LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's hard to forget the images of major storm damage and human suffering that were broadcast across the country after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
They were images that moved Las Vegan Staci Alonso.
"I think like so many others, you're just watching this on TV and seeing pets on rooftops and children crying and you thought oh, this can't be acceptable," she said.
WATCH l Hurricane Katrina supply drive inspires the creation of Las Vegas organization
While Louisiana is more than 1,700 miles from her home in Las Vegas, Alonso wanted to do something to help and started looking for organizations in need.
She found Noah's Wish, a group that rescues and cares for animals following disasters.
"So when we found that organization and they gave us a supply list, it became real and put us on the path to make it into a community campaign for Station Casinos," Alonso said.
Locals answered the call for help.
"Station Casinos understood my determination and handed us the money to get started with the drive and allowed us to do everything that we wanted to accomplish," Alonso said. "We set up pet supply drives at multiple Station properties. We sent out the supply list that Noah's Wish had requested. They showed up with everything that was on the list."
In fact, so many people donated that it wiped out local stores. Alonso said that when the team drove four Penske trucks full of supplies down to Slidell, Louisiana, they picked up more at different towns.
"We actually had to stop along the way to get more supplies with the cash (donations) because we wiped out PetSmart and things like that," she said.
Alonso said the team followed the National Guard into the area and set up shop next to their operations, offering support as animals rescued from the flood waters were brought in to be cared for.
"We saw so many pets that were covered in nasty water and needed to really be cleaned and then they were. We went through a lot of Pedialyte because they were dehydrated," Alonso said. "They were abandoned. It was just so much."
In addition to caring for pets pulled from the water, Alonso said the group also focused on trying to reunite the animals with their owners.
"They did everything they could to make sure our location was known as the pet epicenter," Alonso said. "People were coming every single day to check to see if their pet was there or if their pet was there but they were living in a motel or, unfortunately, some of them were living in tents. They came by every day to visit with their pet and they were just filled with gratitude that their pet was safe."
And when those reunions did happen...
"Oh my gosh. You're just covered in goosebumps."
According to Alonso, the makeshift animal shelter was in operation for months after the storm. The trip fueled her passion for animal advocacy work and led to her leading the charge to create Noah's Animal House, which is the first animal shelter built on the campus of a domestic violence shelter.
"I think it just sealed the deal. I was on the board of The Shade Tree (domestic violence shelter) already at the time and this idea of pets being included was whirling around," Alonso said. "I learned from the (Katrina) experience and put that into practice."
Noah's Animal House was named after her son and was founded shortly after Alonso returned from the Louisiana trip.
Today, the facility still sits next to The Shade Tree shelter here in Las Vegas.
Alonso says Hurricane Katrina showed her how important pets are and that she's now living out her life's purpose.
"When you're part of a disaster like that, you see the power that pets bring to the healing with their families," Alonso said. "Pets are family. They deserve to be with their family in crisis and they need them by their side to heal."
Since Noah's Animal House opened, they have taken care of over 1,900 pets.
The organization has been so successful that a second campus was opened in Reno in partnership with the Domestic Violence Resource Center.
