Project Second Chance

Project Second Chance Dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating & finding homes for homeless dogs from PR & high kill shelters We aren’t your typical rescue.

Project Second Chance is a 501(c)(3) is an Alexandria-based nonprofit dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, & finding forever homes for homeless dogs in Puerto Rico, disaster hit areas, high kill shelters or in emergency need. In addition to providing transport to DC/MD/VA for adoption, we also cover medical costs, spay and neuter stray dogs in Puerto Rico, and run feeding routes for stray dogs t

hat would otherwise starve on the streets. We believe kindness matters and in supporting the local community. Since Hurricane Maria, we have saved over 3.000 homeless dogs. And, during the pandemic, we have raised over $20,000 to support local businesses in the Alexandria community through our pay it forward campaign. Through this effort, we invited families applying for a rescue dogs to spend $25 or more at local businesses in lieu of an application fee to our rescue. It was a huge success and made a direct impact on our local community. When we rescue dogs off the streets of Puerto Rico, from high kill shelters, or take in dogs in dire need of medical treatments, we invest extensive time, resources, and funds to get each dog ready and healthy for adoption. Not only do we cover transportation costs which can include flights, long drives, and multiple transfers; but all of our rescues receive comprehensive medical care (including specialty care when needed), vaccinations, micro chips, deworming, and multiple veterinary check ups from the moment we rescue them to the moment they reach their new family’s home (and sometimes after!). To keep the adoptions accessible to all families willing to give our rescues the best home, our adoption fee never covers the amount that we invest in each dog, which is why your donations are critical to continue our mission.

Jingle is hoping to find her forever family. She’s a 7 month old husky mix that is super sweet, loving, playful, and goo...
02/21/2025

Jingle is hoping to find her forever family. She’s a 7 month old husky mix that is super sweet, loving, playful, and goofy. She loves kids, other dogs, and people. She’d make a great companion! She’s fully vaccinated, on preventatives, crate trained, and knows basic commands. If you’re interested, please visit our website at www.project-secondchance.com.

Happy Gotcha Day to Tinsel and her dad! This lucky pup headed home today and we know she’ll be loved and spoiled by dad....
02/17/2025

Happy Gotcha Day to Tinsel and her dad! This lucky pup headed home today and we know she’ll be loved and spoiled by dad. She’s got a doggie sibling to play with and a big fenced yard too! Yay for Tinsel. ♥️🐶♥️

Our hearts are beyond broken. 💔 Pearl was rescued after she was severely injured—her prior owner claimed someone stepped...
01/24/2025

Our hearts are beyond broken. 💔 Pearl was rescued after she was severely injured—her prior owner claimed someone stepped on her. At barely 3 lbs, any injury can be deadly. She received extensive emergency care and surgery to put her lil body on the best path for healing. We hoped for a full recovery and worked around the clock to support her with syringe feedings, fluids, and meds. Despite heroic efforts by foster mom and the vet team, lil Pearl passed away. This sweet girl started out her life being neglected, but her final days were filled with unconditional love, comfort, and kindness. We hope she knows how much we cherished her. Our tears are uncontrollable as we only wish she had gotten the long and happy life she deserved. We appreciate all the kindness that has been shown to her as she truly was a little angel on earth.

Tinsel is wondering why no one has applied to adopt her. She’s a lil over 4 months old and sweet as can be. She’s fully ...
01/18/2025

Tinsel is wondering why no one has applied to adopt her. She’s a lil over 4 months old and sweet as can be. She’s fully vaccinated, crate trained, and learning basic skills from her awesome foster parents. She gets along with other dogs too! Please share and help us find her a home.

01/16/2025

Pearl had a big day! Thanks to Dr. Norton, his surgical team, and his amazing surgical coordinator Jenifer at , we were able to get Pearl into surgery quickly to repair her broken leg and end her suffering. Dr. Norton also repaired two hernias (poor girl) and spayed her. It’s a big risk to put these little ones under anesthesia and he masterfully tackled it all! She is now recovering with lots of TLC, pain meds, and the cutest cast. We are still heartbroken that she was so neglected, but glad that we could step in to provide her love and care. A big thank you to everyone who donated. We still need funds for her care, so please keep donating! Stay tuned for updates!

We got a call for help this weekend. This sweet little dog was abandoned at the emergency clinic with a broken leg. The ...
01/12/2025

We got a call for help this weekend. This sweet little dog was abandoned at the emergency clinic with a broken leg. The family didn’t even carry her in, forcing her to walk on it and endure pain, and demanded euthanasia. Luckily, the veterinarians refused and the family threatened to throw her out like trash. When we got the call for help, we agreed to provide medical care and take her into our rescue family. How someone could be cruel to such a sweet little dog is beyond my capacity to understand. We have named her Pearl and she is now safe in our rescue. Her leg will require surgery to fix and we are fundraising to cover that and the $1500 emergency bill we just paid for treatment. Please help us help Pearl.

01/04/2025

Happy Adoption Day to Snowball and her forever family. This lil pup is off to live a life full of love, adventures, treats, and cuddles. From abandoned at a few weeks old to absolutely cherished, this is why we rescue. ❤️

Wishing everyone a happy new year! Here’s hoping that we can change the lives of even more rescue dogs in 2025.
01/02/2025

Wishing everyone a happy new year! Here’s hoping that we can change the lives of even more rescue dogs in 2025.

12/30/2024

Meet Sandy. She may be senior, but she is the pawfect pup and checks all the right boxes.

guaranteed to make you smile ✔️
road trip buddy ✔️
enjoys movie nite ✔️
loves snack time ✔️
expert nap taker ✔️
mama to stuffed squeaky toys ✔️
happy to be the big or lil spoon ✔️
looks like a hippo ✔️
will smother you with love ✔️
Good with kids and other dogs ✔️
housebroken ✔️
smart—knows several commands✔️
crate trained ✔️
loves vet visits ✔️

Sandy’s mom passed away leaving this sweet girl without a family. We are hoping we can find her a wonderful family to show her a second chance at love is possible. ♥️

12/13/2024

Tinsel asked Santa for a furever home as her holiday wish. We hope it comes true! But since she looks like a reindeer with those sweet doe eyes, she plans to help Santa deliver presents too. What a good pupper. She’s only about 14 weeks old and doing great with training. She’s playful, sweet, loving, and smart. She’s learning to go potty outside and doing well with crate training too!

12/13/2024

Jingle is dreaming of a forever family. Is that with you? She’s almost 15 weeks old, well behaved, crate trained, playful and gentle, and going potty outside. She’s pretty pawfect! You can apply to adopt her at https://www.project-secondchance.org/adopt.

Meet Fig, Olive, and Miles (pictured L to R). These lil ones arrived in the last few days and are settling into foster c...
12/13/2024

Meet Fig, Olive, and Miles (pictured L to R). These lil ones arrived in the last few days and are settling into foster care. We absolutely adore them. Sweet. Gentle. Playful. Cuddly. Love other dogs (that are gentle with them). Crate trained. Housebroken. Not yappy! Pawfect. Stay tuned for more details. ♥️♥️♥️

12/05/2024

Last night, thanks to a PSC adopter, lil Snowball was safely transported to DCA from Puerto Rico. She’s 8 weeks old and a lil bundle of love. She’s settling into her foster home and we will be getting her adoption ready. ♥️

Our sweet rescue Sandy is still looking for her forever home. She’s reaching her senior years and would love a family. ...
12/04/2024

Our sweet rescue Sandy is still looking for her forever home. She’s reaching her senior years and would love a family. Her mom passed away unexpectedly and her world was turned upside down. She used to spend her days with her mom who ran a daycare surrounded by kids that gave her lots of love. So she would make a perfect family dog or would just be happy with a pet pawrent. She’s housebroken, crate trained, knows basic commands, and great on a leash. She loves to give kisses, snuggle, and play. We’ve gotten her up-to-date on all of her shots and preventatives and also ran senior diagnostics on her to make sure she’s healthy—she is! Let’s help Sandy find a forever home.

12/04/2024

Teddy (formerly Brutus) is exhausted after spending the day looking cute and begging for donations. But he is going to sleep so he can dream of more donations by morning.

Teddy was rescued after facing serious neglect and abuse. He was left with a broken leg and hip, no medical treatment, and tremendous pain. So far he has needed two surgeries to save his leg from going necrotic and completely lame. He’ll need a full hip replacement after he’s done growing. Poor baby! This was a tough rescue case for us — he requires long-term foster care and an enormous amount of funds to get him the specialty surgeries that he needs. But we could not say no. We didn’t want his life to be forever marred by the neglect he faced as an 8 week old puppy. He deserved better. He’s now with his loving foster parents, being cherished, and getting everything he needs.

We can’t say yes to cases like Teddy without financial support. We need your help. Please consider making a donation (big or small!) using our website (https://www.project-secondchance.org/donate-support), Venmo -secondchance, PayPal or our fundraising links.

We aren’t your typical rescue. When we rescue dogs off the streets of Puerto Rico, from high kill shelters, or take in d...
12/03/2024

We aren’t your typical rescue. When we rescue dogs off the streets of Puerto Rico, from high kill shelters, or take in dogs in dire need of medical treatments, we invest extensive time, resources, and funds to get each dog ready and healthy for adoption. Not only do we cover transportation costs which can include flights, long drives, and multiple transfers; but all of our rescues receive comprehensive medical care (including specialty care when needed), vaccinations, micro chips, deworming, and multiple veterinary check ups from the moment we find them to the moment they reach their new families home (and sometimes after!). To keep the adoptions accessible to all families willing to give our rescues the best home, our adoption fee never covers the amount that we invest in each dog, which is why your donations are critical to continue our mission. It’s and we need your financial support. If you adopted from PSC, please pay it forward to help another rescue just like yours. If you just love what we do, please consider donating to keep our mission alive.

12/03/2024

It’s ! Unfortunately, our rescue work doesn’t halt even on this important fundraising day. But we need your help more than ever. We have more rescues! Meet Tinsel. She just arrived from Puerto Rico. We rescued her off the streets and got her healthy and ready to travel to DC. She’s 12 weeks old and weighs 15 lbs. She is incredibly sweet, loves other dogs and kids, and will be a fabulous furry family member. She is also absolutely gorgeous. Between her bright eyes and her beautiful coloring—gray, rose, and brown colored all at once— we are just smitten over here. If you are interested in adopting, you can apply on our website now. But if you just think she’s adorable, we would really appreciate donations for her care and the other rescues in the PSC family.

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Mailing Address Only: , Project Second Chance , 610 Madison Street, Suite 101 #622
Alexandria, VA
22314

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Project Second Chance: Making A Difference One Sato At A Time

For almost 20 years, the founder of Project Second Chance, Tara Zurawski, has been rescuing satos in Puerto Rico as part of other rescue initiatives. After Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico in 2017, the homeless animal population reached crisis levels on the streets of Puerto Rico. That’s when Tara formed Project Second Chance. PSC started feeding routes for homeless dogs so they would not die of starvation and dehydration, initiatives to spay and neuter homeless dogs to try and limit the number of puppies born on the streets, and, most importantly, asked the community to begin caring for these animals as volunteers, feeders, transporters, and fosters. And recognizing that the people of Puerto Rico are also suffering from the lasting effects of Hurricane Maria, earthquakes, and now the pandemic, PSC also provides assistance to our human helpers.

PSC strongly believes that the solution to the animal welfare crisis in Puerto Rico begins with community action. The community must care, act, and solve the problem. We strive to provide the tools and support for broad community action.

All of our rescues are placed in loving foster homes, rather than a shelter environment. This allows them to heal in the comfort of a home and avoid the stress of a shelter experience. And, once they are healthy and strong, we transport them to the DC metropolitan area for placement in loving homes.

Since PSC formed, we have rescued over 1,500 homeless dogs (and 1 kitten) from the streets of Puerto Rico. We are proud of our efforts to date, but have so much work left to do! Please consider supporting our efforts through donations, volunteering, or adopting.