04/12/2024
We are the rescue group in the Metropolitan Washington D.C. area that never says no.
FOACAS Rescue, or Friends of All Critters at Shelters, Inc. is a 501C3 all-volunteer, non-profit
corporation.
FOACAS did not say no to Avery this year, a one-year-old lab sitting in a
shelter cage, looking like he was in pain. We knew that he had been the
victim of someone’s cruel target practice.
Without hesitation we drove him three hours to Friendship Animal Hospital
in DC, where x-rays showed that Avery in truth had been sitting in a shelter
cage with a shattered shoulder.
People ask us if we ever cry. When we drove Avery, sleeping peacefully in
the car, back to his foster, knowing we would have to amputate his leg, we cried for his
innocence.
But months later, Avery now runs and leaps using three legs, and his foster adopted him. Avery
no longer suffers pain.
FOACAS did not say no to Caroline this year, a little Shih Tzu who came out of her shelter cage
emaciated, frail and so matted her hair was cutting into her eyes.
We paid for a sonogram that revealed that Caroline had a mostly lead penny
in her stomach. We then paid for her surgery, and when she had no more
than two hours left to her life because of massive lead poisoning, we again
paid for a six hour emergency blood transfusion, also at Friendship Animal
Hospital.
Caroline is now robust, well-groomed, and adopted by her foster.
And FOACAS did not say no to Cisco this year, a fluffy two-year-old cocker
spaniel caged for six months by another rescue group, because he needed expensive ear
surgery which they could not be bothered with.
Six months in a cage by another rescue, in searing pain that one doctor described is akin to a
slow-moving train rolling over his face.
We found Cisco a cageless foster. We raised the money within one week for his surgery, and
within two more days Cisco had the nearly six-hour surgery at
Friendship Animal Hospital that assures he will never suffer that
pain again.
Since we began it in September 2020, FOACAS has found homes
for 850 dogs once left behind. Dogs within a three-hour car ride
from here, dogs in shelters that get very little traffic and very few
contributors.
FOACAS paid for all the beds in one shelter. FOACAS provides
$1000 worth of food a month to another shelter. FOACAS saves
dogs not because of breed, but because they have been sitting in
cages for a year- or more. We educate children about animal cruelty. FOACAS helps struggling
families pay for vet care so they can keep their best canine friend.
FOACAS is the rescue that never says no.
We fight and we plead and we cajole, day in and day out, and we never give up on any of our
dogs.
We wholeheartedly believe in the power of generosity. Your support can make a tremendous
difference in the lives we save. Thank you for considering this opportunity to make an even
greater impact.
Mindy Farber and John Camp
www.foacas.org
