Always & Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary: Happily Ever After for Unwanted Dogs
When you open the doors to the Always & Furever red barn set in rural Spring Hill, Kansas, you’ll find nearly all of the rescue dogs are old, sick, abused, abandoned and unwanted. The other thing you’ll find: every single dog is loved! They are playing in a living room, curled up sleeping on a cozy couch, getting fed by an army of volunteers in a kitchen, snuggling with their canine friends in a dog bed or excitedly awaiting to greet the next visitor with some sloppy kisses.
That’s because it is the mission of the two-year-old nonprofit, Always & Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary, to save unwanted dogs, make the remainder of their lives wonderful, find them a forever home if possible and welcome unwanted dogs that other shelters won’t take. “It doesn’t matter the age, it doesn’t matter if they’re sick, it doesn’t matter the breed. The only thing that matters is love to us,” said Always & Forever founder and president Jennifer Dulski.
The nonprofit was first conceived in early 2017 by Kansas City transplant Dulski, who’d just arrived in town but knew she wanted to build something meaningful beyond her work as an attorney at a KC law firm. Always a dog lover and with two older rescue dogs, Dulski developed a dream of a senior dog rescue sanctuary.
From finding the funding through construction delays and other mishaps, Dulski’s dream became a reality during a long, sometimes difficult journey. Today, Always & Furever serves as many as 100 dogs in a rebuilt red barn on five acres in Miami County.
During construction, an emphasis of the Always and Furever concept was the design of the interior. Dulski knew she didn’t want these previously abused and abandoned dogs living out their lives in sterile kennels. Instead, the barn is designed to look like a family home with couches, beds, a kitchen, TVs, soft music playing and volunteers lounging comfortably with the dogs.
In addition to the interior design concept, Dulski made a pledge about how she wanted to care for the dogs after her best friend died in a hospital in Boston. She’d spent many hours holding her hand in the hospital room when they finally had to take her off life support. “To hold someone you love, human or animal, as they leave for heaven is a privilege not everyone is granted. That’s why I am there every single time one of our beloved pups crosses the rainbow bridge. I hold them and remind them that even if for a moment, someone on this earth loved them and believed their lives mattered,” she said.
“Every soul deserves to know love. We carry that with everything we do now; we love the ones others deem unlovable or unworthy, or too old, or too sick, or too expensive to take on the risk, heartache and pain. We welcome them with open arms and do whatever we can to make their life, however long they have, a little bit better.”
The local real estate family who sold Dulski the farm named it the Ever After Farm and that is where the organization’s motto began. #itsnevertoolateforhappilyeverafter ■
ONGOING NEEDS AT ALWAYS & FUREVER
$50,000 in monthly veterinarian costs to treat the more than 100 dogs.
2020 WISH LIST
Dog Therapy Pool that costs $30,000 ($5,000 of which has been raised)
For more information and to make a donation, please visit: www.AlwaysAndFurever.love
