“We’ll rescue a dog,” Gail Schwartz tells me, “and we will feel like it's got an owner. It’s just this kind of…this feeling. And sure enough, we find the owner and they’re home.”
Gail and her daughter Lauren Anchill, co-founders of Almost Home, have always had a profound bond with animals.
“We would rescue animals off the streets growing up,” Lauren says.
“When I was little there was a squirrel, I called her Sally,” Gail adds. “I used to feed her, and she would crawl all over the screen door. I opened the door, Sally came up to me, and my mom started screaming, ‘Get that thing out of here!'"
Before Almost Home, Gail and Lauren volunteered at a number of local animal shelters, but they all euthanized their animals.
"It was too distressing for us,” Lauren says.
The women began their own no-kill rescue, but it was the biggest challenge of their lives, with 100 animals at once and $20,000 in monthly bills.
In 2001, a dog named Sugar jump-started Almost Home.
“She was in Ohio, and she was pregnant. They were going to euthanize her. They put Sugar in the gas chamber—and she started having her puppies. It was Thanksgiving. And one of the shelter workers couldn't take it and pulled her out.
“She called me and said, ‘I'm gonna lose my job, but I need to place this animal. She's got puppies.’ And Lauren and I were like, ‘Let's go to Ohio.’"
Lauren and Gail found all eight puppies a home—and even got Sugar placed with one of her pups.
Almost Home has created a deep base of dog lovers willing to give their rescues a temporary home.
“In a shelter, they're in a cage all day,” Lauren says. “Foster homes are so much better for them. They’re happy in a home environment."
The women tell me of dogs who needed extensive surgeries; Almost Home paid all the animals' medical bills.
“That’s the kind of money we need,” Lauren says. “We do anything medically that needs to be done."
She turns to Gail. “Like those puppies we spent $20,000 on.”
“Yeah, they all had parvo,” says Gail. “Only one made it. But we still have to pay the bill.”
Almost Home’s signature event is their group adoptions. Dozens of dogs who were on death row, from multiple states, get adopted all at once, by a parking lot full of enthusiastic pet foster parents.
“We usually rescue 20 to 50 at one time," Gail says. “We give the foster parents all their supplies. We give the dogs chicken when they arrive."
“And then when they get home,” Lauren adds, “they send us pictures in their warm loving home. It’s very rewarding what we do.”
Clara Calabro of Livonia has fostered through Almost Home multiple times. Clara and her family adopted the second dog they fostered.
“These animals come from a lot of turmoil," Clara says. "They need a lot of extra love. Me and my kids have that.”
They share stories of their dogs helping people through depression, illnesses, losses. Multiple people have told them Almost Home saved their lives. Gail always refuses credit.
“I say, ‘We didn’t. The dog did.’”
“One of my friends asked me,” said Lauren, “Do you see yourself doing Almost Home for the rest of your life?' And I said, ‘100% yeah.’ I would never do anything else.”
“I love that,” Gail says.
"In a shelter, they're in a cage all day. Foster homes are so much better for them. They’re happy."