About Us
Our Angel Foundation is a nonprofit that advocates for handicapped dogs.
The foundation was inspired by our family's first handicapped dog, Angel, who passed away suddenly in March of 2019. In the short time that our family was blessed to have her, she changed our lives.
We want to inspire others to find out how incredible handicapped dogs can be by fostering and adopting. We also want to support those who are currently caring for handicapped dogs by providing resources and information that is relevant to your dog's special needs.
Our Angel Foundation began as a Facebook page named "Our Angel". It was created on August 6th, 2017 to share the joys that Angel brought to our family. The page shared photos, videos, and stories about Angel and her day to day life. Since Angel's passing, the page has been repurposed to represent the foundation.
Our Angel
Angel's story starts in Cairo, Egypt.
In January of 2017, a woman in Cairo reached out to our family for help saving a special dog. In the video she sent, we saw another dog that could not use her back legs and we wanted to help her too. This dog was Angel.
Her hips had been shattered and her back had been broken. This meant that the connection between brain and legs was impaired. BARRK Animal Rescue specializes in rehabilitation and agreed to take both dogs. Angel finally flew to New York in April of 2017.
Upon her arrival, her skin was deteriorating and bleeding. She was immediately rushed to the vet where they felt it was best to euthanize her. The rescue asked to see if she could be stabilized with pain medication, antibiotics, and fluids. A decision was made the next day.
Angel fought fearlessly for her life and began to get better. After six weeks in the ICU, she finally was ready for a home. As we watched the progress through photos and videos, we decided that we had to foster her. Within a few days of her arrival, we knew that she was part of our family.
After years of dog ownership, we didn’t realize how much more one could learn from a special needs dog. From Angel, we learned about love, patience, caring, determination, pride, fierceness, courage, endurance, and fun – lots and lots of fun.
In March of 2019, Angel passed away. We had no idea that she would only be with us for less than two years. In just the span of a few days, she suddenly succumbed to an aggressive bacterial infection. But in those oh so brief years, she changed our lives forever. Angel made us laugh every day, and she taught us to never ever give up.
In her memory, this foundation has been born. It is our sincere wish that it will help change the lives of many families and special dogs for years to come.
Our Mission
Educate:
We want to help educate dog lovers about how to care for dogs with special needs and how the rewards are completely worth the effort.
Fundraise:
We want to be able to collect and provide funds to dogs who need medical care, equipment, or have other special needs.
Empower:
We want to empower owners of special needs dogs by providing resources and information.
Our Objective:
There are many dogs that are handicapped due to the inhumane conditions in other parts of the world. While there is nothing wrong with handicapped dogs, it is not okay to cause a dog to become handicapped.
A lack of spaying and neutering due to societal norms, poverty, and lack of education have resulted in a worldwide epidemic of over pet population. This causes many dogs to be harmed through car accidents, beatings, shootings, poisonings, hangings, and untreated diseases.
As the foundation grows we would like to contribute to scientists and veterinarians as they work to develop nonsurgical sterilization options. A food-based or injectable sterilization method would enable field workers to economically and humanely reduce the worldwide population and alleviate the suffering.
We aim to spread awareness about spaying and neutering in order to reduce the number of dogs that go unloved, therefore reducing the number of dogs that become handicapped through abuse and neglect. We hope that one day, no dog is homeless.