Rolling Meadows woman helps organize hundreds of dog adoptions

When Cathy Maloney started Foster 2 Home in 2010, she hoped to get dogs out of shelters and into the care of loving foster families before finding their forever homes.

Five years later, the organization is close to adopting out its 1,000th dog.

“I had no idea what we were capable of,” said Maloney who runs the nonprofit out of her Rolling Meadows home.

“The more people you meet, the more you realize that there are so many other true dog lovers out there.”

The dogs come from kill shelters in Illinois but also throughout the Midwest and South.

“We take in some dogs that have not been treated very nicely,” Maloney said.

She then works to place each dog in the home of a volunteer foster family in the Northwest suburbs.

“We get a chance to see if they've had some problems in the past that need to be addressed that you wouldn't notice at a shelter,” Maloney said. “The more we know about the dog, we can match them up better and make sure it is a forever home.”

Fosters bring their dogs to PetSmart in Mount Prospect every Saturday for adoption events and work to get the dogs in good shape for adoption, which could mean treating medical or emotional issues.

Anything the organization does is paid for with grants, donations and money raised at events, Maloney said.

About 30 of the dogs are now paired with veterans through War Dogs Making It Home — a Chicago-based organization that trains and matches dogs with service members suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

“Taking dogs from foster homes, we get more of a background about how they interact with other dogs or children. That way they've had a chance to calm down from the shelter,” said Elena Morgan, War Dogs CEO. “These are dogs that could have been put to sleep, but now they are with their veterans 24/7.”

Morgan said the dogs can change veterans lives for the better by providing companionship, waking them before a night terror happens and making them feel safe.

“Even before they take the dog home, you see a transformation. It's almost like someone is shining light on their face,” she said.

Dogs from Foster 2 Home typically stay with foster families for three to four weeks, but the longer they stay the harder it can be to give them up.

Maloney has taken in Noodles, a deaf special needs dog for almost a year. She's taught him sign language and made sure he's in good health.

“It's hard to let go, but I know he'll be going to a good place,” she said.

Maloney said her nonprofit couldn't have grown as large as it has without help from the volunteers and foster families that help run the organization.

While Foster 2 Home has turned from a hobby into a full-time job, Maloney said she does it all out of her love for dogs and her hope that more will be adopted into better homes.

“It makes somebody's life better, whether it's a senior citizen or a family that wants to raise their children with a puppy,” Maloney said. “Adopting a dog changes your life story.”

Organize: 'Adopting a dog changes your life story'