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About Us
In 2007 Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia was selected as one of the 100 Most Influential in Monongalia County! Read the online version of the article.
2009 Board of Directors
These animal lovers are our current board members: Val Holsinger, Dana Johnson, Cynthis Lucas, Carol Mangone, Margo Neal, Kathy Orosz, Kelley Owen, Kelly Reed, Ronda Smith
Carol Mangone and Cynthis Lucas, AFNCWV founders
Click here to see a flier that summarizes information about AFNCWV. Print it off and give copies to your friends!
How We Got Started
AFNCWV was created by a small group of individuals (friends, actually) who have been involved in animal rescue for a number of years. When a new rescue would come into our homes, we would talk about the terrible things people do to animals and say that we should do something more about the situation. But there were always litter boxes to scoop, animals to care for, and day jobs to go do - and there were animal welfare organizations already in existence that would surely take care of the matter. So...we always put the matter on the back burner; and in the meantime, we would continue to take more and more rescued animals into our homes. All of us were running out of room.
That changed the day a gentle 11 year-old golden retriever/black lab came into our lives. His name, ironically, was "Lucky", and he had been so mistreated that his hip was dislocated from a violent kick. He had been literally left to die by his family. A caring neighbor saved Lucky from death that January weekend by providing blankets and food and water. A few days later we took Lucky into our home and arranged for orthopedic surgery to repair his hip. Thanks to George Seiler, DVM, Lucky is on the road to recovery, and is, indeed, a Lucky dog.
Our experience with Lucky and his situation inspired us to do the right thing; to strive to create a high-quality non-profit shelter to provide refuge, care, and aid for unwanted, abandoned, and abused animals. We want to provide a shelter where there will be no unwarranted euthanasia - we don't believe that pets should be killed simply because they have no homes. Last year in our area, more than 8,500 animals were euthanized, and countless others were killed along our roadways.
We also want to address the situation of over population and responsible pet ownership by promoting spay/neuter. All animals adopted through Animal Friends are spayed/neutered before adoption. We also want to make low cost spay/neuter services available to area pet owners.
Other services we plan to provide are pre-adoption counseling and follow-up services to "new parents" of animals adopted through our program, and community education/advocacy programs to community groups and local schools.
Our organization received a vote of confidence in May, 2001 when, Johanna Pratt, the creator and director of the Mon. County Foster Parenting Program, decided to pursue other interests and asked us to assume her program. Her program is now an important part of our organization. We applaud her efforts and compassion toward our animal friends.
The Animal Friends' Sanctuary is situated on 3 acres of wooded, peaceful land on Brewer Road, Monongalia County, which was donated to Animal Friends by Butch and Margo Neal. Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Renn donated the modular building that has been converted into our Phase I facility.
Permanent Shelter Resident
Isis the shelter cat
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