Meet Geri Hormel of Almost There Foster Care in East

Today we’d like to introduce you to Geri Hormel.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have always been a huge animal lover! When I was a child, as soon as I could talk I begged for a dog. My entire life I have been driven by my love for animals! I was so excited to turn 16 and finally be old enough to volunteer at an animal shelter and spend my day surrounded by dogs. I started off in adoptions at the Arizona Humane Society. When they offered an Emergency Animal Medical Technition (EAMT) training class, I immediately signed up. Upon completion, I began volunteering in AHS’s Second Chance Animal Hospital where I continued to expand my knowledge of animal welfare, medical techniques, and the ups & downs of the rescue world. For the next several years, I continued to volunteer at various animal shelters and started fostering as many animals as possible. I knew I wanted to do something more, to make a bigger difference. I went around asking these different shelters what their biggest need was, and the most popular answer was space- specifically space for large breed pregnant or nursing dogs with their puppies. These dogs take up a lot of room and need a lot of time to grow before being able to be sent to their forever homes.

Almost There Foster Care began with the intention of making space for this niche of dogs in need, and giving them a comfortable and quiet area where they can feel as though they are in a foster home with less stress and less exposure to harmful germs, and more socialization.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Getting ATFC to where we are today has definitely had its ups and downs! We have been lucky to have a solid team and support from our friends, family, and followers! Of course in the world of animal rescue, some days can be harder than others, but the good always outweighs the bad!

Please tell us about Almost There Foster Care.
Almost There Foster Care (ATFC) is a 501c3 not for profit organization that specializes in caring for large breed pregnant or nursing dogs and their puppies. We provide them with love, care, & socialization, get them up to date with their vaccines, spayed/neutered, and micro chipped before helping them to find their furrever families! We strive to help each adopter find the dog that is right for them, and each dog find that perfect adopter.

ATFC works with local dog trainer Sara Miles of Smiles Dog Training to begin basic training and help set our dogs up for success.

We love to help our dogs stay in touch! If our adopters opt in, they will be kept in touch with those who have adopted their dog’s litter-mates for future play-dates and updates!

We at ATFC treat the dogs at our facility as our own. We love each and every one of them, and get so much joy out of seeing them find their forever homes!

We are always so excited to get updates from our previous puppers!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
There is absolutely no way to choose one! Animal-related, I absolutely love that my parents allowed me to embrace my love for animals! We always had several dogs, cats, reptiles, bunnies, etc. For my 5th birthday I got an entire petting zoo, to keep! The goats ended up living in the house with me and traveled with me everywhere I went!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.almosttherefostercare.org
• Email: adopt@atfcaz.org
• Instagram: @almosttherefostercare
• Facebook: facebook.com/atfcaz
• Other: Atfc.petfinder.com

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