Breezy Resident Runs 12 5Ks for Animal Rescue

By Katie McFadden

In the 12 days leading up to Christmas, some pull chocolate out of an Advent calendar each day. Breezy Point resident Melissa Burgos has been pulling out her sneakers and pounding the pavement, even dashing through the snow to complete 12 5Ks for the sake of helping animals.

As the snow was still falling on the morning of Sunday, December 14, Burgos was running along the beachside promenade in Breezy Point, starting her personal challenge of running a 5K for 12 days straight for a public cause—raising funds for Sarama Animal Rescue. Sarama, a foster-based rescue operating from New Jersey to Philly to New York, is owned by Burgos’ best friend, Laura Miller, who she worked closely alongside with doing animal rescue.

Burgos, a longtime animal lover, found herself getting into rescue when she lived in Brooklyn, doing independent TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) for cats. One day she found kittens in her backyard and wanted to find them homes. That led her to volunteering for the Freeport-based rescue she brought them to. “Around 15ish years ago, I met Laura at Bobbi and the Strays in Long Island, doing rescue together. She’s an amazing woman who started Sarama about 10 years ago when she moved to New Jersey, so I ran everything in New York,” Burgos explained.

Sarama does everything from bringing animals for vet visits, pulling animals from ACC in Brooklyn, especially ones from the euthanasia list, working with animals with behavioral issues, and placing those who wind up not getting adopted in a sanctuary program. They’ve also rescued animals from the street, like Buddy, an American bulldog mix who experienced abuse, found chained to a fence in Rockaway, who now lives in Sarama’s sanctuary.  “Laura really cares about people, as well as the animals, which you don’t see all the time. She really does amazing work,” Burgos said.

So, in wanting to support Sarama, Burgos began to seek creative ways to fundraise when she came across a social media post about the 12 5Ks of Christmas, a mission of running 3.1 miles every day for 12 days leading up to Christmas.  “I love running but I hadn’t run in a while. The last 5K I ran was in the spring with the Rockaway Track Club, and I’d been wanting to get back into running. What better way to do that than to do it for the animals?”

So, with a mission in mind, Burgos set up a GoFundMe to raise money for Sarama, with a goal of raising $1,200, about $100 per run. Then, she hit the pavement on Sunday, which happened to correlate with the first snow of the season. But preferring to run in cooler weather, Burgos said, “It was exhilarating! I had never done that in the snow. It was just beautiful,” she said. And she had her boyfriend meet her at the finish line to show support, and take a few videos for Sarama, so they could share the effort and GoFundMe page. The next day, Burgos was back at it, with her own phone in hand to show continued accountability as she hit the main road of Breezy to complete the 3.1 miles…and she’ll continue through to day 12—Christmas Day.

Miller is grateful for her friend’s unique mission to support Sarama. “I’m incredibly honored that she is doing this. We are a small rescue with a lot of special needs animals who require a lot of expensive care. Our vet bills have been exceeding donations for a long time now. So, the fact that she stepped up to do this really inspiring fundraiser means so much to me,” Miller said. “I’m whole-heartedly grateful to her.”

As we go to press, Burgos has raised nearly $800. To donate and help her run for Sarama, head to: https://gofund.me/174ec3867 or search “Sarama’s 12 5K’s of Christmas” on GoFundMe.com. For more info on Sarama, see: www.sarama.org