Our Mission Statement
To save mama dogs and pups, provide care and enrichment, and find loving, forever homes.
What We Do
ATR specializes in providing care for pregnant mamas, nursing dogs, and puppies. We rescue these dogs from less-than-ideal circumstances and offer them a safe and comfortable environment to grow and become socialized before helping them find forever homes. Our staff are experts in caring for the unique needs of mama dogs and newborn pups, and our shelter is equipped with large Mutternity Suites + kennels with their own HVAC and drainage systems.
The dogs are in our care for an average of 8 weeks. During this extended stay, we focus on socialization, offering a specially designed curriculum we call “Puppy Preschool” for the pups and creating personalized force-free training programs for the mamas to prepare them for life after the shelter. Each dog is altered, microchipped, and up-to-date on vaccinations before adoption.
Our commitment extends beyond the dogs in our care. We aim to help Arizona’s homeless dog population through education, advocacy, and donor-funded programs like Mutternity Leave and courtesy spay and neuter. Your support through donating, volunteering, fostering, or adopting enables us to continue this vital work!
ATR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and receives no tax or government funding. We do not sell, rent, or share our supporter information with any other organizations or third parties.
Our 2025 Impact Report
GERI HORMEL
Founder
“My name is Geri Hormel and I am the founder of Almost There Rescue. What do we do at ATR? We save bitches. No, we don’t go around seeking out malicious, unpleasant women and try to convince them to change their ways (although someone should!). We save dogs. Specifically, homeless, pregnant, nursing, or under 8-week-old dogs. We scoop those gals up from less than ideal situations and give them a place to birth and raise their pups. We work our tails off to give our pups the medical help, enrichment, socialization, and love that they need on their journeys to finding forever homes.”
Geri was always the girl with too many pets to count – dogs, cats, goats, pigs, horses, and donkeys. She joined the animal rescue world at 16 years old, walking the dogs, working in adoptions, and then enrolling in the Emergency Animal Medical Technician program at Arizona Humane Society. This led her to volunteer at Second Chance Hospital, learning the medical side of rescue with hands-on experience. Geri also volunteered and fostered for many other organizations. Realizing that one of the biggest needs in the rescue world was space and care for large breed pregnant dogs, Geri had her first kennel space built in her backyard so that she could start taking these families home. That was the beginning of Almost There Rescue.
MEET OUR DIRECTORS
SARAH AMARAL Executive Director
Joining the team in 2026, Sarah brings more than 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience in fundraising, strategic planning, operations, and community engagement to her role as Executive Director. Before joining ATR, she served as Director of Development at First Place AZ, where she led fundraising efforts and strengthened donor, corporate, and community partnerships. She is passionate about building sustainable strategies, expanding ATR’s reach, and supporting the staff, volunteers, fosters, donors, adopters, and partners who make the mission possible. For Sarah, rescue is about bringing people together to create lasting impact for animals and their communities. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family, exploring Arizona, watching a good horror movie, and meeting as many dogs as possible.
TIFFANY ROSCHMANN Communications + Outreach Director
Dedicated to ATR since 2021, Tiffany leads social media, branding, marketing, media relations, and community engagement. After a dog in her early 20s changed her life, she joined ATR at the front desk and grew into her current role, blending her BA in Communications with a passion for nonprofit marketing. She’s proud of ATR’s recognizable voice, strong community trust, and creating educational content that makes rescue accessible, so more people become animal welfare advocates. Outside of work, she loves cooking, spinning, interior design, and staying active with her family.
SHERRY SEAMANDS Behavior + Outcomes Director
Making an impact with ATR since 2022, Sherry oversees behavior programs, intake, and adoptions, guiding each dog from evaluation through adoption with individualized training and enrichment while educating our team and the public on force-free, positive reinforcement methodologies. In animal welfare since 18, she’s passionate about bridging communication between dogs and people, helping both better understand one another. She’s most proud of expanding the behavior team this year and is excited to strengthen our internal flow and create a more cohesive experience by the collaboration of intake, behavior, and adoptions. Outside of work, she enjoys training her own dogs, learning, traveling, hiking, working out, live music, reading, homemaking, and spending quality time with loved ones.
KYLE SIMMONS Foster + Volunteer Programs Director
Proudly serving ATR since 2024, Kyle oversees our foster and volunteer program and supports the community that makes rescue possible. A lifelong animal lover who began working in animal care at 18, she has found her passion in helping volunteers, foster families, and rescue dogs succeed. She finds joy in watching teams come together to genuinely change lives and creating systems that keep volunteers and foster families feeling truly supported. In her personal life, she loves to be outside, hike with her dogs, ride motorcycles, and soak up everything life has to offer!
