Cause 4 Paws Campaign Purpose

Almost Home Foundation has been rescuing and rehoming dogs and cats for 19 years, thanks to the generosity and dedication of our amazing supporters. Many of the animals we welcome into our rescue arrive with health issues that require considerable funds for treatment. Meeting the medical needs of our rescued animals is our biggest expense—over $300,000 annually! To reduce our medical costs and expand our life-saving efforts, we launched our Cause 4 Paws Campaign to raise money for the addition of a surgical and medical treatment center and expansion of our facility.

How will the addition of a surgical and medical treatment center help Almost Home Foundation?

Performing in-house sterilization and basic vetting will significantly lower our medical costs. These savings will allow us to increase our rescue efforts as well as help animals needing more advanced care. It is important to emphasize that Almost Home Foundation does not discriminate based on age, breed, color, physical ability, or health. Some animals that we welcome into our rescue arrive with health issues that require considerable funds for medical treatment. Not turning away an animal regardless of their medical needs is what we are all about!

We will have a veterinarian at our facility several days a week to provide dog and cat sterilization services, minor surgeries, wound care, immunizations, treatment for ear/eye and upper respiratory infections and more. Local vets will still provide advanced diagnostic services and treatments as well as emergency care for our animals at their hospital facilities, if needed.

What other important benefits are there to adding the surgical and medical treatment center?

The addition will expedite vetting for our rescued animals, simplify appointment scheduling issues, and eliminate the need to coordinate transportation to multiple local veterinarians for the animals living at our facility.

Available appointments for animal rescue clients are limited because our partner vets need to give priority to their retail clients. This means longer wait times for our animals’ routine vetting. Also, coordinating available vet appointments with our dedicated volunteers’ schedules can be challenging. Having an in-house medical center will provide more prompt medical care for the animals. It will better utilize our volunteers’ time for training, socialization and enrichment activities rather than transportation services. The dogs and cats will experience less stress and also benefit from additional time and attention from volunteers. This will enrich their quality of life while in our care.

Why a facility expansion?

Simply put, we have outgrown our facility and do not have the space to add the surgical and medical treatment center. In fact, we lack space to house the quantity of animals we rescue. Each incoming transport is heartbreaking knowing that the animals left behind due to lack of space will be euthanized. In order to gain the much-needed space for our new plans, we need to “raise the woof”!

Our facility was built in 1971 and served as a veterinarian office until Almost Home Foundation acquired it in 2013. Although not set up as a dog and cat rescue facility, we have done our best to utilize the space efficiently. In addition to the inadequate set up, our 50-year-old building has always been in desperate need of maintenance and repairs. Over the past eight years, the needed repairs have been a continuous struggle from the start.

Our current floor plan has only nine kennel runs that are sorely in need of replacement. They have been used for 50 years and are made of chain link fencing that has become rusty, jagged, broken and unsafe. We are currently using boards secured to the fencing to prevent injury. Additionally, our kennel runs are in desperate need of a properly functioning drainage system, and natural lighting that will help to reduce animal stress. Our current kennel has a cave-like atmosphere due to the lack of natural light and dated set up. We would like it to be a safe and less stressful space for our animals until they go into foster or a forever home.

The facility expansion will allow for a few added bonuses too! There will be room for a play area for our pups during inclement weather. No longer will our walkers have to play with the dogs in our lobby or kitchen on rainy, cold, or snowy days. We will be able to hold our weekly training classes on-site rather than transporting our dogs to an off-site facility. We can discontinue leasing storage space for our supplies, or using a kennel run or our lobby for storage overflow. All of our supplies can actually be stored on-site and in one place! Our cats can have their own area rather than sharing space generally used for the dogs. Medical care rooms will be added for sick animals to prevent contamination throughout the facility. So many amazing benefits!

With your support, Almost Home Foundation hopes to raise $1,00,000 to complete this project. Please help us to reach our goal by making a contribution or by purchasing a tribute item. A dedication can be made in memory or in honor of a loved one, whether a pet or human family member. You can even recognize a business or organization. If you would like additional information regarding our organization or this campaign, please contact Jackie at cause4paws@almosthomefoundation.org. We would be happy to provide this for you.

We want to thank you in advance for your support and compassion for the animals. Without you our mission would not be possible!

With warm regards,
Rosemary McNiff
President