Doina Contescu, a certified wildlife rehabilitator, has spent the last 15 years rescuing, rehabbing, and reintroducing animals of all species into permanent loving homes and habitats, be they domestic or wild. During this period, she was able to create hundreds of happy endings including:

• the rescue and placement of 220 homeless cats into loving homes
• the subsidization of veterinary costs for pets of elderly and low-income people facing desperate situations with nowhere else to turn
• the care, rehabilitation, and release of 581 injured and orphaned wildlife
• the rescue of three pit bulls, 2 elderly Chihuahuas, and 1 blind Shitzu facing imminent euthanasia at other animal shelters

C.A.R.E., (Community Animal Rescue and Education) is the fruit of Doina's personal commitment to animal welfare and her vision to engage her local community in actively participating in animal advocacy. Keeping always in mind that community involvement creates more lasting change than one person's single legacy, C.A.R.E. is committed to fostering partnerships with local business, organizations, and government entities in order to ensure a heightened awareness and more careful response to the ‘urban’ wildlife that enhances our own lives daily.

One of C.A.R.E.'s most prominent goals is to move the animal rescue organization and its daily obstacles from the fringe of community to ‘main street.’ Part of our philosophy is aimed at educating and engaging community members to take on the problems of animal neglect and overpopulation in their immediate neighborhood; hitherto, Cambridge has lacked any kind of animal care facility of this kind. Taking steps toward achieving this integral component, C.A.R.E. has undergone its first major expansion with the addition of an adoption center and office in the heart of Harvard Square in Cambridge. This location will serve as a centralized venue for all our outreach and volunteer activities, as well as a meeting ground for adopters with their future companion animals. This venue will not however replace the tight knit foster network that C.A.R.E. continues to cultivate. This network of dedicated foster parents and homes will still serve an integral role in the transition process for rescued and displaced animals, but will no longer be the only means of temporary housing for our rescues.

Beyond this current venue, C.A.R.E. aspires to grow into a larger facility capable of offering more veterinary care and housing for special needs and injured animals, as well as allowing for an active open door policy for new intakes. (Please see Our Philosophy for a deeper understanding of the ideological obstacles we face and how we hope to combat it.) C.A.R.E. also hopes to continue building neighborhood awareness through programs and events that respond directly to the needs of the stray, orphaned, and injured animal population. For example, we are hoping to hold a series of hands on learning sessions for kids interested in animal health and wellbeing. After all, it will be future generations that will afford these programs a lasting legacy. Furthermore, C.A.R.E. plans to begin initiatives and partnerships with local business and government programs that will directly impact the lives of current low income adoptive families. Some of these goals include an animal food pantry, subsidization for prescriptions and surgeries, and a drive to support humane housing regulation in the Greater Boston Metro Area.

“C.A.R.E. (Community Animal Rescue and Education) is a non-profit, locally based organization dedicated to the needs of abandoned, injured, and orphaned animals. We seek to engage, educate, and inspire our communities so that all animals live in comfort and are treated with dignity and respect.”