The Impact of COVID – A Look Back with Gratitude
On January 24, Home for Good Dog Rescue (HFGDR) achieved a milestone of the 9,000th dog adoption in just ten years since our founding. This new year is full of hope and thus, we look back to 2020 with gratitude to our friends, supporters, and community partners who lifted us up in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
Like so many others, the effects of the pandemic certainly presented challenges to the rescue. The immediate objective was to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers, foster and adoptive families while continuing to carry out our mission of saving the lives of thousands of dogs living in squalid conditions, abusive situations, or on death row at high-kill shelters in the South.
From the pandemic, two trends emerged. First, changes in household routines and more time spent at home increased the community’s interest in dog fostering and adoption. Second, the financial hardship of some households in the South exacerbated the need for dog rescue and respite in already severely life-threatening conditions.
“A year of quarantine and isolation has provided an opportunity for all of us to take stock of what is important in our lives,” says Bernie Cicirelli, HFGDR Board Member and Director of Operations. “At the top of that list are our families, of which our dogs are an integral part.”
The local community rallied around our mission and offered support in so many ways and for that, we are grateful. An emergency aid grant from the Berkeley Heights Business and Civic Association was a lifeline for the rescue. Other resources came in the way of supply and gift card donations and an increased participation in fostering and adoption.
The heart and generosity of our community continues to be a beacon of hope and light to pave the way to an even greater impact in 2021. On behalf of the dogs we save, and the families who have been enriched through fostering and adoption, we extend our deepest appreciation for the support of our community.
Sincerely,
The Home for Good Dog Rescue Team
Who We Are:
Home for Good Dog Rescue is a 100% foster-based, non-profit 501(c)(3) dog rescue established in 2010 in Summit, New Jersey, with offices in Berkeley Heights. We socialize, care for, and provide rescue dogs with life-saving medical care at our Wellness Center in Aiken, South Carolina, transport them to New Jersey, and nurture them in our network of foster families while they await adoption into loving homes – giving them a second chance at life.
We work to significantly decrease the number of animals living in conditions of squalor and under the threat of abuse and death, by rescuing, medically treating, fostering, transporting, and finally adopting those animals into loving homes. We promote humane companion animal ownership that recognizes the dignity of each and every life. Our rescues do not live in a shelter or kennel, but rather in loving, volunteer foster homes, right up to the point of adoption into their “home for good”.
