Celebrating 10 Years of The Sato Project

For the first full year of operation, from November 2011 to November 2012,
Chrissy set a goal of rescuing 52 dogs - one dog per week.
That goal proved to be the beginning of The Sato Project
going above and beyond even our own expectations.
Thanks to the support of our earliest donors, our veterinary
clinic partnership, and stretching every resource as widely
as possible, The Sato Project was able to rescue 81 dogs
within the first three months of operating. Then, in March
of 2012, The Sato Project got a boost of awareness that
elevated our trajectory even more: a four page feature in
The New York Times. Due to this story, which drove traffic to
our website, social media pages, and ultimately led to more
donations, Chrissy and The Sato Project team were able
to save 365 lives within the first year. Thanks to thousands
of people who also could not turn a blind eye to the stray
dogs of Puerto Rico, our original goal of one dog a week
transformed into one dog saved every day.
For the next five years, 300-400 dogs a year became our
rescue average while we expanded into developing other
programs to address the underlying causes of Puerto Rico’s
stray dog crisis head-on. In 2016, we organized a mobile
spay/neuter clinic and started a subsidized spay/neuter and
vaccine community outreach program that continues today.
2016 also marked our very first privately chartered ‘Freedom
Flight’ (our term for the life-changing journey that each dog
takes from Puerto Rico to the mainland) of 34 dogs.
“Impossible is not a fact.
It’s an opinion.
Impossible is not a declaration.
It’s a dare.
Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary.
Impossible is nothing.”
- Muhammad Ali
Before she was fighting for the dogs of Puerto Rico, The
Sato Project’s Founder and President Chrissy Beckles was
also a Golden Gloves champion amateur boxer. As a fighter,
Muhammad Ali was her personal hero. These words by
him carried special weight for her in the boxing ring: “This
quotation has become a mantra for me. I was told it was
impossible for me to win Golden Gloves (because I was
not the most talented boxer) but I learned and now know
that hard work, a refusal to give up, and determination
can beat natural talent.” When she began rescuing dogs,
this mantra continued to be just as powerful: “I continued
repeating it to myself. I started The Sato Project thinking I
may only be able to rescue one dog a month or at most a
week. That did not seem impossible to me and it wasn’t.”
The Sato Project now rescues many more than one dog
a week; however, the fighting spirit of this quotation
remains at the heart of our determination to never stop
fighting for the dogs of Puerto Rico. It is even printed on
the wall of our administrative headquarters in Brooklyn,
NY as a daily reminder. Our office is also still located in
the back of famous boxing gym, Gleason’s Gym (where
Chrissy once met Muhammad Ali in person!). Despite all
of the obstacles we face every day, our team continues to
believe that “Impossible is nothing.”
The Beckles family’s first adopted sato, Boom Boom, was
given Chrissy’s ‘ring’ name in honor of her fighting spirit.
Boom Boom is the sato who started it all. After her
adoption, Chrissy promised Boom Boom that she would
do everything she could to help as many of her Puerto
Rican brothers and sisters as possible. That promise
became the founding of The Sato Project. Boom Boom
is the dog in our logo and the inspiration and catalyst
behind everything we do and every life we save. When
Boom Boom suddenly passed away in 2016, just weeks
Boom Boom enjoying the ocean
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Photo by Sophie Gamand