Our story
The story behind Stray Girls Club
Stray Girls Club is a guide to San Diego’s animal community, started by Iva Mesure. It brings together places to explore, events to attend, and ways to help animals. The idea is simple: if you care about animals but don’t know where to start, there should be a friendly way in.
Iva has been caring for animals for most of her life. Growing up, her family rescued dogs, cats, horses, and birds and helped them find homes. That continued when she moved to San Diego, where she has taken in animals and fostered kittens through San Diego Humane Society.
Iva and her sister lost their horse, Dexter, in the summer of 2026. Losing him made Iva think about how she wanted to spend her time. Helping animals had always been part of her life. She wanted to give it more room, and to find a way to help beyond the animals she could care for herself.
For now, she is building Stray Girls Club alongside her restaurant job. She wants to bring the same care she puts into welcoming people at work to something she has loved since childhood.
Even with her experience, Iva finds it difficult to keep track of everything happening locally. San Diego has shelters, rescues, sanctuaries, wildlife organizations, and people working with all kinds of animals. Their information is spread across websites, social accounts, and event listings. Someone with a little spare time can want to help and still struggle to find a place to begin.
Iva wants to visit these places, meet the people behind them, and share what she learns through photos, videos, practical guides, and a local calendar. That might help someone plan a visit, try volunteering, explore fostering, or discover an organization they never knew existed.
She hopes to do this full time and is exploring sponsorship, collaborations, and grant-supported programs that could make that possible. The first step is to go and do it: meet people, learn what would be useful, and share something that helps others take part.
The hope is that more people finding their way into this community will mean more support for animals and the people caring for them.