And Then We Found Friends

By Volunteer Ian

When we first had the idea of doing workshops and classes as fundraisers for Help MAS Dogs, we really didn't know if it would work.

The idea was simple enough. Instead of just asking people to donate, we wanted to create activities people would actually enjoy joining, while their participation helps us raise funds for the veterinary care of the dogs.

So we started reaching out.

We sent messages, introduced Help MAS Dogs, explained what we were trying to do, and asked different people and places if they would be willing to work with us.

Not every message led somewhere, which we understood. There are so many causes asking for support, and businesses have their own limitations too.

But then someone said yes.

The very first one.

And they didn't just say yes.

House of Friends Yoga gave us much more than what we came asking for.

What started as a conversation about holding a Yoga for a Cause became an offer of their time, their instructors, their community, and their support.

From the beginning, Teacher Rianna of House of Friends Yoga rallied behind the idea and stayed involved in bringing it to life. They brought in Zero Studio, who generously opened their Mandaluyong space to us at no cost, helped us reach their community, and even offered to make these classes a regular fundraiser for Help MAS Dogs.

Then we learned that Teacher Tracy, who led the class, had volunteered her time too. In the days leading up to the event, we worked with her on the flow and how to make the little time we had meaningful. She was genuinely invested in making it work—even with five dogs who, as we would later find out, had their own plans for the morning.

For a small volunteer-led group constantly thinking of ways to pay for the next vet bill, all of that was difficult to put into words.

We came asking for support for one event.

Someone heard what we were trying to do and simply decided, we can help with that.

And so, Dog Yoga for a Cause came together.

Then, just days before the event, the rain came.

And kept coming.

The Lucky 23

Heavy rains poured over Metro Manila and nearby areas. Our phones kept buzzing with weather alerts and flood warnings, and suddenly the thing we had spent weeks preparing for didn't feel so certain anymore.

We seriously considered postponing.

We wanted the event to happen, of course. But no fundraiser, no matter how important to us, was worth asking anyone to put themselves at risk just to get there.

So we reached out to all 30 registered participants one by one, because everyone's safety came first. When around half confidently said they would still come, we decided to push through and offered the others a yoga session credit for the next cycle. Thankfully, the weather seemed to meet us halfway—the rain eased that night, and by morning, there were only a few drizzles here and there.

We prepared ourselves for a smaller group.

Then people started arriving.

And arriving.

Twenty-three people showed up.

After days of watching the rain and wondering whether we would even have an event, seeing 23 people walk through those doors was overwhelming.

They could have very easily stayed home that morning. We would have completely understood if they did.

But they came.

And waiting for them were Nadya, B-Boy, Woodstock, Pito, and Peppa, five cage mates from the pound who very quickly became the stars of the room.

They even came dressed for the occasion, wearing customized adoption campaign bandanas generously sponsored by Thread and Theme by Jeju and shipped all the way from Batangas just in time for our first two workshops. Our five little models certainly did their part, spending the morning going from person to person, playing, exploring, and charming just about everyone they met.

Teacher Tracy somehow kept the class going in the middle of all that. The dogs, on the other hand, seemed to have their own interpretation of what Dog Yoga was supposed to be.

But in between all the interruptions and excitement, they were getting something out of the morning too.

They had a big open space where they could run, play, explore, and go up to people whenever they wanted attention. For a few hours, they had more room to just be dogs—a little break from the cage they shared at the pound.

For a few hours, their world was much bigger than the cage they share.

Maybe they didn't know that the morning was really for them.

They didn't know that those yoga mats on the floor meant funds for vet visits, medicines, laboratory tests, vaccinations, treatments, procedures, and everything else we constantly need to provide for them and the other dogs under our care.

But they certainly knew there were people there who were happy to see them.

And in their own way, they went around and thanked them—with wagging tails, curious noses, playfulness, and more than a few interruptions to everyone's yoga poses.

And luckily for us, we have the photos to prove it. Photographer Vince Imperio volunteered his time to cover Dog Yoga, just as he did for our first FSL workshop. While the rest of us were busy with participants, dogs, and everything in between, Vince was there capturing the morning—and somehow making it look like we had everything under control.

The photos say otherwise in some places. But more importantly, they captured just how much fun everyone was having.

Looking around that room, it was hard not to think about how close we came to postponing the whole thing.

A few days earlier, our phones were buzzing with flood warnings.

Weeks before that, Dog Yoga for a Cause was still just one of many messages we had sent out, hoping someone might be willing to help us turn an idea into something real.

Then there we were.

Twenty-three people on their mats. Five very happy pound dogs running around them. And this little idea we weren't even sure would work had somehow become a room full of people who wanted to be part of it.

All because someone answered our message and said yes.

So to House of Friends Yoga, thank you.

Thank you not only for responding to our call for support, but for seeing what we were trying to build and offering us more than we thought to ask for.

To Teacher Rianna, thank you for rallying behind us from the very beginning and staying with us all the way.

To Teacher Tracy, thank you for putting so much thought into the class—and for

keeping it going despite five dogs who had no intention of following the program.

To Zero Studio, thank you for opening your space to us and letting five pound dogs believe, for a morning, that the studio belonged to them.

To Threads and Themes by Jeju, thank you for the beautiful bandanas that helped our five little models show everyone they were looking for homes.

To Vince, thank you for giving us your time and talent, and for beautifully capturing our workshops—and all the chaos in between.

And to the 23 people who still showed up despite everything the weather had been telling us in the days before, thank you.

You came for Dog Yoga.

But what you gave us was another vet bill we could worry a little less about, another reason to keep trying these ideas, and a reminder that there are people willing to show up for dogs they may have never even met before that morning.

When we first started reaching out about these fundraisers, we didn't need everyone to say yes.

We just needed someone to believe it was worth trying.

House of Friends Yoga did.

And after that first yes, somehow, more yeses kept finding their way to us.

From all of us at Help MAS Dogs—and from Nadya, B-Boy, Woodstock, Pito, Peppa, and the rest of the dogs waiting patiently at the pound—thank you for sharing your morning, your mats, and a little of your hearts with us.

Until we meet again on the mat. Namaste.