Get Tickets While They LAST!
It’s the event you’ve been waiting for all year long!
The 2021 Super Hero Scavenger Hunt sponsored by the Ballston Bid and the Ballston Quarterfest Crawl!
WHERE: Ballston! (Arlington, VA)
TIME: Flex start between 10 AM EDT – 1 PM EDT
WHO: You! Any ages welcome. Form a team of 2-6 people. Win prizes. Have fun. Enjoy an outdoor day in the sun with stops for food and drinks and entertainment as part of the Ballston Quarterfest Crawl
PRIZES: You bet! Prizes for first-finishes, best team name and best costumes!
This event is appropriate for people of all ages.
Mark you calendars and set aside just $5 to Spring2ACTion for the animals on April 28th!
WHAT IS SPRING2ACTION?
Spring2ACTion is an annual 24-hour online fundraising event presented by ACT for Alexandria. Last year, 335 donors raised over $27,000 for Homeward Trails!
The minimum donation is just $5, so we are hopeful that we will have even more donors step up this year. By participating, you can help us qualify for additional prizes, which means more lives saved! To make a donation on April 28, please visit:
https://bit.ly/3fYehfiHOW WILL MY DONATION BE USED?
This year, Spring2ACTion donations will benefit our medical fund. In 2020, we spent over $500,000 on medical costs. Yes, saving animals is expensive! Our medical fund covers preventative care such as vaccines, dentals and microchipping, but also covers spay/neuter, worming, emergency procedures, heartworm treatment, broken bones, surgery, diagnostics, and so much more.
HOW DO I DONATE?
You’re invited to support Homeward Trails by making a personal donation on April 28 (to donate, please visit:
https://bit.ly/3fYehfi)
, but we have additional opportunities if you’d like to make a greater impact. Read on to find out how you can help!
HOW DO I GET MORE INVOLVED?
* Join us as a FUNDRAISING CHAMPION: Rally around Homeward Trails by fundraising on our behalf on April 28. You will get your own fundraising page to share with your personal network (via social media, email or text) to expand the reach of our cause and bring in new donors. Your fundraising total goes towards our overall goal. We will provide the tools and sample language. This is a great opportunity for an individual or a small business. Champions who raise $500 or more will receive a personalized Homeward Trails hat as a thank you!
To sign up: Please e-mail
rebeccag@homewardtrails.org and indicate your interest in becoming a fundraising champion. We will send you an invitation to join us. Or you may go to:
https://bit.ly/3fYehfi and click the green FUNDRAISE button; then follow the instructions for setting up your page.
* OFFER A MATCHING GIFT OR CHALLENGE GIFT: If you would like your donation to have a greater impact, please consider offering a dollar for dollar match or challenge gift. Your gift can remain anonymous or be promoted like a sponsorship and featured on the Homeward Trails profile page and the Spring2ACTion website.
Minimum gift amount: $250
To sign up: please e-mail
rebeccag@homewardtrails.org with the name of the donor (or anonymous if you wish), and the amount of your gift. We will be in touch to take care of the rest!
* Join us as a SOCIAL MEDIA AMBASSADOR: Rally around Homeward Trails by sharing our Spring2ACTion social media posts with your own personal network, posting the contests throughout the day and inviting your friends to join our mission. Most of this work will take place on April 28 when we have the opportunity to win bonus prizes through various fundraising contests run by ACT. You should plan to be available throughout the day and willing to post frequently to help us win the hourly contests. Ambassadors will receive a Homeward Trails car magnet as a thank you!
To sign up: Please e-mail
rebeccag@homewardtrails.org and indicate your interest in becoming a Social Media Ambassador. We will send you sample language, the list of hourly contests, and images to use in your posts.
* Join us as a PROMOTIONAL SPONSOR: This is intended for a company or business that has an email list and/or active social media following. You will post about Spring2ACTion on your social media pages and send promotional emails to your contacts to encourage them to support Homeward Trails on April 28. You will be featured as a promotional sponsor on our social media pages and thanked throughout the day. We will provide templates and sample language. To join as a promotional sponsor, please e-mail
rebeccag@homewardtrails.org and we will be in touch.
WHEN DO I NEED TO SIGN UP?
To sign up to help in any of the ways described, please contact us by Monday, April 26 so we can provide you with all of the important details and templates!
Let’s Spring2ACTion for the animals!
Vote for your favorite HT-adopted animals while contributing to the life-saving efforts of Homeward Trails!
Each vote is $10, all of which goes to support the medical needs of the homeless dogs and cats in our program.
The dog and cat who get the most votes each by April 30th win.
You can vote as often as you’d like!
Help these adorable pets pay it forward for another animal in need!
CAUTION: CUTENESS OVERLOAD IS UNAVOIDABLE. PREPARE YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.
Looking to do something fun and rewarding on the weekend?
Why not get started as a Homeward Trails Adoption Counselor? Adoption Counselors are volunteers who are trained specifically to interact with prospective adopters at the Homeward Trails Adoption Center! You will share info on the dogs, gather info from the applicant, work with the Adoption Center staff to ensure a good match…and potentially play a key role in sending dogs into their forever homes.
We need folks NOW who are willing to commit 3 hours on a weekend…just once a month! Just 3 hours can help send more dogs home more quickly, thus allowing us to have space to rescue more. Imagine – just 3 hours of your time can save dozens of lives!
You will be trained and fully supported by the HT staff as you get acclimated to your role. It’s fun, you’ll learn a lot and you’ll literally be saving lives.
Our next Adoption Counselor training session will be held on Thursday, April 1 at 7:00 PM via Zoom.
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We have re-opened our Adoption Center and Meow Palace by appointment only, and will have many wonderful dogs and cats waiting to meet you!
We are operating on an appointment-only basis with designated arrival times. Please sign up for a time slot using the signup link for either dogs or cats.
For the health and safety of everyone, we ask that you observe the following guidelines when visiting our Adoption Center and Meow Palace
- Please arrive on time. Having specific arrival times will allow us to enforce social distancing in our small space.
- Please limit your party to members of your immediate household only. Due to the small space in Meow Palace please limit your party to 3 people to visit cats. Due to increased COVID precautions, please do not bring out of town guests or visitors.
- Masks or facial coverings are required for all visitors over two years of age. Visitors arriving without a mask will be asked to reschedule their appointments. We are unable to provide masks for visitors.
- Please exercise good judgment – if you have symptoms of respiratory illness or a fever please stay home.
- In order to accommodate the maximum number of visitors in the safest way possible, we are limiting dog meetings to 45 minutes and cat meetings to 15 minutes. We understand this may not be enough time for all visitors and are happy to schedule a follow-up appointment if requested.
- Please bear with us as we adjust to a new way of doing things and work to provide you with the best adoption experience under the circumstances
We look forward to seeing you and thank you for your patience as we re-open!
For Dogs
Once you have signed up you will receive a link to a survey to help match you with dogs who might be a good fit for your family. You will be asked to select three dogs from the list of potential matches that you would like to meet.
*Please only sign up for one appointment spot per weekend. Additional sign ups will be canceled.
For Cats
Adopters interested in meeting cats should complete the adoption questionnaire ahead of time indicating the kind of cat that they’re looking for.
Once you sign up, you’ll be contacted to let you know which cats at Meow Palace would be a potential match. There will NOT be kittens at Meow Palace at this time. Please be prepared to take your new cat home if there’s a match by bringing a carrier.
All of our other cats and kittens are still available for adoption from their foster homes by completing the above adoption questionnaire.
We look forward to seeing you and introducing you to our adoptable pets! Thank you for your patience as we re-open!
Homeward Trails is thrilled to announce this new program in partnership with the Pittsylvania Pet Center (PPC)!
The “Home To A Home” program will aim to decrease the number of animals having to enter a shelter by offering pet owners an opportunity to move the pet they can no longer keep directly to a foster home.
Our hope is to prevent an influx of animals entering the shelter as quarantine starts to lift and to re-route unwanted animals on a regular basis from one home to another!
Shelters, even those that are wonderfully run, clean and safe like the PPC can still be scary for so many animals and they pose unavoidable health risks to animals that are young and old.
The PPC animal shelter serves Pittsylvania County and surrounding communities in southern Virginia, where available foster and adoptive homes are fewer than here in Northern Virginia.
Join us in celebrating this program and our wonderful fosters who we know stand ready to assist the animals who will benefit!!
Collaboration saves lives!
More details are available in a local news story by WFXR, as well as in the press release below. 
