From Street to Safety to Home
About
Every Stray Has a Story
I have loved animals for as long as I can remember, long before it became a project or an initiative or something I could put on paper. Growing up with dogs taught me what unconditional love looks like, and seeing strays on the streets of Mumbai taught me what its absence looks like. I am Vipanshi Agarwal, a 17-year-old from Mumbai, and I started Paw Forward because I believe every animal deserves someone who chooses them.
What began in Grade 5 as a small awareness campaign has grown into years of shelter volunteering, fundraising, adoption drives, and now a city-wide initiative to give Mumbai's strays a real shot at a home. Animals have given me more than I can explain — Paw Forward is my way of giving some of that back.
The Journey
How Paw Forward Came to Life
2019
The Beginning
Built an awareness campaign in Grade 5 on how to help stray animals during COVID-19, a time when strays were being left without food or care. Created a website and presented it to over 40 people, making the case that ordinary people could do something, even from home.
2021–2022
YODA
Volunteered at YODA Animal Shelter alongside two friends in Grade 8. Raised over ₹10,000 by selling our own paintings and donated all proceeds to the shelter. Helped 3 dogs find their forever homes. Organised a donation drive collecting over 20kg of newspapers, food, clothes, and animal supplies.
2024–2025
WSD
Volunteered at WSD Animal Shelter in Grade 10 and 11, walking, bathing, and feeding the dogs in their care. As part of IB CAS, created awareness posters and reels for World Rabies Day and the Adopt Don't Shop campaign to reach wider audiences online.
2026
Paw Forward
Founded Paw Forward, a city-wide adoption and sterilisation campaign for Mumbai's animals. Partnered with YODA, WSD, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to build something that goes beyond individual acts of care into real, systemic change.
Partnering with Purpose
Together We Rise
Building a kinder Mumbai with the people doing the real work.
Youth Organisation in Defence of Animals
Paw Forward is partnering with YODA to run an adoption campaign for their shelter animals and organise donation drives to support their operations.
The Welfare of Stray Dogs
Paw Forward is partnering with WSD to run an adoption campaign for their shelter animals and coordinate sterilisation drives across local communities.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
Supporting large-scale city welfare, sterilisation awareness, and safer conditions for Mumbai's street animals.
Pawdopt India
Helping connect rescued animals with caring adopters through modern adoption and awareness initiatives.