Akari Pathways was started by a man in long-term recovery from heroin addiction.
The name comes from his dog, Akira, a female American pit bull terrier. Through the hardest years of his addiction, she was his rock, the one thing he never let slip. No matter how bad or how dark it got, he came home to feed her, walk her and take care of her. She kept him tied to something real, and in a very real sense, she kept him alive.
She was still at his side when he got clean, and she was a big part of why he could. Getting well meant being there for her, and she gave him a reason to keep going.
Akira lived to 16. Akari Pathways is an ode to her. Akari is Japanese for light.