True humanitarianism isn’t limited to just humans.

Yvette Berke, founder and president of Adapt Ad Specialty (asi/105620), stepped up like so many did after the disastrous Los Angeles fires earlier this year, focusing on some of the smaller residents who were displaced by the inferno. With the devastation right on the doorstep of the lifelong resident of Southern California, she felt she had no choice but to help her community – both the people and the animals.

Through Berke’s extraordinary efforts, more than 100 cats and dogs were airlifted from Los Angeles to Portland, OR, and given food and shelter. The rescue mission was made possible with help from COPE Preparedness Pet Pantry (an organization for which Berke serves in an outreach and grant coordinator role) and Southwest Airlines.

For Berke, it’s just another chapter in her long history of volunteering to aid animals in the Los Angeles region. Having founded Adapt Ad Specialty in 1993, she was able to help professionally as well when organizations like the SPCA of Los Angeles became clients. “As it progressed in time, I got more involved with volunteering for rescues and fostering them,” Berke says. “My favorite area has been to take on seniors and those with special medical needs.”

When the terrible Palisades fire started in early January, Berke sprang into action. Working along with Greater Good Charities (for which she is an ambassador), she provided food, litter and other supplies for animals who were displaced and moved to other overburdened rescue shelters or places like Red Cross shelters that were ill equipped to handle pets.

Then came the work with Southwest Airlines to airlift more than 100 cats and dogs out of crowded California shelters to the Portland Humane Society, helping the animals avoid euthanasia due to overcrowded facilities.

“Yvette Berke and her nonprofit, COPE, have served as a partner of global nonprofit Greater Goods Charities for several years, helping to receive and distribute supplies to families and pets in the Greater Los Angeles area,” says Denise St. Jean, executive vice president of communications for Greater Good Charities. “The flights relocated 100 shelter pets from the Los Angeles area to the Pacific Northwest, creating critical space for injured, lost and displaced animals.”

It was no small undertaking, involving over 100 people between the various organizations, and time was certainly of the essence. Berke kept a cool head throughout, which she attributes to her three-plus decades of promo experience.

“Supply and demand, how we do things just in time and coordinate deliveries, it’s no different with the changing marketplace,” she says. “It’s the same concept. It’s just that the inventory was animals.”

Oh, and when all of this started, Berke was recovering from brain surgery to have a blood clot removed. The doctors forecasted about a week in the hospital followed by months of rehab. But Berke politely – yet firmly – told them “No, I will be home in three days with my cats because they need me.”

“I say God had an angel on my shoulder pushing me through.”Yvette Berke, Adapt Ad Specialty

She was right, and it was a good thing, because she couldn’t have predicted just how many animals would need her soon.

“Whatever my fatigue level is, I’ve got to kick it into gear, because this is a skill that I have and it’s needed, and that’s all there is to it,” she recalls about her mindset at the time. “So, you know, I say God had an angel on my shoulder pushing me through. But I wouldn’t challenge that again.”

For those interested in helping out the animals in their area, Berke’s advice is simple: “Animal rescues need fosters.”

Berke’s altruism manifests in other ways too. Prior to founding Adapt, she worked for The Walt Disney Company in the purchasing department, where she focused on bringing in eco-friendly products. When Berke started her distributorship, she wanted to work more with sustainable products and source items made from recycled, compostable or renewable resources.

That vision was essential during the wildfire tragedy, using promotional products to help people who lost their belongings.

“We do a lot of work where we take in donations of discontinued items on the human side,” she says. “I come back to my environmental roots. Instead of it being in a landfill, there are programs that can reuse products, whether it’s a misprint on a coffee mug or a sports bottle, or a T-shirt. We have the ability to place products in communities that need them.”