Rappaport To The Rescue

It's a celebration of extraordinary animals, remarkable people and the incredible power of the human-animal bond as award-winning animal advocate Jill Rappaport takes Rappaport to the Rescue to New York City's iconic Plaza Hotel for one of her favorite events of the year—the ASPCA Humane Awards!

Jill meets Aiden and Pearl, two adorable miniature therapy horses from HorseAbility, recipients of the ASPCA Equine Welfare Award, who have spent more than a decade bringing comfort, healing and joy to thousands of people in hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.

She also introduces Canyon, the heroic disaster search dog honored as Dog of the Year for his extraordinary work helping families find answers in the aftermath of devastating disasters. In one of the episode's most emotional moments, Jill speaks with the mother of 8-year-old Eloise "Lulu" Peck, whose beautiful legacy of helping shelter animals lives on following her tragic passing.

Plus, Jill catches up with legendary newsman Chuck Scarborough and ASPCA President and CEO Matt Bershadker to celebrate the animals and people making a difference. It's an unforgettable, heartwarming and sometimes tearful edition of Rappaport to the Rescue that reminds us all why opening our hearts and homes to animals in need matters so much!

Listen to Episode #92 Now:

Transcript:

Hi, I'm Jill Rappaport, and welcome to this edition of Rappaport to the Rescue. I am at my favorite event of the year, the ASPCA Humane Awards, and you can see why. Look at two of the winners for the Equine Welfare Award.

This is such a heartfelt event, guaranteed to make you cry, but happy tears. And when we come back, we will be checking in with the CEO, Matt Breschacker, to hear why this year is so special. But first, a shameless plug for my dress.

Can you check it out? These are my beloved rescue dogs, and I am sporting today. This is all about giving back and opening up your heart and home to animals in need. So this is going to be such a special show.

Please stay tuned. I'm so thrilled to be with the recipients of this year's Equine Welfare Awards. And tell us about these sperm angels.

You lovely ladies are from Horse Ability. This is such an honor. Oh, thank you so much.

Yeah, I'd like to introduce them to you. This is Pearl. Pearl's a girl.

And this is Edna Boyk. She's 16 years old. She's 18 years old.

And they've been together for about 10 years. And what makes them special? It's an honor to them. You know, I get to pick a lot of awards.

They are gentle. They are kind. They are therapeutic.

We take them to nursing homes. We take them to hospitals. We take them to our dad's house where they can meet their children with special needs.

It helps everybody. I know. And they're just so kind.

Lovely guys. They're so beautiful. Look how mellow they are.

They're in the middle of the Plaza Hotel in the middle of New York City, ladies and gentlemen. This is true. They are so relaxed.

I want to know what they eat. I can get off of that. Oh, the natural diet.

And tell us your names. Oh, my name is Denise. And I'm Maria.

Oh, nice. So, Denise Bryce. Maria Pinzel.

Well, bless you for what you do. Clearly, you know, you are doing da to us. Look at these angels, how well-behaved they are.

And congratulations, little Starburst. I love your teeth. They're very funny.

I'm here with Christy Thorman and Canyon, who is this year's ASPCA Humane Awards Dog of the Year. What an incredible dog. It is a tremendous dog.

Tell us why Canyon deserves this award this year. So, Canyon is trained as a disaster search dog. He finds people after disasters so that we can give families answers to what happened to their loved ones.

And he has searched across the country following disasters like the Maui wildfires, the flooding in North Carolina after Hurricane Hameen, and the floods in Texas in 2025. So, he has been honored, obviously. Unbelievable.

And he's a bellowed demeanor and sweet. He is a hero through and through. He's a great dog.

Does he know he's giving this award today? Has it gone to his head? It has gone to his head. Let me tell you. I was just saying, dogs can't eat chocolate.

But he feel our endings was right now and now. He's right. He was having his first New York hot dog and pizza crust.

So, he has been thoroughly enjoying New York. Hey, Canyon, you're a star. Look at the camera.

Canyon, look at the camera. You want to signal? Oh, yes. I'd rather have you look at him anyway.

He's adorable. Well, I am so thrilled to be with the one and only, MC, the amazing newsman extraordinaire, Chuck Starbucks. Chuck, so great to have you.

Glad to be here. Glad to be here. This is a great event.

These animals are near and dear to your heart. You made awards. We have fabulous honorees today who've really done wonderful things for animals.

So, I think you're going to enjoy that. And every year, you are the MC. And every year, I see a tear in your eye.

I do, yes. Well, we all get it. We all at some point in this program get a tear in our eye.

Because there are some very touching stories. There's one today about a little girl. And what she did that I think we'll find hard not to like.

And Chuck, we miss you so much on the airwaves. Oh, here I am again. Look at this.

And you're back on the air. The Rappaport to the rescue. You're literally a legendary newsman.

How is life for you now? You know, I'm not really away. Because I'm an avid consumer of news. So, I just don't have to do it.

But I'm still keenly involved with the world at large. With that aside, I'm not quite sure. You know, I was in broadcast journalism for 58 years.

And now I've been away from it for nearly two years. And it's a little bit strange still. It's quite a change of life.

But I think I'm OK. Well, I have to tell you, as a viewer, I miss you so much. As a friend, I'm very fortunate to be able to see you.

And bless your heart for doing this every year. Oh, thank you. Thanks for coming, Julie.

Thank you. Thank you. Continue to work with your amazing rescue animals that you have.

Now, I am so thrilled to be standing with Missy Peck. Missy is the mother of this year's kid of the year. And this is such a bittersweet moment.

Please tell us about your amazing child. And what this award means to you. Eloise, my loving thing, called Lulu, was an animal lover from the moment she was born.

And she loved everything that had four legs, wings, a heartbeat. She loved it. And so her love for animals, even at eight years old, was palpable.

We all saw it constantly. She set up lemonade stands and would raise money for local rescue shelters in Texas. And so this award means the world to us.

Because it is furthering her love in this world. And that's exactly what we need. Now, for our audience, just hearing about your daughter.

It's such a beautiful story. And sadly, she lost her voice at such a tragic age. She was taken from us in the Texas floods at Camp Mystic.

And July 4th, 2025, was the worst day of our lives. But we've learned that in a lesson that we never wanted to learn. But grief is the price you pay for having loved so much.

And she loved endlessly. And her light shone so brightly. And so we just feel like it's our legacy.

Or it's our duty to honor her legacy and keep her light shining. And can you think of a more beautiful light shining today? Can you feel this honor for your daughter? Yes, yes, I know. She's here.

She's here. She loves the plaza. She loved New York.

She loved all the dogs on the streets. She always said she wanted to have a dog walking business in a city like this. And so it really is.

I feel her here. I really do. Yes.

Like I said, this is so beautiful. Congratulations on having her legacy live on. Thank you.

It's a world. And I wish you strength and happiness going forward. Thank you.

Welcome back to Rappaport to the Rescue. I'm Jill Rappaport. So honored to be with the one and only CEO, Matt Verschatker of the ASPCA.

And this is the most special event. I need a box of Kleenex, Matt. Yeah, it's a great event.

It does a wonderful job celebrating the human-animal bond and showcasing the way animals enrich our lives. And they truly have the ability to touch our hearts in a way that humans can't. And of course, that's not a criticism of humans.

It's an affirmation of what a wonderful relationship we have with animals. And today, there's some incredible winners. I don't want to spoil it for anybody.

Some incredible winners that really accentuate and illustrate the human-animal bond, the power, the beauty of that bond. And I always say every year, the ASPCA outdoes itself. Kid of the year.

Dog of the year. I agree. Each final word of the year.

So I get to go to a lot of events in my life. And I appreciate that I'm not objective, but this is the best event ever, right? It's the best event ever because of what I said. It celebrates the animals and the people who love them.

And that's why we're here. And that's what's so special about animals and animal welfare. This event, it's incredible awareness about all the spectacular things that animals could do.

And again, I don't want to spoil the show for people, but you wait. And maybe we'll do a little post-event thing where we can talk about some of the winners. Absolutely.

Well, on that wonderful note, I am so thrilled that you all joined us for the most heartfelt, special edition of Rappaport to the Rescue. And don't forget, please open up your hearts and homes to an animal in need. Yes.

Support your local shelter.

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes... and species!

What an extraordinary day at the ASPCA Humane Awards at New York City's iconic Plaza Hotel! One of my absolute favorite events of the year, celebrating remarkable animals and the incredible people who dedicate their lives to helping them. And yes, plenty of happy tears!

Meet Aiden and Pearl, this year's ASPCA Equine Welfare Award recipients! These two adorable miniature therapy horses from HorseAbility have spent more than a decade bringing comfort, healing and joy to thousands of people in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and rehabilitation centers. Talk about little horses making a BIG difference!

Then there's Canyon, the heroic disaster search dog honored as Dog of the Year, whose extraordinary work helps families find answers following devastating disasters.

And one of the most touching moments was honoring 8-year-old Eloise "Lulu" Peck, whose beautiful legacy of helping shelter animals lives on after her tragic passing.
It was also wonderful catching up with legendary newsman Chuck Scarborough and ASPCA President and CEO Matt Bershadker!

Join me for this very special edition of Rappaport to the Rescue from the ASPCA Humane Awards!

Watch the highlights and catch the full episode on Pet Life Radio! Link in bio.
And remember... open your hearts and homes to animals in need!

Shoutout to the incredibly brilliant artist Patrick Ganino who hand-painted my dress with my beloved rescue dogs.  It’s my most cherished possession.

"Rappaport to the Rescue" Theme Song Written & Produced by Mark Winter
© Copyright 2022 Such Fun Music (ASCAP)