GRREAT Beginnings

GRREAT Beginnings Lead to Happy Endings

Thirty years ago! In the summer of 1990, a small intrepid group of volunteers set out to establish a golden retriever rescue. Many of them were already involved with the breed through adopting, training, and breeding. They were saddened by the number of goldens that were turning up at shelters abandoned by their owners.

When the local organization began in mid1990, it was operating as an extension of GRREAT in Maryland, and it did not become fully operational until September of that year. GRREAT was also an extension, in their case of Potomac Valley Golden Retriever Club. Rescues were not a ‘thing’ in the early days. Kathy Carbone, who was on the planning committee for GRREAT in Maryland, paid it forward and mentored the early volunteers of the southeastern branch. We owe our name to them as well as they felt Golden Retriever Rescue, Education and Training encompassed all of the things critical to the mission of the rescue, and they already knew the dogs were gr-r-eat!

At the beginning, all funds and reports were going to GRREAT, permitting donations to be tax deductible from the start. Records were kept separate as SEVA GRREAT had to submit three years of income and expenses to the IRS to complete the paperwork for the non-profit status, which we maintain to this day.

From the beginning, they were taking in about 2 goldens each week. By January 1991, they had rescued 20 dogs, 17 of them from the Peninsula SPCA. Twelve of the 20 were placed in loving homes, 3 were old timers who would live out their days with SEVA GRREAT (today’s forever fosters), and the rest were still in temporary foster homes. By February of 1991, however, they were recognized as a separate entity for conducting day-to-day business with a local checking account, phone number, and address. The phone, attached to an answering machine, was 827-8561 (still our hotline number today). The official mailing address was PO Box 8014, Yorktown, VA, 23693; and it still is today. However, they remained accountable to GRREAT and were required to send them monthly reports.

It took quite a while for shelters to work with the rescue, and they were required to pay shelter adoption fees to pull the dogs. Initially, the dogs were coming from the Peninsula shelter, but a top priority was to extend their reach to the south side and build relationships with Norfolk and Virginia Beach SPCAs. There were also puppies for sale from backyard breeders in the classified section of by Sharon Leeman

the newspaper. They did their best to educate those breeders on ethical breeding using materials from the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA).

By October 1992, there was a real push on to get volunteers in Chesapeake and Portsmouth on the south side and in Williamsburg and Richmond to the north. There was always a need for foster homes (they suggested families think of it as “babysitting an orphan”), but lots of other jobs too as work began to expand from the core officers into other coordinator positions. As for home visits, a key question they asked their evaluation team to think about was “Would I leave my dog here?”

As much as things change, others stay the same. The first adoption fee was set at $150 based on the estimated cost of $150 to $250 to rescue each dog and have their medical needs taken care of. Now they vary depending on age and whether the golden comes from a domestic situation or is an international dog, but they are still set up to cover a portion of what it costs us to rescue a dog (approximately $1,500 today). In an early newsletter, they reported that several of their dogs had special medical needs that would cost extra money. One had a bone chip floating in his shoulder and needed surgery. His name was Bobby, and after his recovery, he was adopted by one of our current board members.

The newsletters of 1991 were filled with adopted dogs, dogs available for adoptions, and on occasion a memorial for one who had crossed the Bridge. We still share those things today but use different ways to report them. They could only afford a one-page newsletter and their editor worked to get as much information in it as possible; we have

a beautiful magazine. One of the early newsletters says “We hate to keep bringing up money…” We still hate asking for money, but we do it, and we are just as thankful for our supporters as the original volunteers. In addition to money, they also needed manpower and materials. Dogs coming in had to be quarantined for at least 10 days so that meant donations from companies and people to build kennels to house them, usually in someone’s back yard.

The early newsletters list events like bake sales, concession stands, and education booths at different dog events. Instead of a yard sale at a volunteer’s home, there was the Big Flea (no pun intended) at the Hampton Coliseum; and instead of shopping at Kroger to support our dogs, it was Farm Fresh. There were health articles and clinics on vaccinations, spay/neuter, and flea/tick/heartworm care. Before microchips, there were tattoos for all new rescues, and they were also offered to previously adopted dogs. One successful fundraiser was of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and totes with goldens featured on them. Instead of the current SEVA GRREAT logo, with the dog in profile, it was a sitting golden looking over his shoulder. By 1992, they were selling a calendar, with pictures of goldens, from the National Rescue Committee for $10. Now, one of our most popular fundraisers is our own SEVA GRREAT calendar, still for $10.

One thing that has changed dramatically is the finances. They were running this rescue on a shoestring. The July 31, 1994 checkbook balance shows a total of just over $2,500. Diego just raised that amount all by himself in the 2021 calendar contest. By the summer of 1994, four short years after SEVA GRREAT was established, they had rescued 181 dogs. We are proud to report that number is now over 2,000. Many people have come and gone over the last 30 years. Some left and came back, some moved on to other endeavors, and some have joined their pups at the Rainbow Bridge. Several of the early founders are still involved. Geralyn Nelson, the first secretary, applied to adopt another golden as recently as last year. Lindy Fleck, the first treasurer and newsletter editor, is still fostering. She took in the trio of forever fosters who were surrendered last year by the owner who had become homeless. Because of her, the trio is still together. Dr. Anita Weidinger provided some of the early care of the dogs when she worked at Denbigh Animal Hospital and continues to be one of our participating vets with her practice at York Veterinary Hospital.

We wish to thank Lindy for the historical documents that made this article possible, and we would love to hear from others who came together to establish this rescue. If you are out there, send us a note (you know the address!) or email secretary@adoptagolden.com. We are amazed at what you accomplished and proud to be part of SEVA GRREAT 30 years later.