Ashton's Hope Foundation | Every Life Matters

Every Life
Deserves a Fighting Chance

We're on a mission to ensure no shelter pet dies simply because their medical care costs too much.

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100%

Volunteer-Run

501(c)(3)

Tax-Deductible

100

Lives Goal Year 1

607,000 PETS EUTHANIZED IN 2024

5.8M ENTER SHELTERS YEARLY

$50K OUR LAUNCH GOAL

100 LIVES TO SAVE IN YEAR ONE

607,000 PETS EUTHANIZED IN 2024

5.8M ENTER SHELTERS YEARLY

$50K OUR LAUNCH GOAL

100 LIVES TO SAVE IN YEAR ONE

The Beginning

One Dog Changed Everything

This is how a $4,000 vet bill became a mission to save them all

Ashton's Story

In mid-July 2025, a scruffy stray with a slight limp arrived at Wake County Animal Shelter. The staff noted his limp seemed to improve, and on August 26th, I brought him home.

At his first vet appointment days later, we discovered the devastating truth: Ashton's hip and femur were severely malformed—likely from being hit by a car as a stray. Without immediate FHO surgery, he'd face a lifetime of chronic pain. The cost? Nearly $4,000.

Ashton is lucky you adopted him. If someone else had adopted him and returned him because they couldn't afford this surgery, the shelter probably would have euthanized him.

— Ashton's Veterinarian

I was fortunate enough to afford it — though it wiped out a significant chunk of my emergency savings — but that moment changed everything. I realized how many adopters face impossible choices between financial hardship and returning a beloved pet.

I thought about shelter pets with heartworm or broken bones who are euthanized because treatment costs too much. And I thought about shelters themselves, struggling with limited budgets for basic supplies.

Every pet deserves what Ashton received: a chance, proper care, and a loving home. Because Ashton was lucky — but luck shouldn't determine whether a shelter pet lives or dies.