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With the return to our pre-Covid Adoption Center hours (no appointment necessary) we need lots more help on Saturdays and Sunday to work with prospective adopters and help get our dogs adopted.
We have two great opportunities to get more involved in helping dogs find loving homes. Please see details below and sign up for one (or both!) of our upcoming training sessions.
Adoption Counselors
Looking to do something fun and rewarding on the weekend? Join us for a virtual adoption counselor training session. Once training is completed, we are looking for counselors to help in person at the Adoption Center in Fairfax Station, VA on Saturdays and Sundays so while the training is online, the actual volunteer role will not be.
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 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 Wednesday, July 13 at 7 PM via Zoom. Sign up below!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f084ea8ae2da5f49-adoption28
Weekend Adoption Center Volunteers
Love working with people and dogs? This role is the perfect blend of both!
We need volunteers every Saturday and Sunday to help greet adopters, identify dogs who might be a great match and facilitate the introductions between dogs and prospective adopters.
Join us for orientation on Sunday, June 5 at 4:30 PM to learn more! Sign up here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F084EA8AE2DA5F49-weekend7
Queen and Freddy are a mother-son bonded pair and were just featured on People.com! We are hoping to find them a forever home this Mother’s Day. Learn more about this sweet duo by visiting their bio. If you are interested in applying to adopt them, please fill out our Adoption Form and we will be in touch!
Best Friends and Zappos have joined Homeward Trails for the 2016 “Home for the Pawlidayz‘” event.
All adoption fees waived. Come adopt your best friend for FREE. All weekend long!
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Dogfish Head Alehouse in Falls Church, VA will be hosting a fundraiser for Homeward Trails Animal Rescue on July 14th where a percentage of their sales for the day will be donated to the Rescue. There is no flyer to print or secret handshake to remember, just come and enjoy!
There will be a silent auction and live music so come join us for a great day of fun!
Dogfish Head Ale House
6220 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA, 22044
11:30 AM – 11:00 PM
http://www.dogfishalehouse.com/locations/dfha-falls-church
Bring the whole family and join HT as we walk in the Clarendon Mardi Gras Parade on Tuesday, March 10, beginning around 6:00 PM. People and pups alike always have a blast at this high energy annual event. We’ll have costumes available for the dogs and a few accessories for their humans too. We’ll have beads with the HT logo to hand out to folks along the parade route. Email volunteer@homewardtrails.org if you would like to participate.
Enjoy these photos from previous years
HT is thrilled to announce that we raised $6,000 in just 5 hours on World Spay Day (February 26th) to match a generous $2,000 grant provided by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation to support an intensive spay/neuter campaign that will kick-off in April in Fayette County, WV.
“Fayette County is HT’s longest shelter partner and sadly, even after more than 10 years of our help and that of other rescues, their euthanasia numbers are still incredibly high. Almost weekly their shelter fills up with highly adoptable dogs, cats, puppies and kittens and so many are euthanized because we simply cannot get them out quickly enough. Many animals don’t even make it on their website because they are euthanized before they get the chance they deserve. “The answer must be an aggressive effort to spay the animals in the County and stop the flow of unwanted animals,” says Sue Bell, HT Founder and Executive Director. “We needed to match this grant with an additional $2,000 in donations from the public and we felt the best day to kick off this effort was World Spay Day! We are beyond thrilled with the generosity of our HT supporters and that we more than doubled our goal!”HT chose to do this program in Fayette County based on our long-standing partnership and in response to the overwhelming need for a lasting solution to the animal overpopulation in the county. “We are reaching out to elected state and local officials in Fayette County as well as businesses, residents and media partners to really bring attention to what we are doing in hopes it will generate an ongoing effort, ” says Bell. “True success will be that we can use this money quickly to spay a large number of animals, create a list of residents needing this service and then get out there and raise more money to keep doing it. We know our loyal supporters will make this possible. A $25 donation automatically becomes $50 through this initiative and that is enough to spay one cat. A $50 donation becomes $100 and that spays one dog. We are so grateful to the Frederick S. Upton Foundation for this wonderful opportunity. We know we can make a big difference.”
HT will partner with the Fayette County Animal Control and the New River Humane Society to launch this program. Stay tuned for details on this exciting new venture!
To celebrate the opening of the Scooby-Doo Live Musical Mysteries show at the Warner Theater on February 16th, HT is meeting up with Scooby and his buddy Shaggy at the Northwest One Library branch in DC on Wednesday, February 13th. 30 local DC children will meet lucky rescued dogs from HT, get to hang out with Scooby-Doo and participate in a book reading.
Representatives from the North Shore Animal League will also be joining the fun!
Thank you to Pet Valu for collecting donated litter – 2,200 lbs of it – for Homeward Trails kitties!!!
The month-long February drive asked customers to purchase a 40 lb. bag of Kitty’s Best clumping litter for only $6.99 at ANY Pet Valu location to donate to Homeward Trails!! Visit HERE for locations of the many Pet Valu stores in the DC area.
Thank you to Manhattan-based PJNY dogwear who graciously selected Homeward Trails as the “Shelter of the Month” for February. PJNY donated 10% of their February sales to Homeward Trails! Visit www.pjnydogwear.com to get the most fashionable of wear for your pooch and support our work with homeless animals with your purchase!
The recent school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT has left many of us feeling a sense helplessness; looking for a way make a difference and honor those who lives were taken much too soon. This is especially true for Debbie Gomes, owner of Little Rascals Doggie Day Care and Boarding. Little Rascals has been a boarding partner with Homeward Trails for a number of years and they have graciously provided a boarding spot throughout the year free of charge to help Homeward Trails rescue more dogs.
Yearning to do something positive in the wake of the tragedy, Little Rascals came up with a unique initiative to both honor the victims and save lives. Starting immediately, Little Rascals will foster 26 homeless dogs and cats each of whom will be named after those who were killed. This act of kindness will save lives who would not have normally been saved due to the lack of foster space. We at Homeward Trails cannot thank Debbie and the staff at Little Rascals enough for this generous gift of life to our four-legged friends.
Debbie wants us to remember the victims, not the shooter which is why each of the saved animals will be named after a victim. Years from now, Homeward Trails volunteers and Little Rascals staff members will remember the victims as we remember each foster dog or cat named in their honor.
