No-kill animal rescues are in a tight spot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus is preventing them from raising funds in-person to keep their programs operational. But there is at least one man who is trying to help.

Jack De Rosa is a contractor-turned author. His book “Big Boy and the Death Row Dogs” was written to help rescues raise money during the pandemic. He was contacted by a friend through the nonprofit Save Death Row Dogs who asked him to turn his screenplay about dogs into a book.

“She said, ‘We’re really looking for a way to raise money for rescues and could you make your screenplay into a book?’ I’d never really written a book before. But Ray Ray [the dog] said we could do it,” De Rosa says.

Unlike shelters, rescues are home-based and volunteers take in cats and dogs and rehabilitate them and put them up for adoption. It completely removes the need to put them down because of illness, age or disability.

Ray Ray was born blind and had other medical issues. He was abandoned by his previous owner. He would have been put down if not for De Rosa taking him in.