Hope Changes Everything

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It began around a kitchen table. 

A small group of six or seven friends came together in the late 1980s because they shared a simple conviction: animals in need deserved people willing to stand up for them. The gathering was informal, held in one member’s kitchen, but the questions they were asking were anything but small. They had been reading stories from animal-welfare organizations and talking about what ordinary people could do to help animals in their own community.  At the time, the group was deeply concerned about the hunting of deer at Tyler State Park. Then, during one of their meetings, someone brought in a newspaper story about a little dog who had been found and survived with a chain embedded in its neck. The photograph and the story stayed with them. Rather than simply feeling heartbroken, they decided to act.

 

From Concern to Action

The group protested the Tyler State Park hunt and discovered something important in the process: a handful of committed people really could make a difference. If they could speak up for the deer, why couldn’t they also help save dogs and cats who were homeless, being surrendered, or at risk in shelters?  At the center of that effort were founders, Hope Wolk and her friends Marilyn & Herbert Neiman. Years earlier, they and their friends had imagined opening a place where animals could be safe. Hope for the Animals grew from the shared desire to help animals in need and eventually fund a sanctuary.  The group decided to call themselves "Hope for the Animals" a name Hope had thought of in her youth and one which the team agreed represented their mission. 

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Finding a Way to Save One More

Hope for the Animals started with helping find homes for animals who were homeless or about to become homeless. People could call if they needed to surrender an animal, and prospective adopters could call if they were looking for one. Long before social media made animal networking easy, volunteers created biographies and photographs, posted animals online, distributed flyers, and placed information in local diners, veterinary offices and other community gathering places. The work was part rescue and part referral: connecting animals with the people who could help them. The philosophy was practical and personal. Small groups could move quickly, make connections and solve problems one animal at a time.

 

The Stories That Made It Worthwhile

For the team, the best part was never the organization itself. It was seeing a dog happy in a new home, or hearing from an adopter that a cat was loved and thriving. Some rescues required going farther than anyone originally planned. Hope remembers receiving a call about two pit bull mixes that needed help and traveling nearly to New York to meet the woman and her husband who would give them a home. Another pair, Rocky and Cliff, came from Levittown after their owner became ill. Keeping bonded animals together can be difficult, but Hope for the Animals was able to place them together. Those successes defined the early organization: not simply moving animals from one place to another, but finding the right home and giving people and animals a chance to stay connected to the companions they loved whenever possible. 

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A Mission That Has Continued to Grow

While the heart and founding principles of Hope for the Animals remain unchanged, our work has grown and evolved over the years. Today, we proudly serve animals and the people who care for them throughout Lower Bucks County and surrounding communities, with a special commitment to helping animals facing medical challenges and giving them the care and compassion they deserve. This takes an incredible amount of time, energy, and funds.  While we address the needs of animals under our care today, we continue to dream of  creating a permanent place of safety in a HFA Sanctuary — something imagined long before the organization formally took shape and which remains part of HFA’s vision for the future.  This sanctuary will include a guardian cat/dog program where we will be able to provide peace of mind and long term planning for owners who worry about who will care for their pets after their passing.  

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From a kitchen-table meeting to a vision for lifelong sanctuary, the story of Hope for the Animals has always been about what happens when people believe they can make a difference — and then do. 

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Hope Changes Everything -  RESCUE • HEALING • SANCTUARY