about us

Keeping Pets and Families Together

betterTogether Forever provides options, resources, and referrals to pet families in Los Angeles who are facing challenges, helping them keep their pets safe, healthy, and at home, so they don’t have to surrender them to an animal shelter or lose them due to difficult circumstances.

Why? Because…

Recent national data suggests (but estimates vary) that about 5.8 to 6.5 million dogs and cats enter U.S. animal shelters each year

The main reasons pets enter animal shelters are generally related to housing, life changes, and limited access to support resources rather than behavior.

No restriction pet-friendly housing (open acceptance) is a small minority, and most units still come with conditions (fees, deposits, breed or size limits, or approval requirements)

This is who we are. This is what we do. This is why we do it.

our programs / services

The core of our mission is to keep pets out of animal shelters and with the people who love them. We focus our efforts on the following:

Helps keep pets with the people who love them. By connecting families facing challenges with resources and support, the program offers alternatives to surrender, allowing beloved pets to remain safe, cared for, and at home where they belong

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We offer support by phone, text, and email, connecting pet families with resources and guidance. We respond to inquiries from those in our service area within 72 hours, Monday through Friday.

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We partner with local organizations that host pet event days, sharing helpful information, providing resources, and connecting families to low and no-cost services. We also offer pet wellness clinics to support the health and well-being of pets in the communities we serve.

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our values

We believe financial hardship should never force a family to choose between meeting basic needs and keeping a beloved pet. Our values guide what we do, how we serve, and how we work alongside our partners and community to support people and pets.

compassion

we are driven by our love for pets, the people who love them, and the communities we serve.

integrity

we act with honesty, lead with accountability, and strive to do what is right for both pets and families, building trust through our actions and partnerships.

persistence

we are responsive, action-oriented, and committed to finding solutions together.

progress

we are committed to creating better outcomes for every person and pet we serve through collaboration and care.

respect

we treat all people and animals with kindness, dignity, and care, honoring the value of every relationship and community connection.

our history

betterTogether Forever was founded in 2021 through the merger of two animal welfare nonprofits, Bark Avenue Foundation and Home Dog LA. We came together in response to the shifting needs brought on by COVID-19 and increased barriers to access. By joining forces, we strengthened our ability to serve the community and continue working toward a better Los Angeles for pets and the people who love them.

bark avenue

Bark Avenue was founded in 2004 by animal-lover and advocate, Melanie Pozez. Since the founding, Bark Avenue has helped thousands of animals and their families in Los Angeles and surrounding communities through safety net programs, finding pets homes, providing medical care and sterilization surgery that at-risk pet parents would not otherwise have been able to obtain. In August 2017 Christy Schilling became Executive Director.

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home dog LA

Home Dog was founded by Kerry Armstrong in 2013 at the North Central Animal Shelter in Los Angeles with the desire to help financially challenged pet owners with resources so that they could keep their pets and not turn them in to the shelter. Since 2013 Home Dog LA has helped keep over 4,000 pets out of the shelter by providing free pet food, assistance with veterinary visits, pet supplies, covering the cost to spring a pet from the shelter and more.

betterTogether forever leadership

Christy Schilling

Christy has always had a love for animals, people and giving back which is why she earned her BA degree in Sociology/Social Welfare. She worked and volunteered with pregnant and parenting teens, victims of domestic violence and low-income housing recipients. Through this, her eyes were widely opened to the plight of animals, so she shifted her focus to helping pets and people through humane education, legislation, mobile adoptions, coordinating fosters, volunteers, and transports, and partnering with a variety of organizations. After over 15 years in animal welfare volunteerism she co-founded a non-profit animal welfare organization with the mission to teach, advocate, protect and support pets opening a rescue only pet store. She was awarded 2014 Woman of the Year by Congressman Adam Schiff and the 2016 Animal Activist award from Animal PAC for her animal welfare work. In 2016 Christy decided to focus her efforts on prevention wanting to keep pets out of animal shelters and with their families and became Executive Director Bark Avenue Foundation in August 2017. Christy resides in Glendale with her loving family that is a husband, 2 rescue dogs and 2 rescue cats.

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Kerry Armstrong

Kerry founded Home Dog LA in 2013 with the desire to cut down the number of animal surrenders to LA City Shelters. Before starting Home Dog LA she was a volunteer at the North Central Shelter and saw too many animals being surrendered by people in tears. People who loved their pets but felt like they had no other option. Inspired and mentored by Lori Weise of Downtown Dog Rescue, she started Home Dog LA as the surrender prevention program at North Central Shelter. Kerry has loved animals for forever and has been involved in animal welfare since 2004 when she was an apprentice dog trainer in New York City with ‘Who’s Walking Who” and volunteered at various shelters around the city. Past work includes producing commercial photo shoots, performing with experimental theater company Red Dive. In LA, she was the Senior Producer of The Moth StorySLAM Series and main stage events. Kerry lives in Los Feliz with her family and four crazy rescue dogs.

our board

Kate Sawyer

Treasurer

Kate was born and raised in New York City but has lived in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. She graduated from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont with a BA in French and a minor in Spanish. For 24 years, Kate has worked for Cheesecake Factory, where she is Manager of Internal Audit. Kate has served as a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters for eight years and is still in contact with her “little sister”. A long time pet lover and (we all know who’s in charge).

Vinay Raghuvanshiu

Board Member

Vinay is a Southern California native and works at The Cheesecake Factory as a Senior Manager where he has been for over 8 years. Vinay graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a dual major in Finance and Accounting. For over four years, Vinay was a mentor to several elementary school students in an at-risk area of Orange County through America On Track. This experience kicked off Vinay’s dedication and commitment to giving back to our community. Even though Vinay’s apartment does not allow for pets, he tries to spend time with his brother’s adopted dog, Bella who runs the household.

Dr. Laura Pelegrin, Ph.D.

Board Member

Laura was born an animal lover and has been a pet parent to 8 dogs, 18 cats, 2 mice and 1 opossum… so far She lives and works in Long Beach, running Pelegrin Research Group, a marketing consultancy, for over 30 years. She volunteered with Bark Avenue Foundation as a Humane Educator for three years, has volunteered with Best Friends Animal Society for the past 15 years, and served on the board of directors for the Glendale Humane Society after it became a no-kill rescue organization.Her love of pets and social justice motivates her to do everything she can to prevent the heart-break of anyone being forced to surrender their furry family member because they find themselves short on resources. She loves betterTogether Forever’s focus on providing immediate solutions that make life better for underserved people, their beloved pets and our communities

Lana Meier

Secretary

Lana Meier has worked as Director of Business Operations at a boutique talent agency specializing in music for the past 20 years. She has always been passionate about animals, which evolved into her doing rescue work. Since its inception in 2014, Lana has volunteered for the Intervention program counseling families at the North Central Animal Shelter, and follows up to be sure that their needs have been met. Lana loves living in the chaos of a home with her husband and their five rescue pups.

our partners

funders

This work is made possible through the generous support of the following foundations and organizations:

community

We partner with local community organizations, veterinarians, pet food and supply providers, and other businesses and nonprofits to help keep pets safe, healthy, and cared for, including:

Best Friends Animal Society
Better Neighbor Project
HEART LA
Humane World (Humane Society HSUS)
LA Animal Services
LA County Animal Care and Control
LA Veterinary Clinic
Latino Alliance for Animal Care Foundation (LAACF)
Michelson Found Animals
North Figueroa Animal Hospital
Off the Leash Pet Provisions
Otis College
Pasadena Humane Society
Rosie Bunny Bean
Sam Simon Foundation Clinic
Shelter Me

diversity and inclusion

Our culture is one of inclusion. We embrace and salute all people, regardless of their origin, culture, race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental ability, or work-life situation. We believe that when we include, when we collaborate and work together as one, we all benefit.

501(c)3

betterTogether Forever is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and contributions are tax-deductible for income, gift, and estate taxes. Our EIN is 20-1329182.