Los Angeles Animal Rescue Of The Week: The Bill Foundation

When their rescue Golden Retreiver/Labrador mix, Bill, lost his battle to cancer in August of 1998, Jo and Peter Forman channeled their grief into something positive. They created the Bill Foundation in 2000 to focus on rescuing dogs from high kill shelters in order to place them in loving homes.

Administrative director of the Bill Foundation Kim Sullivan acknowledges that it's possible to get discouraged in her line of work. She explains, "tens of thousands of dogs are euthanized each year because there is no room to keep them," and points out that volunteers are often faced with the tragedy of only being able to rescue a small portion of dogs from shelters. That's why the Bill Foundation has adopted the motto "dog by dog," and commits itself to rescuing as many dogs as possible from overcrowded city and county shelters throughout Los Angeles. So far, the foundation has been able to place an average of one dog every other day in a new home.

Sullivan notes that "every dollar contributed brings us closer to the day when no dogs are left behind to be euthanized." Relying entirely on donations and the help of volunteers who foster the animals, the foundation has anywhere from thirty to fifty dogs available for adoption at any given time. In the future, the Bill Foundation's goal is to open up a large shelter or sanctuary for these animals, so that they can increase their numbers of saved animals.

To see some of the dogs available for adoption through the Bill Foundation, click on the slideshow below.