Our Current Fundraising Goal!

Dear Fellow Animal Lover, Rescuer, Friend and Kind Soul,

Founded on the principle that every dog that goes through a rescue is deserving of love and a fair chance. All too often both dogs and people both find themselves in need of help but unable to advocate for themselves.

Since we began in April 2023, Last Stop Rescue has successfully placed over 55 dogs into loving homes where they belong. These dogs had no say in the course of their life, without a voice … abandoned by their previous rescue, their needs neglected, forgotten and just a number whose number was about to be called. As a volunteer only foster based organization, we put our hearts and souls into these animals.  We need your financial support so we can continue to do what we do.  Any amount is helpful!

Because we take dogs that have experienced nothing but instability, frustration, fear, uncertainty, neglect … if not far worse. We have to put more into medical care to make sure that the difficulties they’ve had in the past aren’t in part due to a medical issue, deficiency or another correctable issue. Once we know the rescued animal is healthy, we focus on their behavioral rehabilitation. This is a program where the dogs set their pace and progress as they feel comfortable. 

How does that possibly work? We at Last Stop Rescue believe all of these dogs are individuals, just like you and us– They have their own anxieties, insecurities, strengths and weaknesses. We give the dogs an appropriate place to decompress and they get that private space as long as they need it. When we give them a safe place to observe life from and empower them to control what they have to deal with and when – We see very quick improvements when the dog finally gets a choice in their life. That also means they’re around for 3-6 months before they may be ready for another shot at a home. We have come across dogs so terrified of car rides because they’ve been dumped multiple times, dumped breeder dogs who are terrified of humans or other dogs because of the abuse they’ve faced, dogs that have been kept outside and neglected so long they don’t understand how to be in a house or how to interact with humans. On average it takes us about 6 months to allow the dogs to completely decompress and regain their confidence in life for our worst cases, our best cases take less than a couple of months.

Our adoption fee structure is unconventional but it was determined by the actual cost of medical, training, and housing a dog for 8 months.  Provided everything goes perfectly and we have no unexpected expenses! The sad truth is we can never fully account for all of the expenses from adoption fees alone. Things like emergencies (averages 1.2k per visit), Heartworm positive dogs (averages 500 each for full treatment that takes 12 months) or special medical (specialty services like ortho, urologist, internal specialists, etc) take a toll on our bank accounts! In the past six months we have accrued roughly $5,100 in ER bills, $3,000 in heartworm treatments and about $6,000 in special medical. This only makes up $14,100 out of our total out of pocket expenses for Q1 & Q2 of $23,399.34 which covers their supplies and materials for the foster dogs currently with us. This is ONLY what it costs to take care of the dogs – Our operating costs are just $4,800 and just so you know where your money might go!

In addition to saving the lives of more dogs, another primary goal is to provide a variety of services to the public.  We have done public outreach by helping low income families with medical, boarding, training and supplies to keep dogs in the home. Many of our owner-surrendered dogs come from economic struggles and we always offer to try and help keep the dog with their current families. We are a drama free driven rescue and internal conflict is absent.  Our team supports each other and works together for the common goal of getting the dog to be its best self and then getting it into the right home to live their best lives. With unmatched foster and adopter support, we are a zero-return AND NO-KILL (actually) rescue and we aim to keep it that way with your support.

With our communities help we aim to:

• Provide weekly training classes (did this when we had a place, now we don't but are working to find a new space), 
• Provide guided pack walks a few times a month,
• Provide a couple of events a month where we go to meet potential adopters and spread word about what we do,
• Sponsor spay and neuter clinics for areas struggling with feral dog and cat populations,
• Cultivate a supportive community around our rescue efforts,
• Provide a full medical and behavioral profile for every dog we place with on-going support,
• Never pump & dump dogs into homes–every dog has a dedicated coordinator and usually a backup or two,
• Help any dog – we don’t care about the situation, 50% of our dogs are off death row, 10% are from other rescues rejecting them or wanting to euthanize a dog for insufficient reasons, 30% are owner-give-up or rehome situations, the last 10% are puppies that have been dumped or taken from puppy mills,
  • Almost all rescues and shelters are closed to taking owner give ups or helping them. We do anything we can to help them land safely and avoid high kill shelters that don’t turn dogs down,
• Help prevent dogs from losing their homes through public outreach programs,
• Continue to train and expand our network to maximize the number of pets we can save!

Last Stop Rescue needs donations so that we can continue these efforts and we need your help to make this happen!

Donations could be in the form of:

• Monetary donations / sponsorships,
• Lending of space to meet or host adoption events, Goods to auction/re-sell at fundraisers,
• Dine to donate fundraisers,
• Donated cars – running or not!,
• Sales drive efforts to a local business with a percentage back,
• Donation of office & cleaning supplies for use by the shelter, every penny we save on anything is another penny towards the dogs! 
• Computers, cellphones that are still usable, printers/copiers & ink cartridges, office organization materials, heavy duty shelving, chew/marking proof storage systems, indoor and outdoor storage containers, etc.

Please reach out to us today by email or leave us a voice mail message and we’ll get back to you!

Every dog that is adopted allows us to repeat the process and save another dog. Every one of our dogs has changed a life and all because you helped us give them a choice.  Please consider how significant your tax‐deductible donation to Last Stop Rescue would be to the hopeful lives of our furry friends and their new families.  As a 501c3 organization (EIN 92-3646356), any donation is fully deductible to the extent allowed by law and will be strictly used for our dogs.

A copy of this letter can be found for download below.