescue of Florida., Ft Laurderdale Florida
Friends of Jackson Humane Jacksonville, FL
Humane Society of Inverness, Inverness FL
Tri-County Humane Society, Boca Raton, FL
Humane Society of Sumpter City, Lake Panasofkkee, FL
Humane Society of Dixie County, Old Town, FL
Sanctuary Animal Refuge, Clewiston, FL
Octavio Foundation, The Grove, FL
Sabbath Rescue, Miami, FL
Susies Animal Protection Rescue, Miami, FL
Lee Morrison Rescue, Miami, FL
Life Line Pet Project, Avondale Estates, GA
Paulding Humane Society, Dallas, GA
Friend to the Forlorn Pitbull , Dallas, GA
Karen and the Ark, Marietta, GA
Angel Dog Rescue, Georgetown, GA
Laurie Montfort Rural Rescue, Cuthbert, GA
Deb Woods Rescue, Marietta, GA
Donna’s House of Foster, Stockbridge, GA
Boston Rescue, E. Tennessee, Carterville, TN
Etowah Humane Society, Carterville, TN
Douglas County Humane, Douglasville, GA
Jennifer’s Rescue, Atlanta, GA
Boston Rescue Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Furr Kids of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Ellen Olander Foster Rescue, Atlanta, GA
Kevin and Jim Foster Rescue, Atlanta, GA
Allysen Fosters of Love, Allysen, SC
Animal Rescue of Pickens County Pickens SC
Dogs and Cats Forever, Port St Lucie, Florida
Clayton County Humane Society, Clayton, GA
Bark and Ride, Rocky Face, GA