When Lana Deering and her husband began fostering kittens more than a decade ago, she fell in love with the process of nurturing animals in need—challenges and all. “You are their parents,” she explains, “so great rewards are forming. Sickness brings you even closer…as you work very hard to overcome their problem. I enjoyed every minute of the fostering, but my circle wasn’t complete until I started doing adoptions…with my fosters and kittens from other foster parents.” For more than two decades, Deering has opened her heart and home to cats rescued by Animal Outreach of the Mother Lode (AOML), an organization that aims to reduce the number of cats euthanized throughout El Dorado, Sacramento and Placer counties and advocates for animal welfare legislation and education. In addition to low- and no-cost spay and neuter and vaccination programs for both cats and dogs, the nonprofit’s signature services include a feline shelter, a free feral cat spay and neuter program, and an extensive pre-adoption process that involves leukemia testing, deworming, flea treatments and microchipping. “[Our] mission is to save lives,” says Deering, who currently serves on the board of directors. “We help our own county first but lend a helping hand to wherever we may be needed.” That sentiment is reflected in the staggering number of animals AOML’s 150 volunteers have served since beginning their work in 1992. According to its website, the group rescues more than 2,000 dogs and cats each year. “In order to make the greatest impact, we need a tremendous amount of effort from members of the community,” says AOML Director Maggie Killackey. “Everything we do benefits our community in the long run, whether it is the cat outside the window of a neighbor, that needs to be neutered [or] vaccinating the dogs and cats against rabies.”

animaloutreach.net

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