By Tony Hicks – Animal Rescue Foundation co-founder Elaine LaRussa posted a statement on social media Saturday night saying her family has pulled out of the Walnut Creek-based animal welfare rescue foundation it started three decades ago.
“It is with the utmost sadness that we decided to join with Tony, and formally resign from the Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation Board of Directors,” Elaine LaRussa wrote, in a Facebook post. “The LaRussa family has collectively concluded that we cannot support or participate in ARF’s current leadership.”
“We hope that our withdrawal from the board and organization will prompt renewed focus on careful stewardship of the foundation and its mission. Until we see significant change, we are stepping away from ARF and will dedicate our passion, time and resources to aid other animal welfare organizations. We remain hopeful that with meaningful changes, ARF can return to the mission and ideas upon which our family founded it thirty years ago.”
The statement, which didn’t name any specific changes that were needed, was signed by LaRussa and her daughter, Bianca LaRussa.
As of Sunday morning, Tony LaRussa – the former Oakland A’s manager who now manages the Chicago White Sox – was still listed on ARF’s website as the chairman of the group’s board of directors. Elaine and Bianca LaRussa were listed as board members. Other members of the 12-person board include Danville attorney Gregory McCoy, San Francisco attorney Morgan Forsey, Nestle Purina PetCare executive Steve Degnan; Kevin Fick, the CEO of pet products company Worldwise Inc., and retired Intuit executive Jennifer Hall.
The LaRussas founded ARF after Tony famously corralled a stray cat from the field at the Oakland Coliseum during a game in 1990. He discovered afterward there were a lack of no-kill animal shelters in the Bay Area, so he and wife Elaine started one in Walnut Creek. ARF now resides in a large shelter and community center in Shadelands Business Park and has given homes to more than 44,000 dogs and cats, according to its website.
67 comments
Lemme guess…….the board went woke
My guess too.
Or they aren’t woke enough for the LaRussas.
My first thought too. Would like to hear the whole story.
So what’s going on????
Maybe word got out they’re not really a “no-kill” shelter?
we adopted a dog from ARF, but we’ll never do it again. The dog is great, I can’t imagine our lives without him now.
The process that ARF made us go through to get him was ridiculous. I’ve never worked for the FBI, but I imagine their paperwork, background checks and interview process is easier than ARF’s.
The strange thing is, ARF saves the animals from a kill shelter, then puts interested adoptive parties through such a miserable process that I’m sure many just move on to another source…. then what happens to the animal? If we could understand the animals inside the cages at ARF, I think they’d be yelling “YES, YES, I WANT TO GO HOME WITH THAT PERSON, PLEASE STOP MAKING IT SO DIFFICULT FOR MY LIFE TO BE SAVED”.
Had the same experience. I get wanting to know some background on potential adopters but it got to the point they were just plain rude about it. We went over to Petco and left with one happy cat.
I agree. when we adopted out dog from them 7 years ago…it was horrible experience. They brought out a dog and said ‘they don’t like kids or people’ ….then why the hell did you bring the dog to us lol. We ended up liking the dog and felt bad for her. She had been returned a few times and it was free to take her.
Not sure what they know about animals, but our dog has been nothing but sweet and kind, loves my kids and other people…yea she may have some ADHD issues…but who doesn’t lol
This is an amazing thing that they have done! But let’s not forget that she’s talking about the LEADERSHIP of the organization, NOT the employee’s who care so deeply about the animals and the mission to save lives, because they exist. If all the employee’s left (who are at the bottom of the totem pole) who’d take care of the animals? They are necessary despite the bad leadership. The little people matter, but unfortunately Elena, the executive, has been blinded by the dollar signs and wanting to win the popularity contest. To clear this up, ARF is NOT a kill shelter in the sense that they do NOT euthanize animals just for the heck of it. Animals are only euthanized if they do not have a positive medical outcome (meaning they would lead to a painful death otherwise) or if an animal is not safe to adopt out to the public or isn’t safe for staff to handle. Sure, you can still say that it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t a “no kill” because euthanasia can still occur, but it’s never taken lightly. It’s not like they say, “okay this animal has been here too long- let’s kill it!” If you can’t tell the difference then that’s your own fault.
I can not speak for people who have adopted an animal years ago who are disgruntled over the process. Adopting an animal can definitely be a pain because the organization cares about where the animal is going. I’d actually say that’s a good thing if you ask me and I actually think the process is quite simple compared to other rescues (no home visits, no proof needed of owning a home/renting) but… I digress.
Although I feel like the LaRussa’s statement is extremely late, I’m glad they’re doing it nonetheless. I can imagine it wasn’t an easy decision. Elena Bicker needs to go! She has provided an extremely toxic work place and has been protected for far too long. She has made racist comments around employee’s, incite fear upon employee’s aka “you don’t do what I say and I’ll fire you” despite that what she wants is completely unethical, she pushes people out of their positions (lowers their hours, gives them less work to do, forces them to have to look elsewhere for work), hires people knowing they’ll be her minion instead of hiring people based on work experience and productivity, and she still gets away with it even though multiple complaints have been made. The president of the board also needs to go as he is one of her biggest protectors. You can say the board is or isn’t “woke” (which is completely stupid but okay) but there is an actual PROBLEM going on, and has been going on, and for people to look the other way really sucks. The employee’s need help. We need to help them. They deserve so much more!!! Leaving isn’t always an easy option for people (thanks to healthcare being tied to your job, yay America!) and people needing to provide for their families…especially during a pandemic. At the end of the day, the animals still need to be taken care of and in order to have great care, you need to have great care for employee’s. And again, if you don’t understand that then that’s your own problem.
the plural of employee is employees.
Respectfully:
It appears there are 12 board members including Tony as Chairman. The LaRussa family represents 25% of the board, and as founders their name is critical to ARF’s success. It seems reasonable they should have enough influence to fire the Executuve Director.
I am not interested in intrigue, however I do want enough information to decide weather or not I want to continue to donate.
The following information about ARF is from the Charity Navigator website at: https://www.charitynavigator.org.
Compensation of Leaders (ARF)
(FYE 06/2019)
Compensation % of Expenses Paid to Title
$337,906 4.09% Elena Bicker Executive Director
Source: https://tinyurl.com/2ynz4pm2
@ Mark Canseco.. That’s not true. They will euthanized for more than “do not have a positive medical outcome”.. How about being a breed that needs more training than they are willing to put in….
I’m shocked and saddened to hear this.
As others have mentioned, I do have some issues with ARF, for example at the time they demanded that an adopted cat be 100 percent indoors. My last cat was outdoors except at night, died of very old age and lived the life of a cat, instead of as indoor furniture. ARF seemed to be very controlling, and one relative said they micromanaged volunteers with instructions on how to slowly calm down a cat with a feather after playing with him. I got the impression that managers did not have enough to do, so they created lots of work for themselves and took themselves way too seriously.
When an adoption agency asks about indoor or outdoor for cats just answer indoor only. Talk about the problems of the outdoor lifestyle (reduced lifespan, killing birds running into streets, etc). Then let the cat out if you and your cat want to do so. It’s the cat’s decision and yours, only.
It is best for the cat to stay indoors.
I just hope they dont close down after all of this Please let us remember these poor animals need homes and if they close down it will only hurt the animals!
ARF finds good homes for many dogs and cats. Good that they ask questions before they adopt these pets out. I support them every year with my donation.
With $60,000,000 in reserves they’re not going anywhere.
I don’t know about all the horror stories on this site.
We adapted a dog from ARF two year ago and everything went very smoothly. We told then what breed of dog we were looking for and they brought two out and we picked one, filled out some paper and were home in two hour with our new dog.
They told us about any health issues
and we made our decision.
I don’t know what the problems are but it worked for us.
This is sad, but it happens. We were at the game when little Evie snuck out on the field and delayed the game. Such memories. I don’t have any issues with ARF. They are selective as to who they let adopt, and rightfully so. Anyone can adopt an animal, and they want to make sure the animals are adopted into a good home, and the animal is the right fit. A lot of people did that years ago when they put an ad in the paper “free to a good home.” It meant free to a good home that meets my criteria. I volunteered at ARF years ago, and I was never micromanaged. Not everyone is a “natural” when it comes to animals.
I adopted a dog and a cat from them and both experiences were wonderful. Actually I decided to volunteer at the boutique a few months before COVID arrived. Most of the people you see while adopting are volunteers. We take pride in what we did, but also had to follow procedures. I’ve been looking forward to volunteering again soon there.
Our ARF cat adoption was very smooth. I don’t recall a deep background check or anything that was particularly intrusive.
I’m wondering if the issue is the new building that’s being constructed on the ARF property. I believe it’s also for pet adoptions but for veterans.
$337,906 or 4% of the budget paid to the executive director seems high. However, I assume the entire board, including the LaRussa Family members, were aware of this and had approved the hiring and her compensation package.
Some day I will tell you the real history of ARF, it’s original mission and why the founding core volunteers left in 1993. What goes around comes around, and now it has.
I sure hope the poor animals don’t suffer any problems with this new development. I hope the evil people leave and the good take over. I am very worried about this.
Myself and the original founding volunteers were ONLY in it for the animals. I worked 16 hour days to get ASRF started. Many of us still do rescue, feed strays/feral cats and spay/neuter. I can only hope he feels a fraction of what we felt when he forced me out in 1993. What goes around truly comes around. This time it took 28 years. If the Danville people who cannot relate to the need in the animal world stay in charge, nothing will change internally.
I adopted a cat from them years ago, I had to jump through hoops to actually get her. The way they grilled me it was like I was adopting a child, crazy questions. After a couple weeks they called to see how the cat was adapting to it’s new environment. No big deal except I was working graveyard shift then and was woken up during the afternoon. After the 3rd or 4th call a week apart I tried to explain I was sleeping hopeing they would stop calling. The next time they called I told them my German Shepherd killed it, the calls stopped. I never tried to adopt a pet from them again as I was told I was on a “No adoptions list”! The cat turned out to be a great pet and a good mouser. My GS raised her and she acted like a dog, one of my best cats through my life.
So that’s where my $200 adoption fee went?
ARF is just a boutique pet store where the rich get to play with their money. After taking an injured dog there that we found wandering the streets and were turned away, I would never support ARF.
Other than the county animal shelter, nearly all shelters are picky about the animals they will take in.
You also were picky. You found an injured dog. Rather than taking it to the vet, paying for any needed services, and then housing the dog until its owner is found, you tried to dump the problem on ARF. I am fine with that as people and organizations do not always have the resources, time, money, equipment, space, etc. to take on new projects. You did your best in catching the dog and making an effort to see who would be willing to take it.
Really WC resident? You can afford to take a stray injured dog to the Vet and then house it until you can find the owner? Surgeries can cost thousands. For those of us who constantly find stray injured animals that is not an option. Your comment surprises me.
My story is so similar to nytemuvr’s except when ARF called to ask how the cats I adopted were, I answered “They were delicious!” That got a big belly laugh from the caller and they never bothered me again.
Maybe some dog got #metoo’d.
All I know about ARF is that their thrift stores are awesome.
There are so many wonderful and struggling animal rescues, I would never donate to one that pays their director such a ridiculous amount!
So let me get this straight, you have to show id to adopt a pet? Interesting.
ARF is the best thing to happen to the city of Walnut Creek.
And it costs the citizens nothing in taxes.
None of their employees are on the city’s payroll.
I continue to donate.
There is more to this story than Tony Hicks is reporting. Wow, Tony Hicks is still writing?
My wife got a dog from ARF several years ago.
Great dog.
It was very expensive.
I have never trusted top-heavy volunteer/donation-based organizations.
Reminds me too much of television evangelists, the Red Cross, and Good Will Industries.
Legal but shady with questionable character values and integrity.
Just wondering.
What is expensive?
The adoption fee?
You know the county gives dogs and cats away for FREE on Clear the Shelter Days. Sadly, ARF has to give them away for free, too. But glad their screenings are strict. ☹️🐶
Most of these comments don’t understand The Business of Saving Lives.
The LaRussa family is kind to put their name on it. But animal rescue is a serious undertaking. And it takes business people to run it. If you knew Ms. Bicker, she has put her heart and soul into ARF. And her business acumen. It’s not easy trying to please everyone.
If only we had more responsible pet owners, we would never need animal rescue groups.
Did you hit the nail on the head! I can’t respond to what they are doing currently, but when I was employed there 1991-1993 in development, the then Executive Director that Tony hired wanted me to do something which I refused to do. His response? “We are like a church, we can do anything we want! You don’t want Tony to be mad at you, do you?”
I’m not knocking Arf. I think they do great work. However, as a volunteer at the County shelter, I use to get pretty resentful of them.My experience was that anytime a really nice breed dog showed up (lab, golden, beagle etc.), they would be immediately snatched up by Arf to adopt. The county would be left with pitbulls and chihuahuas. It was kind of sad. 90% of those dogs would have been quickly adopted at the County with or without Arf getting involved and turning the adoption into a massive expensive process. I’m not sure if they still do that, but it was a simple way of padding their stats. They definitely didn’t jump in and grab the difficult dogs to adopt…Again, this was just my experience…I know nothing about how the organization operates.
Did you hit the nail on the head! I can’t respond to what they are doing currently, but when I was employed there 1991-1993 in development… what you said. I spoke up and it was over for me.
Just don’t wok your dog. How can an organization like ARF run into all of these problems. My guess is politics.
I tried to volunteer their a few years ago and was told I’d need to go through a background check and sign paperwork guaranteeing them a certain number of hours a week and a 6 month minimum commitment… wth? I’m not going to sign something that allows you to sue me for not showing up to work for free. Completely nutso and I knew right then and there I’d never adopt through them.
My experience with ARF was great. Yes, I had to answer some questions on a form and be interviewed, but I was glad they were so dedicated to giving him a stable, good home. The cat I was adopting had s few special requirements that happened to fit nicely with the home I could offer him, and he was an absolute delight. I happened to qualify for a special, one-time offer for a senior citizen free adoption offered by Purina. I will continue to donate because I believe they do good work, however, I am sorry that the LaRussa family cannot offer their support at this time. I also donate items and food to the County Shelter in Martinez because they do great work, too, maybe without the associated celebrity. So does Community Concern for Cats and I have donated items to them, also. I don’t believe you can participate in this kind of work without sincere concern for the animals, and I’ve seen that evident in all these organization.
Hope we find out the truth behind the issues at ARF. Friends and family have adopted from them and things went well, that was about ten years ago. The issues may be about that excessive salary for a charitable organization.
I wish Elaine & Bianca La Russa provided a clearer statement of the issues that caused them to leave. Their brief ambiguous statement does more harm to the organization than they realize, causing doubt of the organization or it’s mission for those of us who are not up to speed on the issues.
More information has been posted in a new article with interviews on East Bay Times – “ family announced they were resigning and stepping away from the organization amid allegations that its leadership has long subjected employees to “a toxic” workplace that included abusive and retaliatory behavior.”
That abusive and retaliatory behavior goes way back to the beginning. I was an original founder. Little old ladies were sending in two $1 bills in cards telling us they gave up lunch to help the animals. The then Executive Director was spending money where he shouldn’t have. I spoke up and it was the end for me. I don’t know what he told Tony but whatever it was, it was over for me. .Within a year that ED was gone, the rumor I heard was he was doing exactly what I told Tony he was doing. No apology ever from Tony.
After this pandemic is behind us and people get back to work there will be a flood of dogs and cats being dumped at shelters. ARF takes many dogs and cats from shelters and finds good homes for them. I hope they will continue.
I began volunteering at ARF in 2003 and for five straight years, I happily spent every Saturday morning there, socializing/walking dogs first, then socializing the cats.
After an hour with dogs, my shift in the “cat condos” began and coincided with the public showing up. How they would smile seeing me play with a cat.
We were trained to clean up messes in dog and cat condos, but mostly to just spend time with the animals. It was a lovely run but it all changed in 2008 after they brought some consultant in and she spoke to all the volunteers at a meeting about changes. There would be no more dog walking. Instead, they would have a “Poo Poo Pole” or some other juvenile sounding phrase like that, in the middle of the lawn where you would bring the dogs to do their business..then back to the condo. Her rationale was that we were spoiling these dogs to the point where they would be miserable with anyone who adopted them because most people could not walk their dogs as much as they were getting walked at ARF. She said most people worked, left their pets at home alone, etc. And then, she said even socializing the cats had to be curtailed during the public hours because she said people didn’t want to see the animals getting along so well with others because then they would think the cats wouldn’t like them as much or something to that effect.
I couldn’t believe my ears in this meeting. This woman had a very grating New York accent, and since I am also from New York, I remember standing up in that meeting to challenge her. In the end, I never stuck around to do the poo poo poles or any of that other garbage, because the final straw for me was when we were informed thst we also had to team up with other volunteers to take turns cleaning the condos and doing laundry, etc. There was hardly any time to be with the animals anymore. And I’m sorry, but most of the volunteers during my time there were not great around other people, just animals. So why would I want to spend most of my time cleaning windows and doing laundry with anti-social people like that?
We ended up buying a house around the same time, so at that point my Saturdays were for me to laundry and other chores in my own house. I always wondered how things went on after that. It has been over a decade already. So, seeing this article, I am not surprised. Very sad, as there were such lovely animals there. And some people, too.. While I no longer donate my time there, I do donate money to Community Concern for Cats.
I just read the article from the East BayTimes. Actually when read the headline about the family leaving I immediately opened it because I had a hunch this is exactly what it was about. Why? about 16 or 17 yrs ago I wanted to volunteer there and took the classes required etc. One person rubbed me the wrong way pretty quickly. She also got very snippy when I asked some educated questions about health and safety, not in an accusatory way, but honest and important questions. That person was the director. Based on those very few encounters, as bad as this sounds, I’ve kind of been keeping an eye out for the day a new director would take over. Sometimes a gut instict about a situation ends up having some merrit. So odd I’m hearing about this so many years later.
Please tell us here what happened at ARF in the 90’s.
We need to know more why The LaRussa family is leaving too.
I feel so terribly sad for all the animals who won’t be helped if ARF doesn’t survive.
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You have truly no idea what you’re talking about. Please don’t listen to people who are basing their opinions on things that happened in the 90’s, as that was 30 years ago has nothing to do with what is happening now. Listen to the recent staff members who are speaking out, such as in the East Bay Times article. There are very real issues, and they are the ones who know.
Yes, the leadership have high salaries but the other 90% of the employees barely make a living wage. They are extremely dedicated, animal loving people who accept terrible pay and treatment because they care about the cause. And no, ARF doesn’t buy anyone fancy cars and no one has a latte machine in their office so please stop literally making things up.
While I understand your frustration with ARF – I am frustrated, too – much of your comment has left me, well, ticked off. I’m a former ARF employee and someone who has been trying to get leadership at ARF to take accountability for their actions. But your statement “everybody knows ARF doesn’t employ animal lovers” is a slap in the face to me, but more so to every single poorly paid staff member who has dedicated their lives to the animals there. How dare you. Have your fight with leadership and the ED with her big salary if that’s what you want, but don’t for a second smear the people who spill blood, sweat, and tears trying to help them. Not a single one of us had “new cars” ARF paid for or latte machines in our offices. Many of us struggled to pay our rent; animal care workers barely made over minimum wage. If your pet has an emergency they will not tell you to take it to the pound. I know that because it was MY JOB to help those people. ARF has faults. I’m the first one to be honest about those faults. But don’t spread misinformation that hurts and smears people who started there because they love animals and are passionate about helping them; people are still working there despite everything going on, just trying to do their jobs.
I’ve never been that impressed with ARF.
About a year ago, I was searching for help for my brother’s dog. My brother was dying of cancer, on a limited income, and his dog needed to be spayed. A lot of places were not doing anything due to COVID. ARF replied with a form letter providing some links where I could find help. HA! Never found anything on any info they provided.
I’m appalled at the salary of the ED. That’s just disgusting for a Non-profit.
The problem isn’t with adoptions at ARF. You will soon learn it goes much deeper than adoptions. The problem has been there since the very beginning. I am glad I lived to see it finally exposed.
I am amazed that so many people assume that “non-profit” means not much money. It actually means that they are a corporation with no stockholders, so all the money over their expenses stays in the corporation. Most well-known non-profit corporations bring in a lot of money and pay their senior staff very well.
Elena makes a lot more than I ever have, but her salary is not out-of-line with the millions of dollars of income for the corporation. When you make a donation to a charity, much of what you give goes to overhead, and that includes salaries.
When I want to know more about any charity, my go-to source is https://GuideStar.org. They have tons of information about the corporation, their mission, leadership, income, and expenses. Even the free version provides access to annual reports and IRS statements.
Those annual reports and all information can be very carefully written to their benefit for any non-profit. Been there.
I volunteered at ARF way back when they were in portables on the site. Even then they seemed heavy on “management” who mostly ignored the volunteers and were not too helpful. I had dog experience but no ARF training or knowledge of the policies. I was given the job of answering calls when members of the community called in with a problem. It was then I learned that ARF wasn’t there for the community. They don’t take dogs or cats from owners, they did not offer any resources or advice to these people for what they could do. I ended up searching the Internet to try and find some help for people. It was an awful,often heartbreaking job. I left and have never donated to ARF again.
OK, so I decided to break the news to my little Min Pin Snickers (he’d find out eventually) about ARF’s outrageous executive salary & employee abuse story.
The poor pup is so disillusioned now… crestfallen.
After the years of warm & grateful feelings for the people who rescued him and sent him to our happy home,
supposedly out of the kindness of their hearts…. Snickers has come to the brutal realization that he was merely another victim of doggy trafficking…. Sold for a $200 “adoption fee” by a dollar driven business posing as a rescue mission, as they doggy shopped the dog pounds to find more “adoptable” (sellable) animals.
Now he just sits in a corner, facing the wall…an occasional whimper… and nothing more….well, at least until suppertime.
Oh yeah!
He’s wagging that stumpy little bobbed tail now!
All good again!
Cowellian — I check Guide Star too. I’m not amazed that so many people don’t understand. Claycord.com is well read, and a very diverse group of readers. I read maybe 10% of the comments.
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