Like all great passions, it started with a little spark. In Cindy Lee’s case, it was actually two sparks—Wags and Menace, dogs she rescued from a shelter in 1996— that inspired her to start the Wags and Menace Make a Difference Foundation. Her goal? Ending animal cruelty, supporting abandoned or orphaned domestic and wild animals, and educating the next generation on kindness, compassion, respect, and responsibility for animals.

Although the founding dogs have long since crossed the Rainbow Bridge, the work of helping animals continues each year: pets in shelters, wild mustangs and burros out West, endangered wildlife in Hawaii, and sea turtles and seals in the oceans. In just the past few years alone, the Wags and Menace Make a Difference Foundation has grown exponentially, raising millions of dollars to fund its efforts that have expanded to encompass five continents. It now also supports rescue centers for orphaned baby kangaroos in Australia, baby orangutans and sloth bears in Malaysia and Indonesia, orphaned baby elephants and endangered giraffes in Africa, and orphaned endangered toucans, spider monkeys, sloths, and more in Costa Rica.