Milly Kukuczka grew up with her beloved dog Bella. So when the border collie mix died at Christmas last year, the 9-year-old Colorado girl was heartbroken.
This year, in honor of Bella, Milly only wanted one thing: When her parents asked her for a Christmas list, she gave them a flyer she made for a pet drive. She wants to collect toys for pet shelters in honor of her late puppy.
“It’s been really hard on her for the last year,” Milly’s mom, Ashley Kukuczka, said “So, it’s really cool to see it all come together.”
Milly said she decided to do the pet drive “so that every pet can have a toy for Christmas. “And in memory of my dog, Bella,” she added.
‘He feels animals like people’
The family began collecting toys from friends and family and Milly’s pet drive soon caught the attention of the local CBS outlet.
Today, countless people help Milly bring joy to shelter dogs. So far, Milly says she’s gotten between 50 and 100 donations. Her mother said the family had adopted shelter animals in the past and when Milly wanted to do so, they contacted The Dumb Friends League, where they adopted the family’s cats, to see if they could come down and see the animals.
“He wants to make sure that every homeless dog at Christmas has a toy to open if they don’t have a family to be with, because that makes him really sad. He feels for animals like people,” Ashley said of her son.
A strong association
The Kukuczka family adopted Bella shortly before Milly was born.
“We’ve been through everything with her and then when Millie was born, Bella kind of just protected her. They were always side by side doing everything together. Everything she did, she wanted to do with Bella – go down the slide at the playground , going for walks, he’s always by our side,” Ashley said.
Sadly, Bella was diagnosed with cancer. A year before he passed away, the beloved dog also had an eye infection. The family thought at the time that it was spreading cancer.
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“We kind of went through the grieving process a year ago and it was just something in her eyes. She ended up losing her eyes. It’s like we mourned her loss once and we had a whole year of life with her and I think that’s what really brought Milly closer to Bella last year – knowing she might lose him,” said the mother.
Although the girl longs to get Bella back, she channels her love for the dog into helping others.
“He just wants to know Bella’s memory. Every stuffed animal he gets that looks like Bella, he names it Bella. Everywhere we go he looks for a magnet that looks like Bella or an ornament that looks like Bella. It’s her. He wants his memory to live on,” Kukuczka said.
