At Michigan Heidebreicht, our sales staff and service professionals aren’t just employees. We’re also neighbors. We raise our families in and around Macomb County, so we know the value of supporting our community. One of the groups we work with is A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue.
It’s a sad fact that there are a lot of homeless animals in Michigan, and traditional shelters don’t always have the resources to meet the demand. The Michigan Pet Fund reports that as recently as 2007 Michigan shelters managed to find homes for only 30% of the animals in their care. This wasn’t because of uncaring employees. There just were not enough staff members to take care of the animals, run the shelters, and hold adoption events to get the pets seen by potential adopters.
That’s where groups like A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue (ARAR) come into the picture. Their mission is to help homeless, neglected, and abused animals find forever homes as well as educating the public about population control. ARAR is a 501(c)3 non-profit in the Detroit Metro which has been operating since 2008.
The unusual thing about this group is that they don’t have a central housing facility or kennel area. In fact, ARAR pulls animals from shelters with high kill rates across the state before they can be euthanized due to a lack of space. Instead of assigning blame for a sometimes overwhelming situation, this rescue focuses on helping to ease crowding in these shelters. Their work- and the work of groups like them- have led to an increase in adoption rates statewide. These days 53% of shelter animals can expect to find their forever homes, not counting the animals foster programs place themselves. That’s what we call making a difference!
Without a physical shelter, ARAR depends on volunteer foster homes. They monitor a network of carefully vetted homes where animals can rest, recover, and learn social skills to help them be placed successfully. Foster families are kept supplied with food, beds, toys, crates, and anything else needed to make the pets feel at home. ARAR makes sure to keep everyone on their roster up to date on their vaccinations and other medical care. Because the effects over overbreeding are so devastating, this organization spays or neuters all of the animals they rescue.
Keeping shelters clear isn’t only about finding homes, though. A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue takes steps to keep animals from being surrendered to shelters in the first place. They run a community outreach program that visits at-risk outdoor dogs, providing proper tie outs, food, toys, shelters, treats, and collars. They work with the dogs’ owners to educate them on safe kennel practices. ARAR also cooperates with local authorities to humanely manage feral cat colonies.
You can see why this worthy organization caught our attention. We are proud to participate in and help promote their fundraisers, such as the annual Tails to the Trails 5K Event held in early Fall. The 5K is one of ARA’s biggest fundraisers, providing a hefty chunk of their operating budget. Participants can run, walk, and even skate the five kilometer course at Stony Creek Baypoint Beach. Last year’s race saw more than two thousand entrants. If you were at the event, you saw a team of our employees and their adorable pets walking around in their green Heidebreicht t-shirts!
Watch our Facebook page in the Fall for the announcement of this year’s race. In the meantime, if you bring your dog with you when you come for service, drop by the cashier desk for a special treat!
