Arfriend was created in 2004 in honor of a dear friend — a Beagle named Bart— who always met his friends with a cheerful greeting, a wagging tail and total acceptance.

Our purpose is charitable and educational, benefiting both humans and animals, and promoting compassion for all living beings.  In 2005 Arfriend became a public benefit corporation, and later that year was approved as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

We are active in providing and distributing educational materials regarding animal health & safety, disaster preparedness, spay/neuter information, storm drain pollution/waste disposal solutions and pet loss/grief support.

Our website is a resource guide for both humans and animals, raising public awareness and providing information to promote comfort, kindness, healing, teaching and acceptance for each other.

The first public event sponsored by Arfriend was a booth at the Annual West Hollywood, CA Book Fair in October, 2004. Booth participants included authors and organizations: Pawprints Literacy Plus Foundation, No Voice Unheard, Animal Wellness Magazine, City Dog Press, The Well-Heeled Dog and the Original Dog Whisperer and founder of Raise with Praise, Paul Owens.

We now participate in the event every year and have an even greater forum to provide knowledge and information to our large community of pet guardians and their companion animals. Other participants in Arfriend-sponsored Book Fair booths have included the Los Angeles Audubon Society, SoCal Nature, Jim Gilbert, author of What Dogs Do In Heaven, Jorji Publications, Spike the West Hollywood West Safety Dog, Recycled Pets Rescue and Tim Young with Murphy the inimitable Boston Terrier performing Murphy's Safety Songs; also Karen "Doc" Halligan, DVM signing her book What Every Pet Owner Should Know and demonstrating canine CPR techniques plus author Linda O. Johnston, signing her Kendra Ballantyne Pet Sitter Mystery books, along with Lexie, brilliant canine star of the series.

We have sponsored two seminars at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood: The Spiritual Side of Our Animal Friends with speakers Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis and A Spiritual Approach To Pet Loss and Bereavement with speakers Dr. Steve Smith of Home Pet Doctor and holistic acupuncturist/herbalist Yasmin Harounian who spoke about ailing and aging animals.

Under the guidance of our energetic and enthusiastic executive Vice President, Louise Henning, we have made rapid progress in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX area, starting by co-sponsoring the 2nd Annual Bow Wow Pow Wow along with The Colony, TX Parks & Recreation Department and The Colony, TX Animal Control Center.

We sponsored the event Give ‘Em Shelter to benefit the Farmers Branch,TX Animal Adoption Center and TX Cause for Pause Rescue organization. Arfriend presented a check to the City of Farmers Branch for use at the animal adoption center and donated a trailer to Cause for Paws for transporting equipment to their off-site animal adoptions.

We have held Fund-Raising Garage Sales to benefit Arfriend in Farmers Branch, and a Bronze Sponsorship was provided by Arfriend at Diamond W’s Hooves, Paws, Wings and Claws Adoption Event in Alvarado, TX.

Arfriend is fortunate to have acquired acreage in the high desert of Twentynine Palms, California. We are looking forward to having a thriving and active place of our own to accomplish our mission, benefiting both humans and animals.

For further information about Arfriend,
please email info@arfriend.org.

Louise Henning
Executive Vice President
has been the human of dogs, cats and horses Curly Bill, Ty, Daisy, Visa, Shadow, Rocky, Molly, Chutney Bob, Sunny, Huey, O'Neill, Rosebud, Oscar, Grey Kitty, Slick and Flame.  She was a founder and former officer of Second Chance SPCA in Plano, Texas.

Andrea Sellers Reichardt
CFO
has been the protector of dogs and cats Buffy, Nicky, Erin, Serena, Claude, Jazz, Maxwell, Cole, Ziggy and Ansel.