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The Karen Cooper Foundation: Bringing Christmas to Shelter Dogs [THA 453]

The Karen Cooper Foundation: Bringing Christmas to Shelter Dogs [THA 453]

Remarkable Results Radio Podcast Oct 03, 2025 27 min
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About this episode

Bob and Michelle Cooper share the inspiring story behind the Karen Cooper Foundation, which aims to bring Christmas joy to shelter dogs across the U.S. Following the tragic loss of Bob's wife, Karen, the foundation was established to honor her legacy by providing toys and treats to dogs in shelters. The episode highlights their mission to not only bring joy to these animals but also to promote adoptions and responsible pet ownership. With a significant donation from Kong toys, they discuss the importance of quality toys for the dogs' well-being and the emotional impact on both the animals and the community.

Topics: shelter dogs christmas gifts animal adoption karen cooper foundation dog toys community involvement responsible pet ownership charity work legacy honoring
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This is the Aftermarket Radio Network. Hey everybody, Carm Capriotto. Welcome to the Town Hall Academy. Wow, 10 years in. Thousands of episodes. We've got a big announcement coming really soon for some really neat new cool stuff that we're doing. And we have an absolutely extra special episode for two reasons. One, to talk to Bob Cooper and his daughter, Michelle. And the other one is, look who's standing here.
Next to me. For the first time ever, we are in the same frame. My dad and I, this is Tracy Capriotto for those that are listening on audio and not the video. And we decided to tag team this in one frame. So you're getting two Capriottos in the same room as a podcast. It is happening. Damn. You've been here, what? Four years doing all the production, all the content management. Actually, I've retired, but no one really knows that. He is not. Okay. Anyway, Bob and Michelle are coming up in just a minute.
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Hey, welcome back Bob and Michelle Cooper. We have a story. They have a story. We all have a story to tell and to all of our listeners. We need your help. This is an ask. It's going to be an important ask for everyone and it's about the carrying Cooper foundation. And if you love animals. Bob Michelle, I'll bet you that 60% of my audience has a dog.
Play more than that. Okay, 70 80% you're listening. You have dogs and you love them to death every once in a while. You do something and this is wow. They love that dogs love toys. I hear. Which I think is such a cool idea. And that's what this episode is about. We need your help with the animals that are at the adoption centers like SPCA around the country. And I can't wait for the audience to hear this story.
Not only do we need your help, but there's an incredible story behind the Karen Cooper foundation. Bob, how did this all start? Yeah, Carm. Well, first of all, thank you so much for giving me and Michelle the opportunity to be here. And before we even talk about the foundation, a couple of things I'd like to say Tracy, I love your shirt that you have on there. I just saw the minute to go. And thank you for doing that. You know, that's really heartwarming on another note. Carm and speaking to you and you as well, Tracy, I know that you've been doing this for a long, long time.
I realize that you have. And I just wanted to remind you and everyone that's paying attention to anybody that could be watching this podcast.
What you're doing for the industry, Carm, I think is far more than just bringing really great information to the industry that is so indespirate need of. But beyond that, I think you're doing something else, especially today's age with everything that's going on with the workforce is across America.
And with the way the blue collar workers have been so downtroddened over the years and sort of cast aside the fact that you're now showing people the best of the best of the best of the best in this industry.
Guys and guys that are absolutely rock stars that are having wonderful lives and making America, making the world a better place for all.
These are the people that you have on your show. These are the people that you interview. So all those moms and dads that are out there that get to pick up on pieces and things that you're sharing with.
The audience, I think is really profound. So I just want to say, you know, I just want to share my thoughts. I think that you're doing far more than just helping the industry itself and everyone in the industry.
You're helping society by letting people know that blue collar workers are just guys and girls work on cars. They do a whole lot more than that. They create incredible businesses and change their communities in many ways.
So from the bottom of my heart, you know, I'd like to thank you for that.
Thank you for this. You've just warmed my heart and I appreciate that. We're really starting to call what we're doing episodic education because there's always something to learn from what we do with all the seven episodes that we produce inside of our network per week.
I have to remind myself how hard she works. But the other thing that you deserve a ton of credit having been the former CEO of Elite Worldwide and the thousands of shop owners
and all of their people that you had a chance to shape their lives. So thank you again for that too.
Yeah, well, thank you for your kind words, Carmen. Thank you to Tracy and Michelle, who's with us my daughter today.
She was certainly a part of Elite from the very beginning from 1991, first started this company.
I mean, she was there from day one helping us grow it into the wonderful organization that it is today and helping so many people.
So Michelle, thank you too for all that you've done for this incredible company that we call Elite Worldwide.
Of course.
Kind of you. High fives to the daughters. High fives to the daughters.
Well, Carmen, you're asking about the foundation and, you know, I actually sold Elite in January one of 2023 is when I sold the company.
One of the things that Karen, my wife and I used to do is we used to go to one of the Humane societies here in San Diego.
And we would take the dog's treats and toys and things like that.
And one day Karen said, Bob, I got a question for us is what said she says, what happens with all these dogs on Christmas morning?
And at that time we're planning on going to Michelle's house for Christmas.
I says, what do you mean she says, well, Christmas, we know where we're going to be on Christmas morning.
What happens with all these services? I have no idea. She says, why don't we do this? Why don't we bring Christmas to them?
We did for a number of years, every year actually for many years.
We would go there in early part of December to this one Humane Society in San Diego.
And we would take toys and treats.
We go to Costco and fill up the back of Karen's vehicle and take them there.
And we did that for many years. And then in January of 2023, it was time to step away from Elite in another chapter in my life.
We sold the company and not long after that actually was May 26, the same year Memorial Day weekend Karen and I were heading over Michelle's house to spend the time with her.
Michelle's dog at the time was termally ill and we wanted to spend time with her and with her dog Bella.
And we're in a car accident and Karen died at the scene, not knowing what to do being married for 54 years and not knowing what to do with my life at that point.
You know, I was sort of in a really bad place and I didn't know what to do.
I knew one of the things that I needed to do for sure was try to find a way to keep Karen's spiritual life in every way that I could.
So I decided, you know what, I'm certainly going to take Christmas to the dogs again at the shoulder.
I want to continue that tradition that Karen and I started.
And then I had a conversation with Michelle. Do you remember that Michelle that conversation in June about going beyond just the one local chapter that we're doing?
Absolutely. You said we'll just scratch the surface right here and see how it goes the first year.
We don't know what we're doing, but we'll try and we'll give it the best shot we can.
Yeah, instead of just that one shelter, we actually gifted a thousand 56 dogs that year in 2023.
And we were really surprised. We were surprised that we were able to do that.
But we did and they were all within the San Diego area.
I'm thrilled to say last year we were able to bring Christmas to right over 4,000 dogs.
I think about 4,100 dogs or so throughout the US.
We brought Christmas to. So guys, this is a mission that we're on right now.
We're on the mission to do three things actually.
Number one, to bring Christmas to these shelter dogs.
So they have something on Christmas morning.
Number two, to draw attention to adoptions.
Because we know by doing this, we're certainly bringing attention to adoptions and getting these little guys and girls into their forever homes that they need.
And number three, the third thing that we're doing is we're honoring a legacy of Karen.
And that's why we called it the Karen Cooper Foundation, you know, and name after her.
You got to go to the website Karen Cooper Foundation dot org.
And the first thing that greets you is a video with Bob and Michelle.
If you love animals, you love dogs, and you say, man, this would be kind of cool to do Christmas for the animals at the shelter.
Watch this because what I was so amazed about is to watch this one particular dog go crazy over the gifts that were there.
I hadn't seen that in many, many years.
And so you're going to get your heart tugged big time when you go and contribute to help Bob and Michelle and people around the country get these gifts into the SBCA on Christmas morning.
Give us some background on how this can all come together.
By the way, how hard have you guys been working on this?
It's around the clock. It's a year process.
Even though we do all the gifting and Christmas, it's not like we start this in November and say, okay, we've got a couple of weeks.
Bob and I are on this, like you would not believe the entire year planning, doing the logistics, all the marketing, everything, the social media, there's a lot that goes into this.
So we start early on throughout the year and it's a process.
It's lining up the shoulders, corresponding with them, choosing the treats.
I'm sowing all the Santa sacks that all the toys go into.
Stop. Wait a minute. I heard that on the video. I saw the Santa sacks. I'm envious. I don't think Santa has a sack that nice.
Been a work in progress, but I think we're there. I think we've dialed in the sack, but yeah, I'm doing about 300 sacks this year. I'm sowing for all these shelters.
The importance of this is the attention to detail, not only with the sacks, not about our processes or systems or how we tackle this, the quality of toys, but it was important to my mother
to have the best of everything for these dogs, because we may be giving them only a toy or a treat, but we want to give them the best, the best experience.
So much like you said, you saw that little dog on our video, get all excited and super happy about the toys.
That happens time and time after each time we go to a shelter that repeats itself with all the dogs. It's like a little kid opening their first gift on Christmas morning.
They get so excited. There's so much emotion in it. And I just want to make sure we're repeating that each time at every shelter with every dog in the quality matters to me.
So details a big thing. Speaking of the quality, you have a huge donation from the Kong toy brand this year.
Yeah, they heard about what we're doing. And what can I say? I was so honored and so humbled with their gift. They picked up on the mission that we're on.
And you know, they're one of the nations, one of the world's leading toy manufacturers for animals for pets. And out of the blue, they said, you know what?
We're going to send like a semi down near a place and we'll wait a minute, you know, time out here for a minute.
Because we thought we're going to have these delivered to Michelle's house and we realize we can't because they're actually sending 8,000 toys to us.
They're going to come in what they call big galore's big palates and all and four cliffs and all of those things. So they're trucking those into us.
But what a testimony to their company. I mean, you know, this speaks to the people in an organization to do something like that because it's certainly they have a lot of other ways to grow their brand,
other than just silently giving us 8,000 toys.
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Bob, I think what happened is the Kara Cooper Foundation captured something in them that they realized that this was one hell of an opportunity for them and not to grow their brand
but to do something charitable from the heart. Absolutely.
With the quality that you mentioned, you know, the best of the best. Why is that important? It's really important because these toys aren't just for the month of December.
They get destroyed. Fluff is everywhere and that's it. These toys are actually going to be lasting throughout multiple dogs using them.
That is very important. It's not just for December. I also know from a very great girlfriend of mine, she fosters dogs until they get to their forever home.
So many of those fosters they've never seen a toy. They've been in a puppy mill and just acclimating to toys again to learn how to be a dog is something that she helps them with.
And when you have toys at a shelter, enrichment toys, toys volunteers can use. You're making those dogs more adoptable as well.
And so I just think it's huge. The detail that you both have on not only sourcing quality but also what is going to leave a lasting impact on the shelter itself.
Tracy, you're spot on with your comments. I volunteer at a shelter. So I know first and foremost how important those toys are far beyond Christmas.
A lot of times the audience or people we talk to think, oh, it's a great toy for that dog for a couple of days.
The reality is they need those toys 365 days a year while at the shelter. It's used like you said for enrichment if fosters relationship between the animals and the handlers.
It prepares them to be able to have good behavior skills with future families that may be adopting them.
So they need it. That's all that they have in their kennels in their structures until they get forever homes.
They have human engagement. Don't get me wrong. There's plenty of staff and volunteers to interact with the dogs.
But it's so nice for them to have toys to chew on. And I tell you this time and time again every time I volunteer and their kennels are clean and a brand new toys brought in.
It's like Christmas all over again. It's such a wonderful thing to see and feel from these dogs because that's all that they've got.
And going back to your website resource page, Carminae, we look through that.
And just to see the blogs that are linked the articles on dog nutrition training, you know, even down to end of life and grieving for a lost pet.
You're really taking the dog adoption ownership to a different level because you're not only supporting the dogs that need adoption, but you're also advocating for
responsible dog ownership. And what is all entailed? I mean, there's a need during Christmas because a lot of times what happens is someone gets a cute dog as a present.
You know that the big dream of the big red bull around their neck under the Christmas tree.
And then it might not work out. It might not work out for that family, for that lifestyle even.
And then you do see an influx of dogs at shelters after Christmas.
So I just love how again, your attention to detail is above anyone I know and to even see that resource page for people to get educated on dog ownership is huge.
And I really love that tie in. And also anyone that is part of this foundation.
Bob, I love getting your updates throughout the year of what you and Michelle are working on where your goals are.
You know, when seeing that email about Kong donating 8,000 toys, I was so excited. So, you know, you're able to be involved all year like you said, not just during Christmas.
You know what else is really cool Tracy and actually to all of you is all the wonderful people that are helping us.
This just doesn't stop with what Michelle and I and our efforts and all the dogs that we're hopefully bringing Christmas to and getting them in the homes as well.
All of the good guys and gals with big hearse of souls that are helping us to a view as an example for all the people that are watching us are probably wondering, how do we get all of these gifts to all of these dogs across the country.
Well, we have really big goals. My goal is to someday be able to do this not only throughout the entire US, but internationally as well to bring Christmas to the dogs.
And the way that we're doing it is we're tapping into the really wonderful people that we know.
No, Carm, you and Tracy, you're going to be helping us this Christmas with the dogs and Buffalo Zach Bobble from Jasper and his wife Linda.
They're going to be helping us Mike Delacruz is going to be helping us. I mean, we have lots and lots of good people.
Sherry Hamilton is going to be helping us. You know, we have dozens of shop owners across the nation that I know,
they're helping us to. So what we do is we send them all the gifts and the bags and all we coordinate with the shoulders.
And as you know, they make the deliveries for us. So we have a really cool system in place.
And we know that we're doing the right things for the right reasons because this helps people like you and these shop owners.
It helps you be an enriching part of your community. It helps you help the animals in your community as well.
What we're doing is I feel it's a wonderful thing for everybody involved and you're also engaging with customers.
If you have some sort of a tie in with auto repair services, it's a great way for customers to also feel involved in the community and with your shop being aligned with a shop that shares their values is with dogs and also providing them a happy Christmas.
I mean, that's wonderful. So it's another touch point that shops can have with their customers.
Tell them what you're doing. Tell your clients what you're doing.
Yeah, for sure. You know, the help that we need guys is we are a for all of you that are animal lovers or just want to better the life of mankind and society at large.
We are what's called a 501c3 public charity corporation. That means we're federally approved nonprofit. That means every single dime that comes into this organization is tax deductible.
It's carefully regulated as it should be and Michelle that we funded everything and we're going to continue to fund everything that we need to do.
So the help that we get from people that are kind enough to donate to our 501 charity, the Karen Cooper Foundation dot org kind enough to help us there.
That allows us to help even more dogs that helps us get more dogs not only bring Christmas to them, but darn it.
Ultimately, get them into there forever homes because the one thing that we have found is a media has been very attuned to what we're doing.
It seems like everywhere we go, the media seems to be there and they love this story of ours.
They love everything that we're doing for these dogs with Christmas.
So because of that, we've learned through the media. It draws a tremendous amount to of attention to the adoptions.
Accordingly, we deliver the gifts. The dogs get the gifts, the media there, then all of a sudden more people are going to the kennels and they say they heard about what we were doing and they now they want to look at the dogs.
So this is a really wonderful way for you for all of you to help us get more of these wonderful little animals into there forever homes.
Any donations would be very much appreciated for sure.
I just want to make a comment there to Bob to add to that.
We would love to have everybody follow our social media presence. We're on Instagram and Facebook.
And even though we have a small following, if everybody could start to follow us, they'll be able to see what we're doing throughout the year.
They'll be able to watch us real time when we're posting all the clips for the shelters.
And there's adoption opportunities there in our social media. Somebody may say, you know, I'm not ready to adopt a dog, but I can forward this to a friend.
So if somebody joins us on our social media page, they're aware of what we're going on in real time and they can also share and like us.
So it's a great opportunity to learn a little bit more rather than just visiting the website and waiting all year, they can kind of see the journey throughout the year.
Okay, I'm all bought in the listener saying, okay, what do I do next? What do I do now?
Certainly they could go to our website and they're able to make donations directly on the website.
They could contact us directly. They could certainly send in a check if they would like to do that.
Every dime that comes into this organization, every single dime is going to go to the animals. It doesn't go anywhere else.
It doesn't support me. I don't take a salary. Michelle doesn't take a salary. We do this, you know, just from a heart.
So you could rest assured the money that you give us is going to really be helping these animals.
One of the other things that I really think is important that I mention here to all of your viewers, all of your listeners.
For the past half an hour, whatever one of the things that we've been talking about is Christmas and toys and making puppies happy and bringing them forever homes.
But there's another piece to this too. And I know Michelle often talks about this as well.
And it's what these toys do for dogs. People for whatever reason have this mindset that toy, the dog wags his tail.
He's got something to make him happy. It goes well beyond that and a far more important way.
That toy in many cases will become not only their best friend, but their only friend.
At the end of the day when that puppies in that kennel and he's all by himself, he has nobody around.
The caretakers aren't even there. They're somewhere else in the building. He or she is all alone.
And that toy really is their best friend.
We don't know what these dogs go through. We don't know what brutality they had. We don't know what kind of challenges that they had in their life.
And they don't know what their future is holding for them either.
So you can imagine the stress that goes on in these little animals and they didn't bring their life to that cause.
It was people that caused them to be in the shelter. They're there by happenstance.
So by donating to our cause, you're not only bringing Christmas to these dogs, but you're actually helping them have what they need more than anything else at this time in their life,
which is something that they can hold on to a really a best friend.
Until they finally get somebody that will hug them and take them home and hold them and care for them.
So you have my promise, any donations that you make to our cause.
We're going to go to a really wonderful, wonderful, wonderful cause.
Thank you so much Bob and Michelle for this. Bob, your legacy in the automotive community is all about lifting up the service professional
and also bettering the lives that they touch, the employees lives, the community lives, the families at home, the kids at home.
And here you are speaking that same way about the dogs and the importance and how far reaching it is.
So we so appreciate this mission and this foundation.
And it really aligns with your integrity of really creating a lasting positive impact.
Yeah, thank you for your kind words and Michelle.
Thank you for your contributions not only to this, not only to this cause or on now, this mission or on now,
but everything that we've accomplished over the decades, you're a blessing as well.
Thank you Tracy.
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you.
You just said it and summed it up.
All of you so well.
Karen Cooper Foundation dot or please take a step up and get involved.
Thank you.
Thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the premier automotive aftermarket podcast.
Until next time.

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