Click the link below to listen to Brittany Tortorella read aloud from STUBBY & RUSTY, a wonderful children’s book she wrote with her mom Christine Tortorella. The book tells the true story of a special friendship and the importance of taking care of our planet. Teachers can find a lesson plan as well. lhttps://www.dobugshavebellybuttons.com/books/
A happy adoption at Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
The John and Christine Tortorella Family Foundation is very aware of the many challenges faced by animal welfare and service organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations and support have decreased as have adoptions, spay and neuter surgeries and other important services for the public. To lend a hand, the Foundation has made grants to the following to help them continue their important work during these trying times. Please click on the names to learn more
Liberty Humane Refuge RR Purrfect Cat Rescue Brother Wolf Animal Rescue Bess the Book Bus
Mid Ohio Food Bank Suruluna Pets Alive Bella Run Equine Homeless to Home Paws Crossed
Stop the Suffering Animal Rescue Ohio Paws and Love
A sweet face from Suruluna
Kittens at Homeless to Home
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Visit Where I’m From to get your Hockey & Hound Stickers and Hoodies.
Join the H & H team by purchasing this awesome product and help support pet adoptions, community volunteering and charitable efforts.
100% of proceeds will go directly to The Tortorella Family Foundation. Your donation will stay in the great state of Ohio helping those who directly impact the lives of animals and children.
97.1 The Fan sports radio in Columbus combines forces with Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella to showcase shelter animals in their weekly segment “Hockey & Hounds” on the “Carpenter & Rothman” show.
Fans and friends rallied around Coach Torts recently to show their support and admiration for him and the family’s love for animals:
Our family would like to thank everyone who made recent donations to the programs of our family foundation through Go Fund Me. This support means so much to us and it will help us, help those, who work tirelessly to try stop the suffering of animals. There is so much to do and those people and organizations, on the front lines of this compassionate passion, need the help of the community. And you’ve given it. We pledge to use 100% of every donation in the best way possible to help animals! It takes a team!! Thank you all! And special thanks to Amanda Meyers!
To learn more about what our family foundation has been doing with our rescue partners, please visit our website: www.tortorellafoundation.org, our facebook page: www.facebook.com/tortorellafoundation and view our year-end video for 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U453Qu2miE&feature=youtu.be
Again, thank you, we are deeply touched by the support and excited about how the fundswill help Bear’s Angels!
Warm regards,
John and Christine Tortorella
The Tortorella Foundation would like to thank all the service men and women today, Veterans Day, and every day.
Asa was taken in by Pets Alive – Middleton (NY) as Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas.
Anna at Suruluna plays with one of the Hurricane Florence “refugee” dogs.
Two Bear’s Angels partners from New York State, Suruluna and Pets Alive in Middleton, took in dogs from southern shelters affected by Hurricane Florence. As the storm approached the coasts of North and South Carolina in September, many homeless animals were moved out of regional shelters due to safety concerns as well as to make room for the stray and lost dogs and cats that would need rescue during and following Florence.
The Tortorella Family Foundation was pleased to provide grants to Suruluna and Pets Alive for their kind assistance to the transported animals they welcomed to their facilities. Please visit www.suruluna.org and www.petsalive.org for a list of supplies they could use to help these animals.
Marshmallow is one of 16 cats rescued by Animal Life Rescue. Email Bryan Rouse at animallifeinc@gmail.com for more information about Marshmallow.
Several North Carolina rescues came to the aid of 30+ animals when a couple split up and finances and time could no longer handle the 25 cats, 10 dogs and two turtles they had amassed over their relationship. Until recently, all of the
Pepper was taken in by Red Barn. He is foster care and is recovering from fleas so bad his fur was falling out. It will be a couple weeks of recovery before he is placed up for adoption.
animals were regularly vetted and certainly loved. The wife reached out for help to re-home the animals as soon it became obvious it was urgent. Several people and groups came to the rescue.
Animal Life Rescue, Red Barn, It takes a Village and Wake County SPCA all took in animals to help with this situation. The Tortorella Family Foundation is proud to help support Animal Life Rescue, NC Dog Rescue, and Red Barn as they work to vet, care for and find forever homes for each of these beautiful animals. Four of the 25 cats were re-homed to a friend of the former owner. One of the dogs, Fell, was euthanized under the supervision and advice of the family vet.
Life is complicated. People often mean well and even do well for long periods of time. But when emergencies happen, that’s often when animals can suffer. The wife, a former “rescue” volunteer in North Carolina, split from her husband, and when finances got tight and there was less money and time to care for the animals they once worked together to love and care for, the animals needed to be re-homed and fast. She reached out to several contacts, asking for emergency help.
Kit was rescued by NC Dog Rescue.
Several of the cats are already up for adoption and even a couple have been adopted, and the turtles were taken to a sanctuary by NC Dog Rescue. Chris Leone, Nancy Williams and Shelley Pope worked tirelessly to re-home these animals and find rescues to take them in so they would not have to be surrendered to a kill shelter. The Tortorella Family Foundation would like to personally thank these wonderful people and organizations for their time, efforts, compassion, love and financial contributions they personally made to make this happen.
For more information about Animal Life Rescue, Red Barn, NC Dog Rescue or It Takes a Village, visit their websites or send an email.
animallifeinc@gmail.com or animallifeinc.com
From left to right, Diana Davidson, John Tortorella, Christine Tortorella, Stacey Morris (Save Ohio Pets), Anthony Rothman and SAVE volunteer Kristy Garlow.
Blue Jackets Assistant coach Brad Larsen and his daughter, Faith, sit in on a vet visit.
Save Ohio Pets teamed up with the Rascal Unit in February to help more family pets in the Columbus area. The Tortorella Foundation helped sponsor the event that had 46 on site spay and neuters, 56 pets vaccinated and micro-chipped. Another 20 were spayed days later with the help of Columbus Humane.
Hannah and Brad Larsen, Diana Davidson and John and Christine Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets were all on site to support the cause in different ways.
Hannah Larsen is a regular volunteer for Save Ohio Pets. Larsen is the wife of Blue Jackets’ assistant coach Brad Larsen.
Hannah Larsen, who volunteers regularly for Save Ohio Pets, spent the day grooming the animals that came in.
Diana Davidson stayed very busy talking to pet owners, bringing the animals to and from spay and neuter procedures, helping with records and paperwork and comforting the
Christine Tortorella and head coach for the Blue Jackets, John Tortorella, comfort a puppy after being spayed as she comes of sedation.
post-surgical pets. Davidson is married to John Davidson, the President of Hockey Operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
So many volunteers are necessary for a successful event like this, including veterinarians, groomers, vet techs and loving, comforting arms.
For more information about Save Ohio Pets and their low-cost clinics, click here.
Bella Run Equine is dedicated to the responsible rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of slaughter-bound horses. They travel to horse auctions where the majority of horses are sold to kill buyers that haul them across the border to be processed for their meat in Canada.
When space at the farm and funding in the bank allows, they travel the auctions, buying as many horses as they can. They then take them back to the farm to rehab them (both mind and body). 
The veterinarians, farriers and chiropractors they use are an integral part of the team and are the first that get to help the new arrivals.
They are proud to provide these horses with the best care they can afford. Some of the horses have had quite rough lives and their care (while modest) is often the best that they will have ever received. They get many horses that come into the program with injuries and illnesses, and a comfortable barn with high quality food (and plenty of TLC) is key to their recovery. After the horses heal physically, they evaluate them and provide them with the training necessary to find appropriate homes.
They have a new project in the works for 2018. They plan to add 10 additional stalls to the existing barn (but in a separate wing). The addition will allow Bella Run to better care for each horse and turn their existing stalls into a “quarantine wing.”
Two of Bella Run’s starvation cases, Emila Rose and Willow were fostered by the Tortorella family. After hearing about the barn project, the Tortorellas partnered with two doctors to match up to $16,000 donated toward the project.
“We are absolutely humbled and are so grateful for this great act of kindness and hope that we will be able to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to provide the horses in our care with a wonderful new place to rest and recover,” said one of the founders of Bella Run.
Please visit www.bellarunequine.org/donate to contribute to this project.
OUR MISSION
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