Karen Good: Red Lake Animal Rescue Volunteer Receives Award
Read the U of M, Crookston Aggie 2006 alumni newsletter highlighting Karen's work
Karen Good has been named the first recipient of the annual Kodiak Award by the Friends of Flicka foundation for her volunteer work on behalf of the animals. She will receive $5000 to further her work with Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota.
Good’s work is hampered by the poverty, remoteness of location and extremes of climate at Red Lake. She has rescued hundreds of cats and dogs including some that have been left for dead; a dog lying in tire tracks in the snow after being run over, a cat injured and frozen to the ground, puppies left to nurse on their mother for days after she died and more.
By day, Good teaches full-time in the Alternative Learning Center for Red Lake schools. As she drove home from work on the day of the Red Lake school shootings, she saw a homeless dog at a dumpster. She picked up that dog in an effort to start some kind of change in her community. That act ultimately led to the creation of Red lake Rosie’s Rescue by a group of volunteers concerned about domestic animals and their care in the Red Lake Nation. Their vision is to restore a respectful relationship between the Native people and all animals.
When animal rescuers in the Twin Cities learned of her work, a group of volunteers was inspired to organize in support of Good, the shelter and the rescued animals even though most of them have never even met her or visited the reservation.
Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue was named for Rosie, a dog rescued from the reservation that went on to become a therapy dog in a retirement home. Learn more about Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue at www.redlakerosie.blogspot.com.
A few of the Red Lake Rosie Rescue stories appear on the Friends of Flicka – Activities page.
