AARF stands for Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation. We are a Richmond, Virginia, non-profit, all volunteer organization founded in May of 1993. We help hundreds of animals each year to find loving homes.

Animals come to us through a variety of situations. Some are found on highways or in neighborhoods, some are relinquished by their owners who can no longer care for them, but most of our animals are strays. AARF tries to prevent these animals from ending up homeless or in euthanizing shelters. It is our goal to provide a service of matching good loving animals with people who want to provide a good loving home.

Until the time of adoption, the animals stay in our foster homes or safehouses. This is a service that some of our volunteers provide. They take an animal into their home and care for them until a permanent home is found. Medical expenses are taken care of by AARF. We also make a commitment to the health of the animals by making sure that they are all up-to-date on their shots, receive any extra treatment needed and provide for the spaying or neutering of the animal. Our safehouse volunteers provide a vital service in our organization.

While the animals are being safehoused, we search for new homes for them. The animals are transported to Pet Stands: Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM - PetSmart - Libbie and Broad . People are able to come to the stands to view, interact, and hopefully, try to adopt an animal. The adoption process includes filling out an application, an interview and an approval process. There is an $125.00 adoption fee to help cover some of our expenses and includes an office visit and the spay/neuter (if the animal is under 4-6 months.) All animals are up-to-date on their vaccinations at the time of adoption. Dogs are heartworm negative and on heartworm preventions. Animals over 4 months of age are spayed and neutered. AARF does cover the cost of spay/neuter for animals that are adopted out under 6 months through providing spay/neuter certificates. We abide by Virginia State Law to ensure this procedure is complete and we follow up and every spay/neuter certificate.

We do make every effort to ensure that the animals in our care are adopted to suitable and well matched homes. However, mismatches do occasionally occur. In these cases, AARF takes the animal back to readopt him/her into a better environment. We make a strong effort to provide each animal a caring and loving home. We also have a professional trainer who works with us and consults with people who adopt from AARF to ensure a happy environment for both the people and the animals.