Profile: Sammy's Hope

Sammy's Hope in Sayreville became a formal animal welfare organization in September 2010. The organization grew out of five years of volunteer efforts at the Edison Animal Shelter by one of its co-founders, Elda Hubbard.

Hubbard's focus and concern was on pit bulls, typically considered unadoptable and not made available to the public. With the permission of the municipality, she was able to facilitate adoptions for some of these dogs.

The rescue's name came from one of the dogs in the shelter, Samson ("Sammy" for short), a large brindle pit bull/boxer mix that exemplified all of the good qualities of the often-misunderstood breed.

Soon the rescue began taking in cats in addition to dogs. Among the things Sammy's Hope did to make life a little easier for the felines was to provide soft bedding, toys, consistent diets, grooming and play sessions.

In the fall of 2014, the Sammy's Hope Board learned of an opportunity to lease space in an existing but unused shelter facility in Sayreville. Sammy's Hope Animal Welfare & Adoption Center (SHAWAC) had its grand opening on Feb. 26, 2015, and since then has been providing adoption services for shelter animals, helping to relieve overcrowded conditions at area municipal animal shelters.

The animals in the care of Sammy's Hope receive medical care (including vaccinations, testing and spay/neuter surgery), and socialization and behavior training as needed. There is particular focus on animals that have been in shelters for especially long periods, those being overlooked for adoption for any number of reasons and those whose behaviors may be hindering their adoption.

It's the belief at Sammy's Hope that by offering more focused behavior support, frequent human and animal socialization, the chances and opportunities to place homeless dogs and cats in loving forever homes increase vastly.

In 2018, Sammy's Hope placed 156 dogs and cats of various breeds in homes; some 532 animals have been placed since opening. The adoption center, located at 1400 Main St. in Sayreville, is open Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go to sammyshope.org.

Greg Hatala may be reached at greghatalagalleries@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.