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Penny is one of the dogs Bridge to Home Animal Rescue brought to Pennsylvania from Kentucky.
Courtesy of Sharon D. Lutz photography
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Faith, who was rescued from an abusive home, gets a wash after arriving in Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of Sharon D. Lutz photography
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Thunder was up for adoption for several months in Kentucky before finding a foster home with Bridge to Home.
Courtesy of Sharon D. Lutz photography
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Dogs are offloaded from the bus on New Year’s Eve as fosters wait to collect them.
Courtesy of Sharon D. Lutz photography
Three years running, Bridge to Home Animal Rescue has used New Year’s Eve as a day to rescue dozens of dogs at once.
This time around, the organization was able to bring 38 dogs into the homes of the Bridge to Home’s team of fosters.
“A shelter reached out from Kentucky and said they were in pretty bad shape,” said Tracey Crompton, director and co-founder of Bridge to Home. “The shelter had just gotten abandoned.”
Crompton declined to identify the shelter that contacted Bridge to Home, but on New Year’s Eve took a bus to meet them halfway in Charleston, W. Va.
“I had a team that left at 6:30 in the morning,” Crompton said. “I had a team here that helps clean the bus, clean the crates. The fosters were all here waiting to take their dogs home.”
Crompton gave credit to the crew of fosters who “stepped up” and took two or three of the dogs into their homes, as Bridge to Home does not have a brick-and-mortar location.
The organization will take dogs of any breed or age, but the animals also need to be family-friendly pets.
“We don’t do any that have aggression,” Crompton said.
The smallest dog Bridge to Home rescued from Kentucky weighed just five pounds, and the largest was 97 pounds.
“We had an older hound dog named Thunder; he was down there for months without any interest,” Crompton said.
Though they were able to rescue more than three dozen dogs, Crompton notes the number is less than last year.
“We don’t have as many fosters. During COVID, we had a ton of fosters. Things have slowed down since COVID,” Cormpton said.
Anyone who is interested in fostering for Bridge to Home can visit bridgetohome84.com to learn more about the application process.
When it comes time for the dogs to be adopted, Crompton said it can be an emotional experience to see the animals find new forever homes.
“You just stand there and look at these dogs – They are not supposed to be alive. They should have been euthanized. They are good dogs. It’s overwhelming. You stand there and cry,” Crompton said.
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