Interview with Cheryl Martinez

Good morning, it's Michael Schneider, Top Dog Pilots to Rescue, here with Shell Martinez.

What's going on everybody?

So Shell, tell me a little bit about yourself. Good morning, it's Michael Schneider, Top Dog Pilots to Rescue, here with Shell Martinez.

What's going on everybody?

So Shell, tell me a little bit about yourself.

I've always had a soft spot for animals and I wanted to figure out a way that I could help animals in a big way. If I could help people adapt to eating a mostly plant-based diet, not Not only will they be saving countless animals, they will be helping to create a more sustainable planet. I created a support site to help people eat more plants. I provide everything you could ever need to transition to a plant-forward lifestyle. Check it out, veganercooking.com.

We're on our way down to Maryland. Today we're picking up 5 dogs and 14 cats, and then we're flying all the way to Portland, Maine, where the Animal Refuge League promised to get them adopted and fostered. Our goal this year is 1,000 animals saved.

Woo! We got all the babies in the plane with us.

Okay, we're recording.

Woo!

Good morning, it's Michael Schneider, top dog, Pilots to Rescue, here with Shelly Martinez.

What's going on, everybody?

It's 11:10 AM on Thursday. We had an interesting morning. I had to dig out the car.

Shovel in some snow.

Then we had to dig out the plane. Couple bathroom trips for Cheryl.

And then he pulled the plane with his bare hands!

Well, I used a little help with my tug, but— We are— we left Departure Caldwell Airport in New Jersey, Fairfield, New Jersey. We're on our way down to 2 Whiskey 6, St. Mary's Airport in Maryland. And today we're picking up 5 dogs and 14 cats.

Woohoo!

Pennsylvania. Delter, Pennsylvania, Virginia. They're driving up to meet us, and then we're flying all the way to Biddeford Airport, uh, near Portland, Maine, where the Animal Refuge League is going to take in these dogs and cats and promise to get them adopted and fostered.

That's what it's all about. PilotsToTheRescue.org. We're flying, baby, we're flying!

We are, we're flying. We're right now, we're about 4,000 feet. We're passing Atlantic City, and we have about 50 minutes. November 949 Golf, contact over approach, or correction, McGuire Approach, 126.47. We're flying down, we're flying past Atlantic City at 4,000 feet. McGuire Approach, 9— We got 50 minutes left. Might as well just talk over them because it's going to come in and out rather than stopping and starting. So, Cheryl, tell me a little bit about yourself.

Tell me your background. First off, I want to start off with such an amazing pilot you are. I mean, my gosh, look at us right now. You are flying the plane, rescuing the animals, holding the puppy.

You started this charity yourself, and you're doing an interview at the same time.

I don't know how you do it, Michael. You're freaking me out a little bit, but, um, thank you. Oh my gosh, I'm a little nervous. I got to say, I'm a little nervous. Now, I'm a huge thrill seeker. Anyone who's a thrill seeker, loves roller coaster rides, You would love flying with Michael Schneider on a rescue mission because it's definitely one of the biggest thrills you're ever gonna have. So yeah, I'm just still trying to get my bearings right now, but I'm so excited. I'm so excited to be here today. I'm honored that I was invited to join on this rescue mission. I can't wait to meet all the animals. We get to save the lives of 14 cats and 5 dogs. Ah! Michael, oh my gosh! Woo-hoo!

Little tingling. Okay.

You okay? Hello! I'm a little nervous.

It's alright, just hit a pocket of air.

He's not even doing anything. We hit the turbulence and he didn't even do anything.

There's nothing to do, the plane's flying itself.

Um, but yeah, so I'm so excited to save the lives of these animals.

Did you take a breath?

And it's totally worth risking our lives, I'll tell you this right now. If this is how I die today, it's worth it because it's doing what I love, which is saving animals.

Yeah.

Oh my God. I wish you guys could see this view that we're seeing right now. It is immaculate. Really, what an experience. What an experience. And it's just the beginning. Stay tuned, you're going to meet the pets. You're going to meet the pets.

So do you want to talk a little bit about your backgrounds and how this— why this mission means so much for you today as it relates to what you do in your career?

Absolutely. So I've always had a soft spot for animals. They've always been a big part of my life. I've always, ever since I was a little girl, wanted to help save animals. I didn't know how I was going to do it. I was gonna do it, but I knew it was something that was important to me. So, um, as I got older, I tried to, you know, donate to some animal sanctuaries here, there. I tried to, um, some fundraisers. I even spent my birthday at a rescue farm one year, and it was probably the best birthday of my life. Um, but doing all of that, I'm only helping a small number of animals, and I wanted to figure out a way that I could help animals in a big way and save a lot of animals, as many as possible. Kind of like what you're doing, you know, but I don't fly a plane. So my idea was, uh, if I can help people adapt a plant-forward lifestyle and eat more plants, not necessarily become vegan because I know that's hard for a lot of people. I'm vegan, I know you're a kind of vegan, but, um, but if we get the majority of the population to just plant forward, which means eating a mostly plant-based diet, not only will they be saving countless animals, they will be helping to create a more sustainable planet, and they will be helping their health tremendously, like lowering their cholesterol, helping reduce the risk of heart disease. Um, you know, there's just so many health benefits. That's what I did was I created a support site to help people eat more plants, and that is called Veganer Cooking, veganercooking.com. So instead of beginner, it's veganer with a V. And at veganercooking.com, I provide free cooking classes, free resources, um, a free workshop. I provide, um, a free 30-day vegan challenge, a tracking calendar so you can track your progress and results. Right inside our mobile app. Pretty much everything you could ever need to transition to a plant-forward lifestyle. My support site has it all. It has it all. And, uh, my community growing, and it's, it's been a wonderful, wonderful way for me to give back and for me to share what I can help do my part to also try to save animals.

Excellent. That's really nice.

So yes, check it out, veganercooking.com and pilots to the rescue.org.

There you go. Eat plant-based, save animals, save the environment, save your health, prevent the next pandemic. We were talking about that earlier on how if you eat— nobody is saying you necessarily have to be vegan or vegetarian, but if you eat a predominantly plant-based diet and just cut down your meat consumption, the impacts that you're going to have on the health, the animals, the environment are huge. And if everybody took that approach, you would reduce hunger, you would reduce the next pandemic. And how do we reduce hunger? Because of the tremendous amount of resources that go into growing the food for the animals that you eat. We'll get to a point in our time where we'll have to make a decision. Do we want to grow crops for animals we eat, or do we want to grow crops to feed There's not enough for everybody. And then saving the next— preventing the next pandemic by reducing factory farming, because these animals are huddled so close together and are pumped full of antibiotics and they get sick, and therefore they create antibiotic-resistant strains of viruses, aka MRSA viruses. And that's actually how a lot of scientists thought we would have a pandemic, not necessarily an airborne COVID-type vaccine pandemic, but more from factory farming. So I think the approach of understanding a predominantly plant-based diet and vegan, if you could do it, is tremendous. It's— you're, you're spreading so much awareness and joy in cooking. I mean, isn't that the common misconception with being vegan? Oh, it's boring, food doesn't have any taste, it's not going to fill me up, not enough protein.

That's not true. I have the most delicious recipes on my blog. Everything from, you know, vegan mac and cheese and BLT sandwich, vegan burgers, um, vegan, uh, vegan brownies, vegan cakes, vegan Moroccan tagine. Like, pretty much anything and everything you can think of, I can show you how to make it vegan. Just ask me. Just ask me. I'm telling you, we live in a time now where plant-based is trending. So more and more plant-based alternatives keep popping up all the time. Now is the time to do it. If you ever thought about adding more plants to your lifestyle, now is the time to do it. And the plane is going like this right now. We're going like this. Oh my God, Michael Schneider! I know, what is this?

It's the turbulence. You felt this in a regular plane before, right?

But it's It's different.

Because it's so small. Well, we'll take a look at the turbulence level here.

So what I'm doing focuses more on rescuing farm animals, but what you're doing really focuses on more of the domestic animals, right? So can you explain to them what some of the stuff you were saying to me before about how we can help with They're not having to euthanize as many pets out there. What are some of the things that we, the public, can do to help with that?

Yeah, go to your local shelter and adopt a dog. Adopt, don't shop.

Adopt, don't shop. Adopt, don't shop. Adopt, don't shop.

Yeah, you can make a rap out of that. But yeah, when you buy an animal from a breeder or a pet store, you don't necessarily know the history of the animal. There are responsible breeders, certainly, and I understand why you might need, um, a full breed dog for police work or seeing eye dog or something like that. Although they're starting to take rescues. We're going to be fine. Yeah, don't hold on to that. We're going to have turbulence a little bit of the way. So, uh, Lenny, please— The plane's jumping!

Ultimate 701, Atlantic City Sports Ultimate, 109.2.

Yeah, it helps to look at something not moving if you feel— you're fine.

Okay, I'm good, I'm good. It's fun, it's like a ride.

I just—

I tell it, it's like a ride. I love, I love amusement parks. I'm just— I'm on a roller coaster right now.

Yeah, it— there's, there's going to be turbulence most of the ride unless we ask for above 8,000, which I don't know if they're going to give us. So, um, but we only have 36 minutes left.

Only? Yeah.

Oh, it's not gonna be like that the whole way. Approach, if it helps, Ultimate Jet 701, we got the airport in sight.

All right. Ultimate Jet 701, 100% remain on your current heading.

Yeah, we'll follow everything. I'm just heading up this way. Anyway, um, yeah, so I was saying adopt, don't shop, because you don't really know the history of those animals when you buy a pet from a store. November 303 Tango, contact Dover Approach 132.42. 3242, 8203 Tango. Boston 2387, you're transmitting Dover Approach, check back with your last assigned frequency. Dover Approach, Saratoga 8203 Tango, 4000 on Victor 16. Saratoga 8203 Tango, Dover Approach, you're loud and clear, the DOACIM is 2997. 2997. So yes, adopt, don't shop, and also spaying and neutering is obviously very important. The other reason why adoption is so important right now is because of the pandemic. There's a lot of people unfortunately that are being evicted or losing their homes, and wherever they're going they may or may not accept animals, so then they bring them to the shelter. And we've seen this with a, with the pandemic, with the cases going up and down, and depending on the lockdowns and the financial situation of so many families, we've seen everything from clearing out the shelters when we first returned to home to filling up again as people had trouble paying their bills. And I think one of the dogs today, if I'm not mistaken, Um, is a result of someone losing their job and, uh, not being able to keep the animal.

Yeah, they said that this person could only afford to feed their dog half of one meal once a day.

1 to 2 miles south of Dover, turn left heading 045, maintain at or above 2,000, touch down from the localizer, click ILS.

There's so many pets out there. Amazing, loving, adorable, innocent pets who are at risk of euthanasia. These shelters, they don't have enough room for them.

There are too many of them.

So what can you do? You can adopt if you have the space and the loving— a pet that needs a home. And please, stay supportive of our efforts to help reduce the number of pets at these shelters.

Waiting to put your question. You do about 2 minutes. Uh, 216, and we'll do the visual. 216 Yankee, expect the visual approach for a full stop. November 978 Delta Sierra. I like the cat ears. Yeah, contact over tower 126.35, 978 Delta Sierra. So the beginner cooking is your main gig right now?

It is my current main thing. Before the quarantine, I was working in the entertainment industry. The quarantine hit, I lost my business. There was no nightlife business anymore. Everyone in the hospitality industry lost their jobs. So my business was entertainment staffing for nightlife, for trade shows, for events. So when that didn't exist, that's when I pivoted and created my veganercooking.com support site. And you know what, I believe that everything happens for a reason. Life. And when, you know, when something happens, you can choose to be sad, or you can rise above it and try to see what good can you make come of that, right? And I don't know if I ever would have taken the plunge to start this support site if it wasn't for me losing my current business. So part of me feels like it was a blessing in disguise, because now I feel like I get to pursue my true passion. Is helping animals. I might not have had the courage to do before because leaving your current source of income is scary, you know, leaving it, losing it, it's scary. But it gave me the opportunity, the opportunity to pursue something bigger, something even more meaningful, something that I can impact the world and make it a better place.

That's great. That's a very similar story to mine. Even though I started this organization, uh, 6 years ago This is— we've only became— started being serious about it a couple years ago, but this year we're really amping it up. And, uh, our goal this year is 1,000 animals saved.

Woo! How many so far?

Well, we're in the month of February. I think after today we'll be maybe around 60, 75, somewhere in there. I have to check.

Awesome!

Yeah, so we have a long way to go, but Uh, got a bunch— one rescue this weekend, another rescue next weekend— next week. So we'll get there.

Absolutely, I know you will.

Yeah, great.

So tell me more about when you started this company and what was your inspiration and what was it like when you first—

060 Yankee, descend and maintain 1,700 Delaware— correction, the 33 November Airport, 12:00, 10 miles. Oh, it's charging. What I just realized, it won't charge because I don't have the cable in let me plug that cable in. There's a USB-C. There we go, now it will charge. Helps to get power in there. Good. Well, I've talked about starting this organization back in 2015. I went skydiving and I spoke to the pilot. He encouraged me to— Good morning, it's Michael Schneider, Top Dog Pilots to Rescue, here with Shell and Mike Michelle Martinez.

What's going on, everybody?

So Michelle, tell me a little bit about yourself.

I've always had a soft spot for animals, and I wanted to figure out a way that I could help animals in a big way. If I can help people adapt to eating a mostly plant-based diet, not only will they be saving countless animals, they will be helping 6 years ago.

This is— we've only became— started being serious about it a couple years ago, but this year we're really amping it up. And our goal this year is 1,000 animals saved.

Woo! How many so far?

Well, we're in the month of February. I think after today we'll be maybe around 60, 75, somewhere in there. I have to check. Awesome. Yeah, so we have a long way to go, but, uh, got a bunch of— one rescue this weekend, another rescue next weekend, next week. So we'll get there.

Absolutely, I know you will.

Yeah, great.

So tell me more about when you started this company and what was your inspiration and what was it like when you first—

060 Yankee, descend and maintain 1,700 Delaware. Correction, the 33 November Airport, 12 o'clock, 10 miles. Oh, it's not charging. What I just realized, it won't charge because I don't have the cable in it. Let me plug that cable in. There's a USB-C. There we go, now it'll charge. Helps to get power in there. Good. Um, well, I've talked about starting this organization, uh, back in 2015. I went skydiving and I spoke to the pilot. He encouraged me to take a discovery flight. I did. I was hooked. Got my license and combined it with my love of aviation. Saving animals and aviation, what's better than that? Flying is the— you feel like you're on top of the world and it's really a privilege because you look at the history of aviation You really are standing on the shoulder of giants. All those people that made ¡Hola!

Today I saved 5 dogs and 14 cats with Michael Schneider from Pilots to the Rescue. Take a peek at our rescue mission. After shoveling some snow, we flew from New York to Maryland to meet with Pittsylvania Pets to load up the fur babies for our mission. Woohoo is from a hoarding situation where he lived his entire life outside with 55 other dogs. Tinkerbell was surrendered after her owner lost their job and couldn't afford basic care. She was only fed half a meal once daily. Holly was a stray who also happens to be the master of cuddles. Next stop is Maine, where we delivered these precious animals to the Animal Refuge League so that they can be adopted by a loving owner like you. All of these animals deserve a second chance. Please support more missions like this by making a donation at— Today I saved 5 dogs and 14 cats with Michael Schneider from Pilots to the Rescue. Take a peek at our rescue mission.