FACTS THAT INFORM AND INSPIRE

March 6, 2020

Full of Gratitude

Seventy-eight percent of Americans feel a deep sense of gratitude at least once a week

With a name like hers, gratitude might seem to come naturally to Dawn Joy of Glen Burnie, Maryland.

But it was not until she nearly drowned 20 years ago that Joy “really learned to be grateful for every day... When you have gratitude you see all the good things in your life.”

She’s especially grateful for all those wagging tails that keep passing through her life: the 162 “sick, injured, blind, and senior” miniature schnauzers whose lives she has already helped turn around.

Three years ago she started Homeward Bound Schnauzer Rescue Inc. after volunteering for a rescue organization that would find homes only for healthy young dogs. “But it’s dogs in despair who truly need rescue,” she decided. “So, our motto is, `We say yes when others say no.’” Just last year Homeward Bound paid $60,827 in veterinary bills, she says, to make rescued dogs well enough to enter new homes.

“You get to see them blossom,” says Joy. “Even some of the sickest dogs have this joy that springs from the gratitude of a second chance at life — which is what I got…I’m grateful for every day."

A 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78 percent of American adults report feeling a deep sense of gratitude at least once a week.