We've been working hard to keep our Lake Forest Pet Adoption Center open since we lost our foundation funding in August 2022. With many of us in animal rescue having decades of experience, we all agree that things are the worst we've ever seen with regard to the number of animals in shelters, abandoned, and being given up by their owners.

At the same time, adopters (and fosters) are fewer and farther between. Potential adopters are also being more particular in what they want in a pet, leaving the majority of adoptable pets without interest.

Further, with the county shelter publicizing free adoptions (for dogs over 25 lbs) for more than a year, many people come to us and ask us to give them our small dogs for free, not understanding that we are a nonprofit—and put much more effort into addressing behavioral needs and medical care to rehabilitate each of our dogs than a shelter. Unlike government shelters, the only guaranteed funding our rescue center has is our $19,000 annual contract with the City of Lake Forest. The rest is up to each of us in our village of supporters.

Sunny, Maggie, Ivy practicing Place command

Sunny, Maggie, and Ivy practicing the "Place" command (thanks to our Trainer, Maya Mitchell)

Universally, costs are up. Fundraising is down. Compounding these issues, dogs are coming in with more medical and behavioral needs to address prior to being made available for adoption than in the past.

This is a nationwide crisis that we cannot control. What we can control however, is how we respond to these challenges.

The Pet Adoption Center of Orange County (PAC-OC) recognized the issues early on and has tried to utilize our center and available resources to be proactive in community outreach, education, and support to attempt to prevent more homeless pets.

A few of these initiatives are:

Accepting and promoting pet food donations in collaboration with RSM Cares, The Bell Tower Foundation to offer pet pantry services at the twice a month food pantry in Rancho Santa Margarita. We receive and store most of the donations at our center. We also share donations with other rescue groups in need.
Providing more corporate and group opportunities for volunteering, most of which are held at our center. We've worked with many local businesses on events and volunteering. Recently, we were approved as a nonprofit volunteer partner with Applied Medical among others.
Attending weekday corporate events for education and adoptions. Some of these events from the past year were held at UCI Medical Center in Orange, Mercury Insurance in Brea, and with United Pet Care in Irvine.
Collaborating with a new local nonprofit to establish a low-cost spay/neuter clinic to be held regularly in Mission Viejo. We believe it will be launching within the next month. We will announce as soon as finalized.

All of these community efforts combine to educate and engage the public to improve conditions for pets locally. In many cases they help keep pets in their current homes, reducing some of the need for additional animal intake.

Without public support, we cannot continue, and may have to shut down our center by year-end. We need funds to catch up on and continue paying our rent.

Further, the longer the dogs are held, besides holding costs, the more likely we are to incur further medical costs. We operate on a very slim budget, with over 90 volunteers running our center.

I've been working to get the word out through a variety of resources. Here are a few recent online resources you can share to provide further detailed information on our organization, our mission, and our expansive efforts:

Bold Journey profile
OC Nonprofit Central Profile
LA Times OC Visionaries 2022 Profile (announced as a 2024 OC Visionary for our new programs - October publication)

The PAC-OC is desperate for donations to pay the rent and overhead to keep our center open. Please, Please, Please consider a one-time or recurring donation to help us continue operating. We have nowhere for these precious pups to go to live should we have to close our center. WE DESPERATELY NEED YOU - OUR COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT!

Gratefully,

April Josephson,

CEO/Executive Director

HELP! Save The PAC-OC's Lake Forest Adoption Center!!

Apple, Rockie, Terry & Jerry and all our pups will lose their home!

Team Members