John and Marissa Marazzi accept Cox Community Hero award for April 2018
My daughter Marissa and I were honored to receive Cox Media Group’s “Community Hero” for the month of April 2018 for our advocacy and work on behalf of pet rescue. I was interviewed by six Cox radio stations recently to talk about Project RAD (Rescue a Dog), a new nonprofit foundation that we formed to digitally catalog and update rescue dogs available from Tampa area rescue centers and animal shelters through direct marketing.
We’ve been lifelong advocates for rescue animal adoptions. I have two rescue dogs, Zeus (my dealerships’ mascot) and Athena. I work all year with Brett Morgan of The Morgan Auto Group and Anna Cooke of The New Barker magazine to promote rescue pet adoptions, culminating with the annual “Just One Day” national event held on June 11 that saves the lives of approximately 10,000 shelter animals across the United States by introducing the public to adorable, adoptable rescue pets and offering on-site adoptions at several Morgan Auto Group dealerships in central Florida.
We are honored to accept Cox Media Group’s “Community Hero” award for April. Rescue shelters do a great job of rescuing and caring for stray animals, but it is animal overpopulation in shelters that has made euthanasia sadly inevitable for far too many animals. We decided to be a part of the solution.
I will personally donate $100,000 every year to Project RAD, our new 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation that will provide digital and marketing solutions to drastically increase the number of rescue pets adopted that, in turn, will decrease the number of animals needing to be euthanized daily to make room in shelters. I invite you to join me in this effort to get more rescue dogs adopted and fostered.
Look for additional information soon about the new digital app at www.BrandonHonda.com, www.SunToyota.com, and at this website that will provide a link to www.RescueADog.com now under construction.
My personal thanks to Anna Cooke of The New Barker, a Florida-based lifestyle magazine about dogs that reaches about 30,000 dog lovers quarterly. The New Barker http://thenewbarker.com/ provides valuable information on where to shop, dine, play, vacation, and have fun with dogs throughout Florida with award-winning photography, original feature stories, and collectible artwork covers by Florida artists. Anna has always been a big help in getting dogs rescued throughout the year.