Home for Life® in the Media
Read what regional and national media say about Home for Life®.
News stories about Home for Life's Fall Fancy Feast with Garth Stein, November 2011
Garth Stein, author of the best-seller, The Art of Racing in the Rain, is Home for Life®'s special guest at our 2011 Fall Fancy Feast, held November 11 at The Metropolitan in Golden Valley.
Star Tribune
Reporter Kristin Tillotson of the Star Tribune interviews Garth Stein and Home for Life executive director Lisa LaVerdiere about their joint effort on behalf of Home for Life's animals. Read the interview.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press announces Garth Stein's appearance at Home for Life's fall fundraiser, and describes his support for our approach to alleviating the plight of homeless animals. Read the story.
Twin Cities Daily Planet
Courtney Algeo interviewed author Garth Stein about his book, The Art of Racing in the Rain, and about his support for Home for Life®, in her literary column for the Twin Cities Daily Planet.
Read the interview to learn more about Garth's views on dogs, racing, and writing.
Tails Magazine, August 2011
Tails Magazine, a publication of Tails Pet Media Group, recently talked with Home for Life® executive director Lisa LaVerdiere about The Third DoorTM, Home for Life's unique approach to the problem of unadoptable pets.
LaVerdiere's early experiences with pet rescue taught her that not every shelter animal is adoptable, as much as we might wish otherwise. Again and again, elderly shelter animals and those with medical issues, disabilities, or behavior problems are passed over by potential adoptive families. Home for Life® sanctuary was created to give these animals a third option—a permanent home where they can live out their lives in safety, comfort, and with human and animal companions.
To read the article online, see Local Hero – Home for Life Animal Sanctuary Offers a Third Door.
I Love Cats magazine, January/February 2011
I Love Cats magazine kicked off 2011 with a two-page profile of Home for Life®!
Contributing editor Joyce White tells the story of Home for Life's founding, its mission, and its programs with a special focus on our facilities for—you guessed it—cats!
Read the article, and catch a glimpse of some of our adorable cats in print.
Bangkok Post, October 2010
We're pleased that the recognition and awareness created by the Home for Life's mission and work has brought us special-needs animals from around the globe. With few organizations willing or able to take on the challenge of animals with special needs, word of the unique services we provide has spread, bringing the sanctuary to the attention of shelters and rescues from around the U.S. and now even internationally.
Haan (now called chok dee) and indi get to know each other at the Soi Dog rescue.
The Bangkok Post got wind of two paraplegic Thai street dogs that found their way to Home for Life® thanks to The Soi Dog Foundation in Phuket, Thailand, and the volunteers and animal lovers who raised the funds for their journey. They published the inspiring tale in The Story of Haan and Indi, an article in their October 24 edition. Read the article.
DogTipper.com, May 31 & June 1, 2010
It's no surprise that August became DogTipper.com's Cat of the Day. August loves dogs!This popular resource for all things dog recently published three stories about Home for Life® and its residents.
On May 31, Home for Life®, our mission, and our sanctuary model were profiled in a spotlight news story.
On the same day, HFL's August was profiled as the site's Cat of the Day. The next day, HFL's Wyley received Dog of the Day status!
Read all three stories:
Home for Life Shelter Spotlight
August: A Special Cat of the Day
Wyley: German Wirehaired Pointer
Fido Friendly Blog, April 29, 2010
Piper, by Glimpses of Soul photography
Fido Friendly is a "travel and lifestyle" magazine for dogs and their owners and they have a great blog with several great features about all things dogs.
Their story about Home for Life® and how a small sanctuary is making a big difference for special needs dogs and cats was featured on April 29.
The blog post discusses our theory of change to transform animal welfare and reduce the euthanasia for the most vulnerable animals, like Piper, Home for Life®'s epileptic golden retriever, surrendered to us by RAGOM.
Examiner.com Minneapolis, April 19, 2010
In her article Unwanted pet parrots: An alternative to adoption and euthanasia, reporter Shelley Garza addresses Home for Life's lesser-known, but just as critical, work with our avian residents.
Garza finds that Home for Life's mission is just as important for unwanted parrots as it is for dogs and cats. In fact, due to the birds' longevity and intelligence, they can face unique challenges when faced with loss of an owner.
Home for Life provides these birds with stability, routine, and plenty of stimuli so that they can live out their often long lives in a dependable, loving, and social environment.
Of particular importance to bird lovers in our Angel Care program, which Garza praises as an exceptional option for parrot owners whose pets may outlive them. Enrolling a pet parrot in Angel Care "means the bird will never be adopted out which helps prevent the frequent rehoming that can occur with parrots and birds causing stress and frustration."
DarynKagan.com, April 12, 2010
Daryn Kagan is the creator and host of DarynKagan.com, an inspirational online community that features a daily webcast of stories that, "Show the World What is Possible."
Daryn's April 12 webcast featured an interview with Home for Life® executive director Lisa LaVerdiere, accompanied by some of photographer Mark Luinenberg's favorite Home for Life® photos.
In her interview, Lisa explains HFL's "Third Door" approach to animal rescue — providing a much-needed third option for animals who are unable to find adoptive homes, but who still have too much life in them to be euthanized. That "Third Door" is the Home for Life® model — a care-for-life sanctuary that gives these animals a chance to live out their lives in a safe, healthy, and loving environment.
Lisa also describes HFL's belief in the circle of empathy, which comes to life in our Renaissance and outreach programs. The Renaissance program pairs young HFL dogs with at-risk teens who train the dogs for a future of giving back through therapy work. Dogs who graduate from the program make regular therapy visits to area hospitals, nursing homes, and women's shelters.
Before founding her inspirational web community, Daryn Kagan anchored both news and sports at CNN for 12 years.
PetsMatter Newsletter, March/April 2010
Celeste, a blind cat who is also leukemia-positive, has a full life that includes playing with other cats and small dogs, and getting plenty of love from HFL staff and visitors.
The PetsMatter Newsletter, published by the American Animal Hospital Association, mentions Home for Life® as a resource for people who have special needs pets.
In the newsletter's March/April issue, contributor Jen Reeder writes about living with two types of special needs pets: blind or deaf pets and pets with missing limbs. Both articles provide support to people living with disabled pets, asserting that, as we at Home for Life know, cats and dogs with disabilities can "have a perfectly good quality of life."
Read both articles: Living With Pets Who Have Missing Limbs and Living With Blind and Deaf Pets.
Guideposts Blog, February 11, 2010
Mari, a Renaissance program alumnus, is now an experienced therapy dog who makes goodwill visits to hospitals.
The popular inspirational magazine Guideposts published a blog post about Home for Life®'s Renaissance Program in February.
Blog contributor Sharon Azar first learned about Home for Life® when she read the book Angel Dogs with a Mission: Divine Messengers in Service to All Life by Allen and Linda Anderson. One of the stories in the book features Home for Life's own Emily, whose participation in our Renaissance program changed the life of an at-risk teen. (See our 2008 Press Archive for more about this book.)
In her blog post, Azar explores the unique relationships that the students at Boys Totem Town who participate in our Renaissance program develop with the dogs they train.
For more information about the Renaissance program, see Animals Give Back.