6 min read

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May 18, 2021

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By Liz D.

Local animal rescue is powering through the pandemic and touching the lives of their community while saving the lives of many animals who are left abandoned. A mother, and daughter duo, Jasmine and Karley List started up their own animal rescue, OC Pom Rescue, after volunteering their time to other organizations and not feeling like they were able to truly make a difference. Feeling the love of the animals is what motivated this family duo to jump-start their business and begin their mission at the start of 2020, right as the Pandemic was beginning,

“I have been in rescue for quite some time, about 10 years,” Co-founder Jasmine List said. “I was with some other rescues and my youngest daughter, Emily, and my friend, Sondra, wanted to start our own rescue and kind of do our own things with a little bit more freedom.”

Incorporating Volunteers is a huge part of how the OC Pom Rescue involves their community in their animal rescue efforts.

“What really drew me to OC Pom Rescue was their willingness to think a little bit more outside of the box and to utilize the strengths of every volunteer, and if somebody wants to help a dog, then they will find a role for them,” Karely said. “We wanted to have bigger social media, we wanted to reach more people, and we wanted to get a lot more volunteers. So people can have an opportunity to volunteer and not just foster but to write, to do social media, to blog, to photograph, anything they’d like to contribute for the rescue.”

Many people aren’t aware of the many ways that they can help save an animal’s life or become involved with their local animal rescue. O.C Pom makes it a priority to educate the public on how they can get involved with their rescue.

“We wanted to educate a lot of people, and let them know because a lot of people really don’t understand what rescue is. You’d be surprised a lot of people think, oh, you’re just selling a dog, you’re trying to make money,” Jasmine List said. “And that’s definitely not the case, we don’t make a demo and we’re all just volunteers.”

Many of the dogs that the rescue takes in are the dogs who don’t get adopted out immediately or have some type of medical issue that can be challenging to adopt out.

“We will get dogs in the shelter that are not adoptable, usually the shelters give first dibs to adopters,” Jasmine said. “But dogs have medical problems or behavior issues that aren’t able to be adopted, that too will take.”

The O.C Pom Rescue makes applying to become a potential adoptive parent real easy, quick, and painless.

“Everyone applies online, everything’s digital, we want to leave the small amount of footprint as possible,” Karley said. “So they email last application, and everything is online through Google and their home check. Everything is online, we don’t enter anyone at all. And it’s just for the safety of our volunteers as well.”

The volunteers are what help hold up the rescue and keep it running smoothly.

“The volunteers are the backbone of the rescue, each foster treats the rescue dog as their own dog. It’s in their home, and it’s treated as a pet,” Jasmine said. “So, when the dog does get adopted, it’s already been in a home and knows how to act and training and all that kind of stuff.”

The OC Pom rescue has a small team of people, who go out and do the home checks before the dogs are placed into their new foster homes.

“There are five of us that go and review all the applications, we never leave one stone unturned. Every application every home check, and we really work to fit the dog in the right home,” Jasmine said. “The top three applicants that fit the best with that dog’s personality, we send those over to the foster. And then the foster reviews the application, looks at the home check, and calls the applicant to talk with them, and then if we still think it’s a good fit, we’ll set up a meet and greet.”

Karley stays active on social media to help promote the rescue and get the public to see the foster dog’s personality.

“My goal is to do is showcase each dog’s personality, Karley said. “I usually am the one taking photos of the dogs. So I get a chance to meet the dogs as well.”

Karley’s ultimate goal is to give the dogs a positive outlook and opportunity with their new homes.

“I’m in touch with the fosters a little bit more about their personality. And it usually is just trying to show the dogs in a positive light, and not just let their history define them” Karley said. “I want to take them on fun adventures so that I can get them happy, and then show videos of them like in their element, really.”

The OC Pom rescue also relies heavily on donations from the community, which they promote through social media.

“I also do post whenever we need donations, just because I think it’s very important to let others be involved in dog rescue,” Karley said. “If they can’t foster, then they can help with donations for supplies like harnesses and food and all that fun stuff.”

Building a virtual community has helped the rescue reach a broader audience and make a bigger impact connecting its volunteers with their rescued dogs.

“Our volunteers are big networkers in the dog heads community,” Jasmine said. “Facebook and Instagram are the ones that we’re probably doing a little bit better on and getting the most responses from.”

The OC Pom rescue does its best to make its social media post the most engaging and fun for its audience and community.

“I will post-cooking with their dog or recipes that you can do with your dog,” Karley explained. “A lot of our resources are focused on answering common questions that people have. We’ve done lives on Facebook and Instagram, where we literally can just answer questions about anything.”

Anyone is welcome to be a part of the OC Pom rescue and become a part of the team.

“We want to use everyone’s talents, everyone really is unique in their own way,” Jasmine said. “So just because someone can’t foster doesn’t mean we don’t want them. Maybe they’re a good writer, maybe they’re a good photographer, maybe they just want to share our posts. Or when we do have events, they can come and help out”

The OC Pom rescue is a small locally owned family business to expand their rescue and knowledge to as many people as possible.

“I would love to have more volunteers, because the more people working for the good and the more that we can do,” Jazmine said. “And then definitely more dogs. Because if we have 10 foster homes, right now. But imagine if we had 50 foster homes, and more donations our impact would be greater”

The rescue also is motivated to continue spreading the word about properly taking care of your pets.

“I think continuing to establish ourselves as a resource for people and educate others on how you can help animals, how you can be a good dog owner,” Karley said. “By increasing our presence, making ourselves available and responsive to the people that want to learn more and be good dog owners is a really good step in the right direction.”

Building their dog rescue has given Jasmine and Karley List a much bigger reward and purpose in their lives and in the lives of the dogs they save.

“It’s been a really rewarding, rewarding experience for me,” Jasmine said. “Many volunteers tell us how they’re so grateful to even be involved in meeting these dogs. So it’s been a pretty awesome experience.”

For more information about O.C. Pom Rescue visit: https://www.ocpomrescue.com