On a steamy June evening in Fort Lauderdale, the newest member of the Waterway Wellness Run Club arrives with undeniable exuberance and hopes beyond completing the prescribed two-mile route. After all, Sammy, a six-year-old Boxer mix from Abandoned Pet Rescue, wasn’t there on June 29 to set the pace; she was there to be seen – and potentially find her forever home.

In an unlikely partnership, Sammy, a resident of Abandoned Pet Rescue for nearly five years, recently became the official running dog of the upstart running club and (for now, at least) a staple at the group’s regular Monday night run. 

Sammy’s presence represents a low-cost, high-impact community activation built on overlapping values – fitness, friendship, local pride and animal welfare – and a unique collaboration elevating the profile of Fort Lauderdale’s only no-kill animal shelter while injecting added purpose into Waterway’s traditional Monday meetup.

A unique pairing
This novel partnership began innocently enough. One of the shelter’s foster couples connected with Waterway members and floated the idea of bringing shelter dogs to the group’s Monday night run. Leaders from the run club and Abandoned Pet Rescue then shaped the rough concept into something safer, more focused and easily repeatable: one dog, one weekly outing, one shared goal.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to bring attention to a community nonprofit and support their work, so it was something we jumped at the chance to do,” Waterway co-founder Dean Hunsicker says.

Of course, Waterway was built for this kind of connection, Hunsicker explains. After moving to Fort Lauderdale, he launched the club last October alongside his brother and two longtime friends to deepen ties with their new city.

“The run club was a vessel for socialization, a social community built around fitness,” Hunsicker says.

As the club’s Monday night runs grew to 35-40 regular participants, group leaders layered on other community-centric events, including Saturday gatherings built around activities like yoga and wiffle ball as well as a Tuesday run with other Fort Lauderdale area running clubs. Partnering with Abandoned Pet Rescue and adding Sammy to the mix simply accelerated the group’s momentum and community-centric ethos, Hunsicker says. 

Before Sammy’s first run on June 29, Waterway members visited Abandoned Pet Rescue for a tour and orientation. Shelter staff introduced Sammy, an active and affectionate dog handpicked for the Waterway group as one of the shelter’s longest-tenured residents. Staff also shared background on the shelter and its work as well as the responsibility of taking a shelter dog into a public setting.

A mutually beneficial arrangement
Over recent weeks, Sammy’s presence at the Monday night runs has delivered so much more than smiles and social media fodder.

For Abandoned Pet Rescue, the collaboration with Waterway has opened another door to the city. Though the shelter has spent three decades rescuing, healing and re-homing more than 10,000 dogs and cats, gaining the attention of those most likely to adopt, foster, volunteer or donate remains an ongoing challenge. Each outing with Waterway puts Sammy and the shelter’s broader mission in front of an active, social and locally engaged audience

“We’re always looking for opportunities to let people know we’re around,” Abandoned Pet Rescue managing director Kara Starzyk says. She adds other local run clubs have inquired about hosting other shelter dogs at their own runs.

And for Waterway, the partnership has expanded the meaning of gathering and proven the sport’s power as a nexus point for community good. Sammy’s presence gives runners something to rally around before the first step – an uplifting community event hidden inside a weekly workout.

Though Sammy has not yet been adopted, she has become a fan favorite on Monday nights with her happy-go-lucky vibe. If she finds a home, Hunsicker hopes Waterway can introduce another shelter dog into its weekly routine.

“We want to get these dogs more exposure and keep growing and expanding this relationship together,” he says.