Avalon’s Alyssa Acree Is Flying Shelter Animals To Their Furever Home

Avalon’s Alyssa Acree Is Flying Shelter Animals To Their Furever Home

The 7 Mile Island is known as a community that shows up. They show up for neighbors, local businesses, fundraisers, families, and causes that need a little extra heart behind them. Now, one local Avalon woman is giving this community a new reason to show up.

Alyssa Acree, who many know from behind the bar at The Princeton, is using her pilot’s license to help rescue dogs from overcrowded shelters, urgent placement lists, and unsafe situations, flying them to fosters, rescues, and adoptive homes where they get a real second chance.

It is the kind of story that stops you mid-scroll.

Alyssa in a small plane.
A rescue dog in the backseat.
And a route pointed toward a better life.

While the mission now takes her far beyond the shore, Alyssa’s Avalon roots run deep. She grew up in Medford Lakes, but spent every summer in Avalon. Her parents met here. Her dad worked at the Whitebrier, her mom worked at The Princeton, and both sides of her family have long ties to the island.

As Alyssa puts it, “Avalon is in my blood.”

For Alyssa, these rescue flights bring together two things she has always loved: animals and aviation.

“I’ve always loved animals,” Alyssa said. “I’ve had cats my entire life growing up. I used to volunteer at an animal shelter socializing cats, and I volunteered at a therapeutic horse farm helping kids with disabilities learn to ride horses.”

Her love of flying started in high school, when her cousin took her up in a small, single-engine plane. Alyssa sat in the front, her dad sat in the back, and her cousin let her take the controls.

“He told me to fly straight and level,” she said. “It was the start of something beautiful.”

Years later, during COVID, Alyssa decided she wanted to make flying happen for herself. It took three years to earn her pilot’s license. Once she had it, she asked her flight school what came next.

Their answer was simple: fly.
So she did.

She flew to new airports, took friends to lunch, and started building hours. Then a local EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) club shared a request that brought her back to one of the reasons she had wanted to fly in the first place.

A very pregnant puppy named Lucy needed to get from Georgetown, Delaware to a foster home in Schenectady, New York before she had her babies. The shelters in the south were full, and Lucy needed a safe place to land.

Alyssa said yes.

Lucy made it safely to her foster home. Then she had 11 puppies.

Today, Lucy is living in a big house with a big yard and her own little apartment where she can watch over her babies. Her foster mom has been bottle-feeding all 11 puppies until they are ready for adoption. Alyssa recently received a video update of the puppies, which made the whole mission feel even more full-circle.

That first flight became the start of a new passion.

Alyssa’s rescue missions are coordinated through Pilots N Paws, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects volunteer pilots with shelters and rescues across the country.

Shelters post requests for animals who need help getting from overcrowded shelters to fosters, rescues, or adoptive homes. Pilots respond, coordinate the route, check the weather, and work together to get the animals safely where they need to go.

The animals Alyssa has helped are not just passengers. They are the stories that stay with her.

There was Lucy, the pregnant puppy who went on to have 11 babies. There were Sandy and Peg, two huskies Alyssa picked up in Virginia and brought to Husky House in Matawan. Peg had a crushed pelvis after her family surrendered her. Sandy, also pregnant, had been chained to a tree, was not being fed, and had sores all over her body.

Both made it safely to rescue.
Those updates are what keep her going.

“Knowing that an animal has a second chance at life,” Alyssa said. “It’s not their fault they got into whatever situation they are in. They’re just innocent animals trying to live and find a place to belong.”

Because Alyssa rents planes, every mission comes with a real cost. Plane rentals are usually around $200 an hour, sometimes a little more or less depending on the plane. A rescue flight is not just the time the animal is on board. Alyssa has to pick up the plane, fly to the animal, fly the animal where it needs to go, and then fly back to the home airport. Most missions take five or six hours.
That means one volunteer flight can quickly become a major out-of-pocket expense.

Weather can also change everything. One time, storms moved in and Alyssa had to return the plane to Millville, then drive the puppies the rest of the way to Matawan.

“Through Pilots N Paws I’m able to do my part by helping to transport these animals from overcrowded shelters to rescues and other foster homes where they have the opportunity for adoption,” she said. “These flights combine my passion for flying with my love for animals.”

Now, she is hoping more people will get involved.

Donations to Pilots N Paws help support the larger rescue network that makes these flights possible, connecting volunteer pilots, rescues, fosters, and transport coordinators so more animals can get from overcrowded shelters to safe places where they have a real chance.

For Alyssa, the goal is awareness, support, and getting more people connected to the work. More donations, more pilots, more fosters, and more overnight hosts all mean more animals can keep moving toward safety.

And you do not have to be a pilot to help.

People can donate, share the mission, foster dogs, support rescue organizations, or even offer to host dogs overnight if pilots get grounded due to weather, which happens more often than people may realize. Sometimes a storm rolls in. Sometimes a flight has to stop. Sometimes one safe overnight stay keeps the rescue moving.

Alyssa hopes her story reminds people that helping does not have to look one specific way.

“You don’t have to be part of a large organization to make a difference,” she said. “There are so many dogs in shelters that just need a chance at life.”

For her, these rescue flights are one way to give back.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to know that a few hours in the air can help save a life and connect these sweet souls with someone who is ready to love and care for them.”

On the 7 Mile Island, we know how to show up.
Now, Alyssa is giving this community a chance to show up for the animals, too.
To support Alyssa’s rescue flights, donate here:
Click here to learn more about Pilots N Paws, donate through the organization, or get involved!