Serving others could mean helping those with two legs or four. When the Apache Tribe in San Carlos, California, needed help caring for the local dog population, Lauren Arterburn, Owner of Pinnacle Peak Ace Hardware, stepped in to help build doghouses.

COVID affected life on many levels, and on the tribe's reservation, there was no vet nearby to tend to the rapidly growing dog population.

"The nearest vet service is a 130-mile round trip away," said Julie Cassadore of the Geronimo Animal Rescue Team. "A lot of the people in our community don't have the gas money and the transportation to make that trip. People will call me with pet emergencies around the clock, so I'll just get in my vehicle, and I will go and help."

The Geronimo Animal Rescue Team is a non-profit rescue organization dedicated to the care, rehabilitation, and adoption of domestic animals. Another goal of the organization is to help provide shelter for dogs.

"People don't think of Arizona as a cold place, but it does get pretty chilly, and it gets extremely hot here in the summer," said Lauren. "Day after day, not having any shelter, any warmth, the dogs were really suffering out on the reservation."

Lauren heard about the doghouse project from the Geronimo Animal Rescue Team. There was a huge need for doghouses. Lauren decided to get involved in a big way.

"Without Ace, we wouldn't have had the foundation of the project to really launch it to the larger scale that it became," said Cynthia Carr of the High Desert Humane Society. "They believed in the project, and Lauren really invested in the project."

The project was also supported by Petmate and Dogipot, as well as Ace Handyman Services, which helped with the doghouse construction. Together they assembled over 800 doghouses for the animals on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.

"It's funny how when they bring a doghouse over, the dog just automatically knows it's for them," said Dorothea Stevens of Geronimo Animal Rescue. "And in a few minutes, they're in there."

"I'm excited that we are able to help them," said Lauren. "It's great that I can use my store and my connections for good."