DEERFIELD, Ill. – Nine years ago an adopted shelter dog changed a young boy’s life.
The pup’s name is Maisy.
“I will never forget bringing her home,” Jackson Droll said. “And suddenly everything felt different just by having her there.”
You could say every day since has been a little sweeter for both Jackson and his fur baby.
“She just makes everything more fun,” he said.
It was a bond that almost didn’t happen.
Sandy De Lisle works at the shelter Orphans of the Storm in Deerfield, Illinois.
“Maisy came from an out of state kill shelter. If we hadn’t been able to take her in, she may not have survived,” she said.
Since meeting, Jackson has returned to the place where Maisy’s second lease on life began.
“This year Jackson approached us saying he wanted to give back to help other dogs like Maisy,” De Lisle said. “It was remarkable to us that a young person who literally could be doing a thousand and one other things wanted to spend his time helping other animals.”
With the help of his fellow Boy Scouts, Jackson painstakingly built four giant, wood outdoor toy boxes for animals sheltered at Orphans of the Storm.
“They gave me such a huge gift with Maisy that I wanted to give back to them,” he said.
The toy boxes have been a huge asset for the shelter, providing a weatherproof, safe place for all the dog’s sensory toys.
You can’t box what Maisy has brought to Jackson but he found a way to spread love to the dogs who one day will fill the heart of another kid.