When Rochelle Fraser called Best Friends in 1996 with an idea to host a pet adoption event at the Salt Lake City mall where she worked, it sparked a conversation with Best Friends co-founder Gregory Castle — and the beginning of something big. Gregory, always game for a big idea (or even a small one with potential), responded with characteristic optimism.
That idea blossomed into a full-scale event and eventually a lifelong friendship and decades-long volunteer journey that continues to this day. “I’ve always loved animals,” says Rochelle. But when she met the people at Best Friends, it was the start of something much bigger for her.
Over the years, Rochelle has been part of so many events and efforts to help the animals — from the first Strut Your Mutt to a super adoption event where 400 animals from shelters or rescue groups went home in a single weekend.
She has organized, hosted, traveled, fundraised, and tabled — back when the work felt like watering seeds and trusting that those seeds would one day bloom into something lasting. “It was a grassroots effort, and I have such fond memories of that time,” says Rochelle…