After years of helping rescue animals find their permanent homes, Familiar Hearts Animal Society on May 30 opened its first brick-and-mortar space in Roxborough. President Shelby Escourt and Aminda Edgar, the executive director, are spearheading this transition from online services to a physical building.

“None of us come from money,” Edgar said. “This is all privately funded by generous neighbors and community members who believe in us. ... This is all just an initiative based upon the kindness other people have given us.”

Edgar and Escourt’s passion for rescuing animals is driven by a commitment to changing the lives of animals — and the people they serve — for the better. The two animal society leaders take in foster animals and their Mt. Airy-based organization has rescued 343 pets since it was founded in 2021.

When it was time to take the next step to open a physical location, Edgar and Escourt made sure they found an area that was accessible to a variety of people, and found it at 6175 Ridge Ave. The headquarters will host adoption events, classes on caring for pets for children and adults, showcases of local artists, merchandise and apparel, and more. The organization’s home base is intended to provide a safe, educational, and comfortable environment for people looking to foster or adopt animals.

Familiar Hearts Animal Society also hosts a pet pantry, which has helped about 1,000 pet owners through the last four pantries the group has organized.

“We’re just trying to build up the support for people who love animals,” Edgar said. “People who are struggling to afford their pet’s supplies like food and litter and flea meds, we want to give them that opportunity to get the supplies.”

As animal foster parents, Escourt and Edgar have experienced, first hand, the benefits of rescuing animals. An important part of their mission is to take what they’ve learned and share it with the community.

“We do a lot of pre-adoption counseling and screening before they get a home,” Edgar said. “I think what makes us unique as well is I offer a free training consultation to use for our adopters after adoption, and so we try to provide full support.”

After raising so many foster pets, Escourt said it is sometimes hard to let them go, but finding them the care they need and placing them in their forever homes is why their work is so important.

“I’d rather cry because they leave than cry because they died in the streets,” Escourt said. “So, we step up to take them.”

Escourt said her family understands their number one priority is rescuing animals in need. No matter what they’re doing, if they find a sick or injured animal on the road, their first course of action is to bring it home and give it medical attention.

Familiar Hearts has faced many setbacks along this journey to open their new location in Roxborough.

“We’ve had a lot of staff changes, so we’ve had to do a lot of pivoting,” Edgar said. “... It’s also just finding and retaining quality and dedicated fosters; that’s the hardest part.”

Overcoming these challenges is part of their mission.

“You see [the animals] evolve and want to give everybody a chance. You don’t just want to assume because they’re scared and terrified that that’s who they are,” Escourt said. “It takes time to decompress and it’s really an opportunity to see what’s out there.”