It's true that some people only think of helping animals, while others jump into it with both feet. The latter can be said for Karen Menczer, who runs Animal Kind International from her home outside Jemez Springs.

Karen, and her husband, Ron Stryker, have worked for decades overseas improving the lives of ordinary people. But two are also passionate about improving the lives of animals. That's why when Ron retired and they returned to Karen's native New Mexico, she created a website to continue helping animals on a global basis.

I wrote about AKI's good work in November, but the two have never stopped raising funds and getting supplies to needed international animal-welfare workers. Karen is headed to Uganda next week through her main gig as a USAID worker, but she'll also be overlapping two AKI donors who are visiting Uganda at the same time. It'll be the first time Karen has met the supporters - something that's not unusual when many of us live so virtually through the Internet.

Regular AKI contributor Sarah, from Washington state, secured a wheelchair for Hope, a paralyzed dog in Kampala. Toronto resident Nicole raised money from a yard sale and requested the money help Helping Hands of Honduras and Jamaica/Community Animal Welfare.

Karen will meet both of them briefly in Kampala, and has promised to send us photos of their progress in Uganda. There's also a new supporters' page on the AKI website, www.animal-kind.org, that people might want to check out.