Today we’d like to introduce you to Lenora Fernandez.
Hi Lenora, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Home fur Good Missioners was born on April of 2020 in the middle of an unusual year.
Everything started with a local shelter volunteer “hobby”. My first Sunday there I met 2 German Shepherds that were surrendered by their owners, surrendered because they didn’t want to deal with them “jumping over the fence”. Piper ten years old and totally blind and Bear was five years old at the time. They were very beautiful and were both stuck in the same cage with very limited space to move.
I decided I needed to find a way to rescue them and took Piper to an eye specialist, but I ran into a lot of obstacles in the process. Vets won’t give you any discounts if you are not a rescue license group, the shelters won’t let you take the dogs out to the vet and bring them back to the shelter if you are not a rescue group. So I decided I needed to action and be proactive to serve our community and I started my own rescue group.
My amazing family, husband and kids were incredibly supportive and I started the process of getting the legal status of a “nonprofit corporation”, and thereafter obtaining the rescuer license.
After that process was done, my family and I started our Mission of pulling dogs out, making adoption events and fostering dogs in order to give them another chance to be as happy and loved as all animals deserve…
I am convinced that there is a very special place in heaven for whoever helps an animal in need.
Our Mission: “Save as many humans hearts with the precious gift of a dog’s soul.”
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Unfortunately, it’s not always a happy ending for our doggies, and we aren’t always able to rescue them in time, the shelters give no indicating of which dog and when, we would just show up and they would be gone. Often times people would change their minds and return the dogs to us after they were already adopted, usually without a good reason. And like this, the struggle continued, but we kept on. Other times we found that the dogs had altered their temperament after healing from an injury or becoming comfortable, becoming extremely protective of new owners to the point to be aggressive towards another people, Other times we would rescue a dog only to find that they would be diagnosed with a fatal illness, but at least we knew that the little time they had, they were loved.
In 2020 the Cobb County animal shelter was almost completely empty, they were very few dogs left. All the volunteers were extremely pleased to see this, but like many things in life, it didn’t last long enough. People going back to work after the pandemic are realizing they can no longer care for their dogs, the shelter is filling up, which means they now have to euthanize dogs to make space.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
After rescuing dogs from local and rural shelters, they come to us with an amazing gratitude and love, couple of days after they are adapting to a new environment one can see the true colors shine! How playful and happy they become and probably what makes us more proud is when they have found their forever family and our work was well done, they are saved and loved.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We want to help more but we need more foster homes. We have very few people who are available to foster medium to large dogs and those are the ones who needed the most. We need at least 30 foster homes who are willing to provide a temporary or permanent home for these beautiful dogs before the shelter euthanizes them. Sometimes we find a home for dogs very quickly, and sometimes it takes longer. It can be 3 days or it can take 12-16 weeks, each dog is different.
You might be wondering, “What is a foster and what do you need to be a foster home?” A foster is a person who will provide a temporary home for a dog. This includes food and shelter, care and love. Foster homes should never have to pay a medical bill for an animal, but sometimes they will need to take the dog to the vet if they notices something abnormal. Foster homes usually meet with the adopters and give feedback and promote the dogs on the media, Facebook, Next Door, etc. To become a foster, you just need to follow 2 steps: fill out an application, and have a video call with our group to make sure there is an environment that will suit the dog well. Most often, the dogs that come from the shelter are housebroken, up to date on their vaccines, neutered or spayed, and microchipped, and if not, we make sure that they meet those requirements before being fostered or adopted. They sometimes come out shy and confused, but in a couple of days they are usually so grateful, they will fill your heart with so much love and appreciation.
Pricing:
- Adoption fee $120
Contact Info:
