A Forever Home received a gift of 24 leashes made by Girl Scouts Aurora and Serafina as part of their Silver Award. They “…wanted to do something that would help dogs and those charitable groups who work so hard to help them be adopted into forever homes.” It was then they decided to make leashes for AFH. After researching types of materials, they settled on nylon webbing for its durability and because it doesn’t stretch when it gets wet. Because it could not be sewn on a sewing machine, they spent hours doing it by hand and then heat sealing the edges to avoid fraying. These leashes are wonderful and we are grateful to these hard working ladies for coming up with this idea. Thanks ladies!
We adopted Rocky (formally Benton) from A Forever Home in August of 2010. We knew immediately when we saw him, that he was our dog. Since then he was with us for every one of life’s big milestones; marriage, home ownership, the birth of our three children. He enjoyed every family vacation with us; we honestly didn’t go anywhere without him. He was a fixture in our community, everyone just adored him. He loved his food, walks, car rides, but most importantly, he loved his family. As long as he was with us, he was happy and content. He was the most loyal, sensitive and loving companion. Rocky was diagnosed with Cancer (Lymphoma) on his 10th birthday, June 16th, 2020. After receiving Chemotherapy, he enjoyed 8 months of remission, before relapsing. We lost him May 6th, 2021. The loss of Rocky was profound. He might very well have been the most loved dog, ever. We are so thankful to A Forever Home for bringing us together. He was our missing puzzle piece, and am intricate part of our family. We miss him greatly.
Our latest newsletter has so many great stories, we hope you will enjoy it. To read it, please click here.
In this issue:
- ANNALISE TO THE RESCUE and her Puppy Pops Fundraiser
- IN MEMORY: Colin, Isis, Petey, Wrangler
- PETEY’S STORY OF SURVIVAL in the Florida Everglades
- QUICK TIPS: Walking you dog
- LOOKING FOR OUR FOREVER HOMES: Tessie, Mario, and Starling
- VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: Michelle Washington and Dima Pechenik
- EAGLE SCOUTS – By Liam D’Souza-Bohannon
Dear AFH: Super news from Trevor (aka Baxter adopted 2014). Trevor is special. I knew that when he came to be part of our family. I have had 5 rescues, past and present. All have trained in several sports with me, obedience being one of them. We have had success at the Novice (CD) level, but in over 15 years of training and competing we could not break through to a higher level. Until now. Trevor is the very first of my beloved dogs to earn an Open title in obedience in any venue. On August 1, 2021, Trevor earned his Companion Dog Excellent (CDX-C) title from the Companion Dog Sports Program (CDSP) at the age of 7 in Frederick, MD from the A class: 194.5 (1st), 194.5 (1st), 193.5 (1st). Trevor had to overcome a very rocky start with fearfulness, reactivity, and separation anxiety so that makes his achievement all that much more heartwarming. Love him to the moon and back! Thanks for allowing me be his forever Mom.
Yours, Diana Hong & Trevor
A Forever Home was the lucky recipient of the Worldgate Athletic Club & Spa‘s donation drive. They set up donation boxes in the lobby of their facility, making our doggies the recipient of collected food, treats, toys, and leashes. As dog lovers they were happy to find ways to help us with our important work by spreading awareness to their members, as well as, collecting donations. We are indeed grateful and look forward to partnering again with them in the future!
worldgateathleticclubandspa.com I facebook.worldgateathleticclubandspa I @worldgateathleticclubandspa
We would like to thank Colin Haywood for making A Forever Home the recipient of his Eagle Scout project. When he originally asked to help AFH, we requested that me make a shelf to go over our metal crates. This was not an easy project, but he took the idea and ran with it. Colin paid for all of the supplies himself, using his stimulus check, and found all the volunteers to do the work. The shelf he created was extremely durable and ran the entire length of the unit, accommodating more supplies than what we had originally requested. He also added more stands to hold up our metal crates, giving us more useable space. In addition, he completely reorganized our storage unit. Without prompting, he helped clean out all of our broken crates by re-assembling them to see which were missing parts or were damaged. He also sorted out all of our supplies, provided them new containers, and made an easily understood, organized unit. Finally, he provided a step ladder for the unit so we could finally get to those hard-to-reach items on the top of the shelves that kind of just got tucked away and forgotten. This work was done in just a few weeks and went way beyond what we expected. Colin showed great leadership and organizational skills and we could not be happier. Thank you Colin for making our lives so much easier!
