Rising Stars: Meet Shelby Elrashidy of Santa Clarita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Elrashidy.

Hi Shelby, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Gosh my story with animal rescue is a long one. Hank was my first dog as a young adult. He was a large Harlequin Great Dane and was my entire world. I didn’t do much research into buying a puppy and unfortunately I fell into the trap of a back yard breeder. By 6 months I knew Hank was a medical mess, and when we lost him at 2, it nearly broke me. while I had Hank, I had started getting into fostering kittens, specifically bottle kittens. When Hank was no longer here, I wanted to get into fostering dogs, specifically medical and behavior dogs. My husbands work moved us from Fargo ND to Santa Clarita CA where I was exposed to the insane animal crisis LA has. After working for multiple animal rescues, a friend and I decided to open our own. In 2021, Hanks Legacy Foundation was born! Since then we have rescued over 800 dogs and cats and even 2 horses!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing is smooth when it comes to animal rescue. Hanks is completely foster and volunteer based, so when people don’t want to foster, and donations are low, there is nothing we can really do. To rely so heavily on our community to support us is not easy. During COVID we saw all time highs for adoptions and donations. Things were AMAZING. Then everyone went back to work and we entered the great depression for animal rescue. Truly… The worst thing ever. Animals were being returned left and right. Breeders couldn’t sell puppies anymore, so they dumped them at shelters, it was really tragic for us. I felt like I was drowning to be honest. At one point I think I had 24 extra dogs at my personal house because it was impossible to keep saying no over and over again. Not only the animals being abandoned increased, the donations tanked. We went from Hell Yeah! to oh shit! really fast… which was scary when you have animals that need medical or even just basic supplies. There is also the emotional toll that running an animal rescue has on you. The amount of animals that I have try to save, and couldn’t… The ones that I can’t even try to help even if I wanted to because of funding… Its exhausting.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Before I got into animal rescue I worked with adults and kids with disabilities. I did in home care through college and then worked to help adults with disabilities find jobs. Once I started HLF, it was my full time “job” even though I don’t take a salary. Now, along with running HLF, I am a mom to two young girls (3y and 7months).

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I try to pride myself on being a pretty open book with general life stuff. If I had pick something that most people might not know about me is I love designing and decorating rooms. Painting, putting up shiplap, wainscoting, etc. SIGN ME UP.

Pricing:

• Puppies $500
• Adult dogs $300
• Kittens $150
• Adult Cats $75

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hankslegacyfoundation.org
• Instagram: hankslegacyfoundation
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/hankslegacy
• Other: tiktok @hankslegacyfoundation