On a recent day at the home of Lisa Vawter in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a 9-month-old puppy named Traveler who looks like the famous, floppy-eared comic character Marmaduke is prancing around as puppies always do.

But his life was far from joyful just four months ago. Found on the streets with his brother, Hobo, whose front left leg was shattered, both were filthy, emaciated, filled with fleas and in urgent need of medical attention. Vawter scooped the pups up and took them to a specialty hospital. “These dogs,” says Vawter, founder of Abandoned Animal Rescue of Michigan, “deserved a chance.”

At the hospital and facing a bill for thousands of dollars she didn’t have, Vawter desperately needed help. So she called Alexandria Whitney, founder of Guardians For Animals and a godsend to small rescues such as Vawter’s.

For the past six years, in addition to helping out with vet bills, Whitney has been the go-to person for some 25 rescues — most very small and in dire need of money — devoted to saving homeless pets about to be euthanized. In 2009 alone, Whitney helped save 3,200 strays on death row in a 100-mile radius from her Troy, Michigan home. She also distributed $68,000 for vet bills and $150,000 worth of pet-related supplies such as cat litter pans, toys, harnesses, and collars. And over the last two years, Whitney has secured over 300,000 pounds of food for the rescues. “We’re helping the people that help God’s creatures,” says Whitney. “The animals can’t speak for themselves.”

Whitney’s work caught the attention of Freekibble.com and Halo, Purely for Pets, which donated 10,000 meals to Guardians For Animals. GFA will distribute the food to its rescues at its fifth annual pet expo and adoption event on September 18th and 19th in Madison Heights, Michigan.

“When Alex reached out to us for a food donation, we knew immediately that we needed to help,” says Freekibble’s Kelly Ausland, father of Freekibble founder Mimi, 14.

Already, the food is making quite an impact. “Some of these dogs have very sensitive stomachs and can eat only certain food,” says Whitney. One is a pitbull-lab puppy who was an extremely picky eater. But at a recent Petco adoption photo shoot in Royal Oak, Michigan, that all changed. “When we opened those packages (of Halo Spot’s Stew) and put the bowls on the floor, the puppy cleaned out the bowl so quickly, we had to refill it four times,” says Whiteny, noting it was the dry salmon he loved.

She says that Halo dry salmon works extremely well when trying to capture feral cats to spay or neuter them. “Normally we have to put in something like tuna fish,” she says. “I can put in Halo salmon dry and they will go right in the trap.”

Whitney appreciates Spot’s Stew’s high-quality ingredients. “Animals coming out of shelters, being rescued off the streets, these animals have been eating nothing but eating trash they find on the streets and in the shelters the food isn’t of the highest quality,” she says. “The number one problem is having enough high quality food and Halo, with all the good ingredients, will help these animals recuperate from their poor condition.”