Florida woman honored with FOX 35 Care Force Award for reuniting more than 2,500 lost pets

WINTER PARK, Fla. - The FOX 35 Care Force  Team is recognizing the impressive work of a woman with a heart of gold as she leads a group of volunteers to reunite lost pets with their families.

If anyone has ever had a pet escape and go missing, it can be a terrifying ordeal. One of the first questions one may ask is "Who can I call for help?"

In the city of Winter Park, many people know to call Judy Charuhas.

She runs the Winter Park Lost Pets website and has successfully reunited more than 2,500 lost pets.

She has been able to capture many photos of pure joy and relief for pet owners and their companions over the years.

"When you see a kid crying because they have their pet back in their arms – I try to take those pictures as often as I can because a picture is worth a thousand words," Charuhas said. "It’s amazing."

Charuhas said she knows first-hand what it’s like to search for a lost loved one.

"I have been through what that’s like," she said. "You’re in a panic."She was fortunately able to find her dog that escaped when her gate didn’t shut. That event inspired her to want to create the Winter Park Lost Pets website.

"It’s also helpful for me the fact that I’m also a therapist, so when somebody is in that crisis mode – we’re able to do what we can to help them and search for that pet," she said.

The website is a platform to post missing and found pets.

An alert goes out over social media and to an email listserv of more than 20,000 people.

"What makes us successful is kids will get on bikes, people will walk down the street, a group will get together," Charuhas said. "They’ll go and network. Usually we reunite within 24-48 hours. Cats take a little bit longer. Sometimes it can be a month so maybe even longer. I tell people don’t give up. We won’t give up. So you don’t give up. And we keep searching."

All of it is run by volunteers. This is her passion project.

"We reunited our 2,563 pet last night!" she exclaimed. "Woohoo!"She is making a difference in the community in more ways than one." 

Often times when people lose a pet they will call the police department," Winter Park Police Chief Tim Volkerson said. "We’re their first call. After we receive their call, Judy is our first call."

Charuhas found out that Winter Park Police K-9 Wyatt did not have a bulletproof vest, so she sprang into action.

"We recently donated a K9 vest to Wyatt our K-9 police officer because they serve and protect us and we want to protect him," she said. "I also reached out to the fire department and found out they needed pet oxygen masks, so we did funding and were able to give every vehicle a pet oxygen mask."

Charuhas is always looking for ways to help."Judy is the epitome of caring and kindness," Volkerson said. "She is the type of person that makes this community so special and she gives selflessly of her time and her talents. She never asks for anything in return, she’s always willing to help others. She’s truly a special person and she’s fun to be around on top of that."