(HARTLY, Del.) - What started as a modest dog rescue operation in the homes of two young women turned into a grass roots movement overnight.
Grass Roots Rescue is a nonprofit rescue operation that fosters, trains and nurses animals to one day be ready for adoption. Co-founders Brittany Clegg of Hartly and Karli Crenshaw of Milton started the organization five years ago in August 2013.
"Our slogan is one animal at a time," said Clegg while at her home on a Wednesday afternoon, which also serves as a shelter.
"It was just Carli and I and a couple of fosters. We would pull a dog from the shelter, and it was just one. It would go to Carli or I. We would assess them and evaluate them. Maybe they would go to a foster if we had one available. Maybe they would stay with us."
The two women met while working at an animal shelter in Kent County, called Safe Haven, that was forced to shut down due to financial and legal trouble.
"I was a volunteer and foster through Safe Haven and she was an adoption coordinator. Our following really liked for us to pull the underdog," Clegg said.
Clegg is a certified dog trainer and Crenshaw has years of experience working with special needs dogs.
"Our weakness seems to be the seniors and the medical needs dogs that other rescues pass over," Crenshaw said. "To be able to take a dog that is emotionally broken and knocking on death's door and bring it back, find a family to love it, that's what it's all about for us."
Hardship is not an unfamiliar word at Grass Roots Rescue.
"Saffie, she was a hospice Husky. Thirteen years old and I had to put her down two days ago because she had cancer," Clegg said as she provided examples of the different special needs dogs the rescue fosters. "Oslo and Iva, they were born with subluxation of both elbows and had to have extensive surgery."
Their special needs dogs can be expensive but the founders say it's worth it.
"We both carry the other one when it gets a little hard," Clegg said. "The rescue is full-time but that doesn't mean a 40-hour clock-in, clock-out. When you have animals in your care, that means always."
Without a facility to house the animals, which can range from dogs, cats, bunny rabbits, even pigs, Clegg and Crenshaw have used their homes as a shelter for as many as ten different animals at a time.
"I wanted a building so badly," said Clegg. "We've outgrown our homes. We basically run shelters in our homes."
That's where Schell Brothers, a real estate and contracting giant on Delmarva, stepped in.
"We created a contest on Facebook and basically asked fans and homeowners, 'tell us why we should give to certain nonprofits in the area.' Grass Roots was one of them.' said Marketing Director Alyssa Titus.
The contest was part of the company's "Give Back" campaign that launched around Thanksgiving. Grass Roots was selected as one of the five nonprofits to receive $1,000, but the rescue operation would receive much more than that.
"One of our employees was very close to them. She reached out to Chris Schell. Chris is donating a parcel of land in Lewes. And then he donated a substantial sum to get building underway," Titus said.
"We've been waiting for some kind of opportunity like this for years, and nothing was seeming to happen," said Crenshaw, who said she was overwhelmed upon hearing the news.
"It's literally like you've had this dream your whole life and someone comes along and says, 'here you go, I'm going to help you make it a physical thing," said Clegg.
"I started this out of my love for animals but I've realized that we've touched people."
Donations are always welcome at Grass Roots Rescue, from dog beds to collars as well as monetary donations, all so that Clegg and Crenshaw can continue saving Delaware's animals in need.
One of many shining examples of why Grass Roots Rescue is one of WRDE's Hometown Heroes.
