- Dogs
- Cats
- Adopt
- Foster
- Volunteer
- Help Us
How we became Adoption First
Founder Staci Ventura and her husband Eric Crespo began to develop the idea of Adoption First Animal Rescue in 2011 while working for a rescue in the San Diego, CA area. When Eric was stationed in North Carolina the two realized how much help the rural areas needed and decided to pursue the idea of Adoption First! The Rescue officially started on October 1, 2013 and received its 501c3 status as an official non profit organization in 2014. Since then the rescue has developed a great team of volunteers and established a board of directors who run the day to day operations.
Timeline
2013
Formed all government documents needed to form a non-profit organization
2014
Rescued our first dog! Ended the year by saving over 100 dogs. Started to build our small team.
2015
Received our non-profit status from the IRS. Started growing our team of volunteers and fosters. Began hosting community events.
2016
Continued our foster based program and started developing plans to open a public rescue center. Really focused on grants and community partnerships.
2017
Opened our first public Rescue Center and doubled our foster program and our volunteers!
2018
Increased our community reach, obtaining more volunteers than ever before. Rescued over 500 dogs for the year, and continued to make improvements to the Rescue Center.
2019
Purchased our first Rescue Center Transport Van.
2020
Hired our first in house veterinarian.
2021
Built our own surgery suite and started performing spays and neuters at our rescue center. Started taking in cats from county shelters and finding them forever homes.
2022
Opened the first and only low cost spay and neuter clinic in Onslow County. Spayed & neutered 3,795 animals. We also saved over 800 dogs & cats and adopted out 785 to their forever homes.
2023
Purchased our own Rescue Facility.
Statistics
# of dogs adopted0
20140
20150
20160
20170
20180
20190
20200
20230
20210
2022 - Cats
