www.hart90.org

United Way/CFC Campaign #8363

Remember to designate HART #8363

in the United Way/CFC Campaign this fall.

The life you save could be theirs!

They have no one else to turn to.

Can you help?

Over three-quarters of the animals HART adopts were scheduled to be destroyed!

They wouldn't be in a home today...they wouldn't be in your home...without HART. Here are just a handful of their stories. Stories that would never have been told without you!

The rural shelter had received calls about a pitifully thin Shar Pei being chained up outside a car wash without food, water or shelter. That's how Nick's story began. Except, Nick wasn't a Shar Pei. He was a frightened mixed breed slowly dying a painful death. His fur had fallen out and his poor skin was so swollen with infection passers-by thought he was supposed to be that wrinkled.

On Nick's first day in the shelter, a volunteer came in and immediately noticed the little guy curled up near his door with the saddest look you've even seen on an animal's face. She bent down to pet poor Nick's hot flaky skin and his little stub of a tail thumped. He gently put out a paw to touch her wrist and then crawled onto her lap with a soft sigh. She couldn't get over how sweet and loving this dog was even though he had to be in incredible pain. Nick was scheduled to be euthanized that day because with so many perfectly adoptable pets on hand, no one would ever want him. The volunteer had other plans. So much love and loyalty wasn't going unrewarded and this guy was going to be given the opportunity to live the type of life he deserved. So many calls were made, so many turn downs received, until the call to HART. So on Christmas Eve, one lucky Nick went home, thanks to HART.

"We no longer have time for him." If HART had just one dollar for every time a call included that phrase we would never need to ask for money again. Perhaps those giving up their pet think it makes them sound less callous and self-centered if it appears they are trying to put their pet's needs first, but just ask  twelve-year-old Norwegian Elkhound Ethan if it makes a difference. Or ask eighteen-year old Scruffy, a gentle, loving white and black long-hair. That's right, at eighteen this sweet older gentleman had developed a tumor. Evidently it was easier to get rid of him than to give him the time and medical care he needed. I wonder if the family even waited one week before getting a "kitten" to replace their aging and ill Scruffy. Is it really possible that a pet has nothing more to offer a family after eighteen years of love and devotion? Surely a pet deserves more!

Do you know how we decide who gets saved? We look at those that need us most! We never think who would get adopted fastest, instead, we always consider who needs us more. There are hundreds of organizations that assist the puppies and the purebreds and the gorgeous young mixed-breeds. HART also helps the ones with three legs, the senior citizens, and those needing expensive medical care. Animals like Prada, a twenty-pound dog with a three-pound tumor that she dragged along as she walked. Shelter volunteers worked tirelessly to help this sweet girl and no one would take her...until they called HART. The funny thing is, the seemingly unadoptable often find their forever homes fastest!

Area shelters are full to capacity right now. Do you know why? Because as the Fourth of July drew near, people gave up their faithful companions because they couldn't get them into boarding or didn't want to pay for it. Now, two weeks later, many of these pets will be destroyed, if they haven't been already (shelters can put down give-ups immediately, a fact not widely known). Even more horrible is the fact that the minute they are dragged from their cages to be put down, another animal will come in so their family can go on vacation. This is the worst time of year for America's pets and they urgently need your support to get them through!

You've already helped HART in the past either through the United Way/CFC Campaign, by making a donation, attending an event, or adopting or fostering one of our animals. We ask those of you who have adopted to stop right now and look at your HART companion. It's almost certain he/she wouldn't be alive today had HART not been there to help. You, more than anyone, know HOW IMPORTANT our work is. You've already saved one life, can you help save another? Please, make a donation today in honor of your special HART friend(s). For those of you who already had a pet when you learned of HART, could you visit www.hart90.org and make a donation in the name of someone anxiously awaiting their new home? They too would not be alive today had we not taken them in.

Right now, you have the power to help us empty a few of those shelter cages. You have the power to save an animal whose only crime is having a family that wanted to go on vacation. You have the power to right the incredible wrong of giving up a pet in its golden years because you "just don't have the time for them anymore."

Thank you for supporting HART. Your contribution will help Nick, Ethan, Scruffy and hundreds of others like them. They are alive today because of you. Your donation will pull one more from its cage at a rural shelter, just in time!

$250_______ $100______ $50______ $25______ $___________

I would like to make this donation* in (circle one) honor of/in memory of the following:

_____________________________________________________________________________

(All donations made in the name of a special pet will be posted on the HART website throughout August and September)

Mail Your Donation Today To: HART, PO BOX 7261, FAIRFAX STATION, VIRGINIA 22039-7261

*THANKS TO OUR STRONG VOLUNTEER CORPS, APPROXIMATELY $.95 OF EVERY DOLLAR GOES DIRECTLY TO HELP OUR ANIMALS!

Donations can also be made via Pay Pal by visiting www.hart90.org