About

MaeDay Rescue was founded by Natalie Garcia in 2010 and became a non-profit 501c3 in 2013. MaeDay saves dogs and cats from Los Angeles shelters, the streets, and we also take in owner surrenders. We are solely based in Los Angeles and are not affiliated with any other organizations.

We are 100% foster based which means no more shelters for our rescues. All MaeDay animals are housed in their Foster's homes until the perfect forever homes are found. All medical expenses, spay and neuter costs, and supplies are covered by MaeDay while the animals wait to be adopted. 

Education and pet care is a priority. MaeDay also holds annual spay/neuter clinics in Mexico and offers local animal services to impoverished communities. 

Natalie has a soft spot for senior dogs and her favorite breed is a classic mutt! 
video courtesy of Dot 429

Meet The MaeDay Board of Directors

Natalie Garcia

Founder and President

Natalie is a lifelong animal advocate and the passionate founder of Maeday Rescue dedicated to saving, rehabilitating, and rehoming dogs in need. With more than 15 years of hands-on experience fostering hundreds of dogs, she has become a trusted voice in the rescue community—known for her compassion, determination, and deep understanding of the challenges facing shelters today.

What began as a one-woman mission to help abandoned dogs has grown into a full-scale rescue effort, built on collaboration, education, and heart. Beyond her daily rescue work, Natalie is now developing projects in the television space to bring greater awareness to the realities of shelter life and inspire change on a broader scale. Her goal is simple but powerful: to use storytelling to help every dog get the second chance they deserve. She spends her time with her own animals, Clarence who is a senior rescue dog from Baldwin park shelter. Douglas the gato from Playa del Carmen Mexico and her new cat, Kathleen who was a bottle fed baby from North Figueroa animal shelter. 



Sharon Gilligan

Chairperson of the Board 

 Sharon adopted her first senior rescue dog, Lottie at the shelter in 2014 and realized she wanted to help more. She found her way to MaeDay through dog park friends and started to volunteer and foster. She has fostered over 20 dogs with MaeDay since then despite her current dog Remy not being a fan of other dogs in his house. Remy has only recently begun to accept the addition of her beloved Mom’s cat, BB being there.


Sharon has met so many amazing and like minded friends through MaeDay and has many memories of spay and neuter trips to Mexico and helping out at events with MaeDay. After many years of people thinking she was on the board it has finally happened. She is a vegan that loves all animals and wishes she had more space and time to help more. She spends her days working on film and TV shows as a key costumer but her favorite part of the day includes animals and friends.


Dianne Meyer

CFO

 As a child, Dianne Meyer first became aware of the need for animal advocacy after seeing the treatment of the dogs, sheep, goats, and chickens at her grandparents farm in Australia. Witnessing the conditions the animals endured led to a lifelong compassion and love for all living beings and a commitment to veganism. When she moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s she was dismayed by the conditions and overcrowding at the city’s animal shelters. As she navigated rescuing and adopting a dog she came across Maeday Rescue, and was inspired by the enthusiasm, hard work and integrity of founder Natalie Garcia as well as the all-woman board of directors who focus on individual care and concern for each animal in finding them their best home. Starting out as a volunteer foster, going on to become a board member and now she is pleased to be able to call herself the CFO. 

Melody Margarit

Secretary

Melody grew up in Los Angeles and was raised with foster dogs. She has always felt a very special connection to animals and has spent most of adulthood as a vegetarian (now vegan) with no turning back. She has two rescue dogs of her own (Sampson & Scout) that are her world and bring her an immense amount of joy every single day.


In January of 2024, she found herself advocating for a litter of German Shepherd puppies that had been left outside for weeks in the cold and with MaeDay’s help, she was able to bring them into her home to give them somewhere safe to stay. 6 weeks later, all 4 puppies found their forever homes and Melody found herself fully in love with MaeDay Rescue, their team of strong women, and their mission to help animals. Since then, she has fostered over a dozen dogs and has happily joined the MaeDay board to continue her efforts in helping as many dogs and cats as possible.


In addition to animal advocacy, Melody has worked in the music industry for the last 20 years and feels fortunate to live in a city where she can surround herself with music, dogs, and amazing vegan food.