Meet Emilee Spear of Rusty’s Angels Sanctuary in New River

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emilee Spear.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Rusty was my first rescue, I adopted him at the age of “ancient”. He was pulled from the euthanasia list at the local county pound. He was skin and bones, deaf, going blind, had a mouth full of rotten teeth and so lost and scared. He taught me that animals don’t deserve to die alone after loving us for all their lives. He is why I want to give these dogs the ending they deserve and have earned. They deserve the unconditional love to the very end that they give us from the moment they meet us. I promised Rusty that I would continue to help those just like him live out their twilight years knowing complete unconditional love.

The Sanctuary was started by writing the dream down on paper and starting a GoFundMe page. Our first $5000 was raised which helped us cover IRS fees for our 501(c)3 non-profit status, initial costs to get the house ready for our first rescues and our first two rescues medical expenses. With my 8 years of knowledge and experience as a veterinary technician and working in a local no-kill shelter environment I knew exactly how the Sanctuary should be setup and ran. From there I listened to and learned from the senior dogs themselves. They have taught me how to set the Sanctuary up to be a beautiful and stress-free environment for not only the dogs but the volunteers and employees as well. We strive to accomplish two goals every day; to have the cleanest Sanctuary environment and to have the happiest dogs. I feel like if we can accomplish those two things daily then we have done it.

As we grew decisions had to be made as to what type of housing we would provide our senior dogs. I knew I didn’t want to have one large building for all the dogs to live in, it is a stressful and loud environment that way. That is when the tiny house idea came to mind. We started with one for our large dogs and it was a huge success not only for the dogs themselves but also for our supporters. They jumped on the idea. We now have four tiny houses that provide Sanctuary for our senior dogs year-round. Two for large dogs, one for little dogs, and one for dogs we rescue from shelters and pounds to be isolated for the first 2 weeks to prevent the spread of disease. Each house has its own yard, heating/cooling system, water and electricity and all the comforts of home and our senior dogs have thrived in this environment. We also have a fifth tiny house that is our welcome center and office space and a sixth tiny house we use for boarding. We offer boarding only to our adopters, volunteers and employees to help them and bring in monthly income for the Sanctuary. Another great addition is a 1/3-mile walking path around our 5-acre property. Volunteers can come and walk our healthy active seniors on a daily or weekly basis which provides great enrichment for all.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Surprisingly it has been a smooth road. We have some of the best people behind us helping us along the way from volunteers to employee to donors. We would not be here without them. But there have also been some struggles, our rural location being one of them. In the beginning finding help from volunteers and then employees were a difficult task because we are out in the country. But slowly we have built an amazing team and family who are just as dedicated to these senior dogs as I am.

Another struggle has been the loss of these precious senior souls. For whatever reason I have been given the strength to be able to help these dogs cross the rainbow bridge when their time comes. Something a lot of people couldn’t do repeatedly. It is not easy though by any means, my heart aches for each loss, some more than others. And as our family of people grows my heart aches for their loss as well.

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Rusty’s Angels Sanctuary story. Tell us more about the business.
Rusty’s Angels Sanctuary is a 501C3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a safe and caring environment for senior canines. Most of our rescues come to us because their owner has passed away or has moved into a nursing home situation. If the dog is healthy enough to handle a transition into a new home, then we do our best to find the perfect forever home. If the dog is not healthy enough then they live out whatever time they have left here at our sanctuary knowing unconditional love until the very end. Since we have opened our doors in February 2014 we have rescued 126 dogs and we have adopted out 71, that makes me the proudest because we take in dogs over the age of 10. It is not easy to adopt out dogs that are 12-15 years of age. But we do and the new forever homes we are finding are some of the best in the country. We have dogs living in their new forever homes right here in Arizona but also in Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Texas and even New Jersey. Everything we do sets us apart from others from being primarily owner surrender to taking in dogs over the age of 10 to building tiny houses for them to thrive in to providing the best retirement an old dog could ask for. At any one time we have more retired seniors living out their twilight years here than we do adoptable and we take great pride in providing them with the best retirement possible, loving them unconditionally until the very end.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I feel lucky for many things, our donors, supporters, volunteers, adopters, employees etc. But I really don’t believe luck had much to do with it. I am doing what I was put on this earth to do and so God or whoever is in charge is leading the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rustysangelssanctuary.org
• Phone: 480-250-0251
• Email: rustysangelssanctuary@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rustysangelssanctuary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rustysangelssanctuary/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RustysAngels

Rusty’s Angels Sanctuary has been selected as a Top 5 Finalist for the Alba Botanica® Do Good, Do Beautiful Grant Program. The Do Good, Do Beautiful Grant Program celebrates everyday women doing extraordinary good in the world. Two female-led organizations will be awarded $15,000 to create, expand, or sustain a project in their non-profit organization. Alba Botanica® panelists chose five finalists from nearly 250 entries. The top two with the most votes from the community will receive grant funding. Rusty’s Angels Sanctuary if one of the two winners will use the grant towards their veterinary expenses in 2018. Voting can be done daily until February 18, 2018. Winners will be announced early March 2018 and will be flown to the awards ceremony in New York City.  https://www.albabotanica.com/en/dogooddobeautiful/

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