SYCAMORE – A magazine article in an airplane changed Eileen Oprins’ life.

“A group of women went down after (Hurricane) Katrina, and that was my first experience in ‘real rescue,’ as I call it, as opposed to shelters,” Oprins said. “I was on a plane on the way home and I was reading a People (magazine) and found Island Dog in People.”

Island Dog is a nonprofit animal welfare organization dedicated to rescuing dogs that have been abandoned on the streets and beaches of Puerto Rico. There are more than 200,000 homeless dogs on the island. More than 500 stray dogs and cats are euthanized each day in the U.S. territory’s five animal shelters.