Dog and college shooting survivor paying it forward

Lily was abandoned before Peak Lab Rescue got her.

Then, the small terrier-schnauzer-labrador-shih tzu mutt was adopted last year on Christmas Day by Drew Pescaro. He wanted a dog to help him with his anxiety.

Four months later in April, Pescaro was one of six students shot on UNC Charlotte’s campus. He was shot in the back and spent 27 days recovering in the hospital.

When Pescaro got out of the hospital and arrived back at his parents’ house in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., Lily was waiting on him..

Because of Lily’s impact on him, Pescaro worked to pay the favor back to Peak Lab Rescue. Last week, that meant a $50,000 check for the Apex rescue group from the Petco foundation.

Holiday Wishes is the Petco foundation’s annual campaign that awards exceptional animal welfare organizations across the country with grants anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000. Adopters send in their stories of how their pet has brought joy to their life, and the foundation chooses 55 winners.

Peak Lab Rescue is one of four organizations to win a $50,000 prize. The group keeps around 80 to 100 dogs in its system at a time, and just had its 7,000th dog adopted.

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t get by on slim margins,” said Sharon Gesser, Peak’s director of development. The group uses around 900 pounds of dog food every month.

“It’s kind of thankless work,” Gesser said. “But this validates what we do.”