BY DENISE M. BARAN-UNLAND
Correspondent October 21, 2013 1:52PM
Liz Bagley, founder and president of Channahon-based Making a Difference, is pictured with Dakota, a former rescue dog now living in her forever home. | Supplied photo
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Updated: October 22, 2013 6:52PM
In an economy in which some animal rescues have struggled to continue operations, Making a Difference Rescue still is thriving — because founder and president Liz Bagley of Channahon said she makes hard calls she believes other rescues often don’t make.
She won’t go beyond her rescue’s financial capabilities.
“It’s nothing for me to get 60 emails a day,” Bagley said. “Sometimes I just have to scroll through all the sad faces on those dogs and cats, or I’ll cry, but I just can’t go above my means. I can’t save every animal.”
Bagley founded the nonprofit animal rescue in 2007, a promise she’d made to herself in 2001 when she was battling breast cancer. During that time, Bagley would sit at her front window and find comfort in watching the birds, squirrels and rabbits, Bagley said.
She also noticed how one neighbor left dogs outside without food and water for days at a time, so Bagley often sneaked nourishment to the dogs. She assured God that if He would heal her, she would “make a difference” in the lives of abandoned cats and dogs.
Making a Difference rescue has 18 dogs and cats in its care at present and 15 volunteers to assist Bagley. This includes serving as foster parents to these animals.
Running the rescue consumes Bagley’s time, but despite sandwiching daily life and family emergencies among the care of the animals and coordinating her volunteer base, Bagley thinks every minute is worth it.
“My ‘paycheck’ is when I see how lives are saved,” Bagley said.
It’s a tough time to be a stray animal, Bagley said. With so many people losing their homes and jobs, many have no choice but to leave their beloved pets in shelters. Unfortunately, this encourages plenty of good dogs to quickly become “mean” and “aggressive,” especially when dogs wind up in larger facilities.
“When you have 200 dogs barking nonstop in that environment, the dogs become stressed and afraid,” Bagley said. “It takes volunteers with judgment I trust to work with those animals, even those labeled ‘unadoptable.’ Some ‘bad’ dogs are simply the product of their environment.”
For cats, the situation is bleak.
“People just let their poor cats loose outside,” Bagley said.
Savvy foster parents understand how dogs that once made fine companion animals are unfairly euthanized when they react out of character due to fear. Nothing makes Bagley happier than seeing a dog that cowered in the corner when entering the rescue later become happy and secure.
“I’ll see photos of them with their graduation hats on and sitting with their birthday cakes with little girls’ arms around them,” Bagley said, “but without support and people to back me, the rescue is nothing.”
Whether or not to accept a particular dog or cat into Making a Difference Rescue is directly correlated to whether or not Bagley has a foster parent willing to oversee its daily care. Bagley is always in need of more foster parents.
“Now that it’s kitten season, I couldn’t beg for fosters more,” Bagley said. “Some fosters might help out just one time but others get it in their blood and do it nonstop, so the amount of foster parents we have goes up and down.”
According to the Making a Difference website, potential foster and adoptive parents must undergo a home visit, screening and “meet and greet” with everyone living in that home, people as well as animals. Existing pets must be fully vaccinated, current with their veterinarian visits and spayed or neutered.
Animal placement is highly personalized and handled on a case-by-case basis, Bagley said. Prospective “parents” must agree to return the pet to Making a Difference if for some reason the adoption must be reversed.
For this reason, Making a Difference rescue takes its time moving its pets from a foster to a permanent home, Bagley said. Great care is taken to match each dog and cat up with the owner who is right for it.
This means Making a Difference animals might stay in the rescue longer than pets in other rescue groups. An example is Duke, the three-legged pit bull that’s been at Making a Difference for 18 months — but it’s worth it in the end, Bagley said.
“We’re not too quick to move them along,” Bagley said. “That’s just not in the best interest of these animals’ lives. It hurts them to come back. People don’t always realize they have feelings, that they don’t understand why they are being left.”
For more information about Making a Difference Rescue, call Bagley at 815-258-5892 or visit www.makingadifferencerescue.com.
