Animal Rescue Foundation

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Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation ("ARF") is a "No-Kill" animal shelter based in Walnut Creek, California. ARF saves abandoned and injured animals, as well as running programs to bring dog and cat visits to abused children, hospital patients, seniors and shut-ins.

The catalyst for ARF came in May of 1990 during a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees when a stray cat wandered onto the playing field. Terrified by the roar of the crowd, the frightened feline dashed about, eluding umpires and players. La Russa, then the manager of the A's, coaxed the cat into the dugout, secured its safety for the remainder of the game, then took responsibility for placing it with a local shelter.

To his dismay, Tony discovered there was not a No-Kill facility in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. When he learned the cat would be euthanized, he and his wife, Elaine found a home for her. His experience with this cat was the genesis for the founding of ARF, a No-Kill organization dedicated to bringing people and animals together to enrich each other's lives.