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Adoption event helps dogs find homes | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen
When Rinthea Satterlee's dog, Barkley, died from kidney failure, the Williamsburg woman wanted to honor his memory in some way.
A year later, the Barkley Foundation has helped dozens of special-needs dogs and cats from across the Midwest find new homes.
Satterlee and a group of volunteers from the new animal rescue operation, which began in January, held an adoption event and bake sale Saturday at Iowa City pet store Leash on Life.
"I knew when he passed away I had to help special needs animals," Satterlee said of Barkley, the Saint Bernard mix who died at age 8.
It was the first fundraiser for the organization, and the volunteers had more than a dozen dogs on hand. By the end of the day, five had new homes.
Satterlee was the founder of Safe Haven of Iowa County, the Williamsburg shelter she ran the past five years before stepping down to work with animals she said otherwise would slip through the system's cracks.
She pointed to Joy, for instance, a deaf and blind 13-year-old schnauzer the group has rescued -- one of the many older animals awaiting adoption.
"Not many people would take a deaf dog, because they'd say, 'Oh my gosh, they're handicapped,'" Satterlee said. "We don't see it that way."
Volunteer Amy Van Scoyoc, the vice president and treasurer for the Barkley Foundation, said the organization has placed 70 animals in foster homes since January and facilitated more than a dozen adoptions.
"We give them lives that they would have never had," said Van Scoyoc, who is fostering a young pitbull-boxer mix named Luke.
The foundation also is establishing a medical expense fund to assist families and rescue groups in spaying or neutering animals and to help with veterinarian bills.
For Van Scoyoc, sending a pet home with a family for the first time, like the three dogs Saturday, is her reward.
"You see them light up and know that dog is going to have a wonderful life," she said. "If we hadn't pulled them, they would have ended up in a garbage bag in a Dumpster behind a building."
The Barkley Foundation will take part in the Tour for Life on April 17 at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, and the Plants and Cats event April 30 at Sellers and Seekers Real Estate, 839 S. First Ave. in Iowa City.
When Rinthea Satterlee's dog, Barkley, died from kidney failure, the Williamsburg woman wanted to honor his memory in some way.
A year later, the Barkley Foundation has helped dozens of special-needs dogs and cats from across the Midwest find new homes.
Satterlee and a group of volunteers from the new animal rescue operation, which began in January, held an adoption event and bake sale Saturday at Iowa City pet store Leash on Life.
"I knew when he passed away I had to help special needs animals," Satterlee said of Barkley, the Saint Bernard mix who died at age 8.
It was the first fundraiser for the organization, and the volunteers had more than a dozen dogs on hand. By the end of the day, five had new homes.
Satterlee was the founder of Safe Haven of Iowa County, the Williamsburg shelter she ran the past five years before stepping down to work with animals she said otherwise would slip through the system's cracks.
She pointed to Joy, for instance, a deaf and blind 13-year-old schnauzer the group has rescued -- one of the many older animals awaiting adoption.
"Not many people would take a deaf dog, because they'd say, 'Oh my gosh, they're handicapped,'" Satterlee said. "We don't see it that way."
Volunteer Amy Van Scoyoc, the vice president and treasurer for the Barkley Foundation, said the organization has placed 70 animals in foster homes since January and facilitated more than a dozen adoptions.
"We give them lives that they would have never had," said Van Scoyoc, who is fostering a young pitbull-boxer mix named Luke.
The foundation also is establishing a medical expense fund to assist families and rescue groups in spaying or neutering animals and to help with veterinarian bills.
For Van Scoyoc, sending a pet home with a family for the first time, like the three dogs Saturday, is her reward.
"You see them light up and know that dog is going to have a wonderful life," she said. "If we hadn't pulled them, they would have ended up in a garbage bag in a Dumpster behind a building."
The Barkley Foundation will take part in the Tour for Life on April 17 at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, and the Plants and Cats event April 30 at Sellers and Seekers Real Estate, 839 S. First Ave. in Iowa City.