May is National Foster Care Month, a month set aside to acknowledge foster parents and others who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes.
In honor of this special month, WAN has selected Home For Good Dog Rescue as its Rescue of the Week.
Since it was founded in 2010 out of a living room in Summit, New Jersey, the unique 100% foster-based rescue organization has rescued, provided foster care for, and placed an estimated 6,000 dogs with their forever families.
At that time, the fledgling organization decided to focus its attention on areas throughout South Carolina and Georgia; predominantly in locales that demonstrated considerable populations of unwanted dogs, high rates of euthanasia, and significant need for animal rescue respite.
On its first trip to the South, Home For Good Dog Rescue created the ‘five-to-ten rule,’ wherein they agreed to only bring forth as many dogs as they reasonably thought they could adopt out, a manageable number between five and ten.
“However, that first trip ultimately saw the transport of 30 rescued dogs to New Jersey, and every single one found a family that weekend,” the organization explains on its website, sharing that it now saves an average of 850 lives each year. “Our volunteer base has grown from our eight original members to an astounding 150, and we boast between 75 and 100 active foster families.”
The remarkable group pulls dogs from high-kill shelters in the South, where they then socialize and care for the rescued animals at their property in Aiken, SC. Eventually, the dogs are transported to the rescue headquarters in New Jersey where they are nurtured in the Home For Good Dog Rescue network of foster families before being adopted into loving homes.
Richard Errico, one of the non-profit’s founders told WAN that Home For Good Dog Rescue has adopted out dogs to families throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, all of whom made the trip to meet in person with the organization.
“One of the main priorities is that we meet the families that want to adopt our dogs,” explained Errico. “We’ve had families drive seven hours to meet us here.”
