Winchester residents offer ‘Last Hope’ to rescue dogs

The Crawford Memorial United Methodist Church, normally empty on a Saturday, was uncharacteristically full of fold-out tables, puppies, and poodles this past weekend.

The reason? The Massachusetts-based dog rescue Last Hope K9 Rescue was holding an adoption event in the church’s multipurpose room.

The Greater Boston-based nonprofit, which relies 100% on volunteers, rescues dogs from high-kill animal shelters in Arkansas and aims to provide them with loving owners from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont.

“We are dedicated to saving abandoned, neglected, and abused dogs,” the organization’s website reads.

So why does a New England based organization save dogs from Arkansas?

The high kill shelters Last Hope rescues dogs from are overrun with abandoned dogs and are forced to euthanize animals who are not adopted within a certain time frame.

Last Hope’s Assistant Director Shani Scheiman said shelter overcrowding is a huge issue in Arkansas and the South. She said when Last Hope pulls a dog from one of these chronically overfull shelters, it opens up a spot for one of the thousands of animals in need without sacrificing an innocent dog’s life.

“Arkansas has a different dog culture,” Scheiman said. “There are a lot of strays and not many are spayed or neutered.”

Interestingly enough, family allergies to dogs prevented Scheiman from having one growing up. Nevertheless, she said when she moved out of the house, she got involved with Last Hope after she adopted her first dog, Riley, in 2017.

Scheiman is a self-identified “dog person,” who prides herself on being a “step in their [dogs’] journey, not a destination.”

Joining as a foster parent in 2018 after learning about Last Hope through a Google search, Scheiman has helped foster 70 dogs through the organization — taking on positions of greater importance in Last Hope.

Getting involved with Last Hope has been her and her partner’s pet project.

She added the challenge of training and working with dogs in need has been deeply rewarding.

What makes them special

As assistant director, Scheiman helps manage and run the monthly adoption events the organization holds all over New England.

Each week, Last Hope brings between 10 to 15 dogs up from partner shelters around Arkansas, and during the most hectic times of the year, will bring up 30 dogs per week. Since starting in 2012, Last Hope’s volunteers, all dedicating several hours each week, have helped over 12,000 dogs find permanent and loving parents around Massachusetts.

Last Hope prides itself on its commitment to serving all dogs regardless of breed, age, disability status, etc. Going the extra mile to thoroughly vet potential adopters through an extensive application process, home visits and questionnaires, Last Hope hopes to find loving parents for all dogs.

Once the ideal adoption candidates are selected, Scheiman said families head to events like the one hosted Oct. 5 at the Methodist church and meet their furry friend. These measures are the reason why the organization manages to adopt around 75% of dogs at any event.

Last Hope regularly performs service trips to its partner shelters in Arkansas. In fact, the organization was recently able to crowd-source enough money to build a new shelter in Carlisle, Arkansas providing more temporary homes for abused and abandoned strays.

Rescue Road, an Arkansas-based nonprofit, is Last Hope’s biggest partner in the area and helps coordinate its outreach within Arkansas. Last Hope has to foot all the medical bills associated with preparing the dogs for adoption, including neutering/spaying, vaccinations, etc.

Each dog is quarantined for 48 hours once brought up from Arkansas before moving to a foster home.

The organization is also heavily involved in political advocacy and regularly sends representatives to the State House when it comes to matters concerning animal rights and welfare. Last Hope was recently involved in getting a bill passed barring landlords from discriminating against rottweiler-owning tenants.

Getting involved

Volunteering to foster dogs awaiting adoption is one of the biggest ways to help support Last Hope’s mission to provide every dog with the loving home they deserve.

If you lack the resources to foster, there are plenty of other ways to directly get involved with the organization. Performing home visits, reading adoption applications, running merchandise stands during adoption events, said Coordinator Traci Finkel, are some of the countless ways to help.

If directly getting involved in the organization isn’t possible for you, Finkel said you can always help through a generous donation. As a strictly volunteer-driven organization, Last Hope doesn’t earn a single dollar from its efforts. All the money raised — most of which comes from individual donations from former adopters — goes to saving dogs.

Finally, simply following the team on social media — where they have 70,000 Instagram followers and 150,000 TikTok followers — helps to get the word out about the organization and garners further support.

Currently aiming to raise $250,000 dollars, Finkel said just chipping in $5 would help them out immensely. Last Hope also sells merchandise on its website and proceeds go entirely to help the dogs.

Coming events

Last Hope is hosting an event called “Sips to Save Lives” on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 5-10 p.m., at City Winery, 80 Beverly St., Boston. The gala will feature live music, a hosted bar with cocktails, wine, and beer, as well as silent and live auctions.

Of course, all proceeds go directly to saving dogs.

Stacey Hilliard, church administrator at Crawford and member for 24 years, said the church would love to host more of these monthly events with Last Hope.

Regulated strictly by the Department of Agriculture, Last Hope is only able to host events at specific types of venues such as Needham’s Village Club, which has regularly been a reliable host for them.

Hopefully, Crawford will join Needham in making Winchester a regular base for Last Hope, making the world a better place — one puppy at a time.