“If you want something done, ask a busy person.” A 30+ year real estate veteran, Susan’s passion for “saving” families soon transformed into a passion for saving lives. Single mother to two boys, since ages three and five; today, as President/Co-Founder of RRR, Susan leads an army of 80+ community volunteers, all on a mission to make a difference. Susan says, “Little did I know, the day I met Rosemarie, how dramatically my life would change course. Rosemarie had quietly selected me to carry on her legacy of saving lives. During our last conversation before she passed, Rosemarie made me promise to never stop. She said, ‘the animals need us, and even if you can save just a handful, you’ll have made a difference in this world.’” Every decision made to this day, was a lesson taught by Rosemarie. In addition to running the rescue and selling real estate, Susan travels the country as a Sales and Customer Service Trainer for Warm Thoughts Communications and runs their Realtor Program as a National Continuing Education Instructor for the Real Estate Commission.
In memoriam. In her 40+ years of rescue, Rosemarie participated in saving over 7,000 lives. Original founder of Orphaned Pets, Rosemarie built her entire life around saving animals. She never said no. She always found a way to take one more. And often two. It was through Orphaned Pets that Rosemarie met Susan, who soon became more than her right-hand-person. Her constant side-kick, she’d take Susan on every mission, showing her the ropes, teaching her the process, and ensuring excellence. When diagnosed with cancer, Rosemarie’s only dream was to foster “her way” until the end. Together, she and Susan decided to launch one last hurrah for Rosemarie; a quasi-unconventional foster-to-adopt rescue: Rosemarie’s Rescue Ranch. It didn’t dawn on Susan until after Rosemarie had passed, that RRR was Rosemarie’s last gift to her rescue partner. That, all this time, Rosemarie had been preparing Susan to carry on her life’s work. Rosemarie’s legacy lives on today in all the volunteers and saved animals of RRR.
Tamara’s dream was to “One day, have enough money to get a big plot of land and save all the animals!” She soon realized that she didn’t need to wait for an “imaginary scenario” to come true in order to make a difference. Tamara began fostering for Rosemarie many years ago. And, as they say, the rest is history. On the day we lost Rosemarie, “I knew I had to help Susan carry on the work.” Today, Tamara serves as Susan’s right hand person and Vice President of RRR. Outside of rescue, Tamara owns a private practice as a psychotherapist in Morristown and enjoys spending time with her dogs and loved ones.
Nick inherited his passion for animal welfare by default. As Susan's son, his home life was dictated by rescue, with a revolving door of never-ending fosters. As District Manager for ADP, his sharp business sense and decision making skills lend a level of excellence to our mission. Nick serves on the Board of Directors for RRR, but but can be found mostly in the middle of meet and greets, arriving transports, and any needed interventions. Instinctively, his superpower is reading the animals and understanding their body language. Being raised by a single mother in rescue and real estate, Nick is always ready to think on his feet and change course on a dime.
Luke grew up in an all-hands-on-deck rescue environment as Susan’s younger son. It was always understood: What needed to be done for the rescue, would get done. And the heavy work usually involved Luke. Today, he not only works closely with his brother, Nick, in the family rescue, but also side-by-side as District Manager for ADP. A calming, level presence, Luke is a natural at approaching newly saved animals and helping prepare them for their foster families. Luke serves on the Board of Directors for RRR, where his superpower is his calming demeanor in decision making. Being raised by a single mother in rescue and real estate, Luke’s quiet strength helps get his mom through her toughest challenges.
Alexandra landed in RRR about eight years ago when she started dating the President’s son, Nick! Today she proudly serves as a member of the Board. Along with chairing the Foster Liaison Program, she helps student interns, and acts as Susan’s eyes and ears to help troubleshoot problems and create solutions. Together Alex and Susan spend a great deal of time brainstorming innovative new processes and procedures, including out-of-the-box critical thinking. Outside of rescue Alex is a sixth grade math teacher. She just received her masters in educational leadership with the hopes to someday become a supervisor or principal.
MaryBeth started in rescue 20+ years ago, when she adopted her Husky Lexa from another group. She began volunteering with this group, but grew dissatisfied with their operation and knew there had to be a better way to make a difference. And then she met Susan and found what she was looking for in RRR. Chair of the Adoption Events Committee, MaryBeth thrives on having her hands in many different aspects of animal rescue in addition to adoptions. You'll find her organizing incoming medical records, ensuring new adopters get copies, and serving as a Foster Liaison to help new foster families get acclimated. She is also the first to volunteer as a backup foster whenever we run out of options. Outside the rescue MaryBeth is the Operations Manager for Finn + Emma, a children’s organic clothing company. She is married and a proud mom of 5 dogs (3 of which were foster fails from RRR.)
Leslie launched her rescue career as a volunteer for Rosemarie decades ago. She first began by fostering, and quickly discovered how rewarding an experience it was to help homeless animals feel whole again. Her favorite moments always came when she'd help them find their forever homes. Knowing she played a role in helping them feel safe and confident again, providing them with unconditional love to help them trust again, and participating in their transformation was a feeling unlike any other. She continues, to this day, to provide a loving and safe foster home to RRR’s dogs, puppies and kittens. She also helps the team as Chair of the Donations/Supplies Committee, Leslie and her crew meet twice a month to ensure our critical supplies remain organized, in-stock, and accessible as needed. You'll often find Leslie utilizing her artistic talents creating beautiful fliers for Facebook, or at our wonderful Rescue Resale Shop decorating for holidays, setting up displays keep the shop fun and inviting.
Maria comes from generations of animal lovers, and there isn't a time that she can remember not having that connection. 14 years ago, her Shorkie mix, Carla, came into her life and taught her the love of a furry companion. 8 years ago, she found the love for rescue when she saved a litter of kittens in her neighborhood from being taken away by the ASPCA. That's where she found her loving cat Trouble, who recently passed away. It's then Maria's journey in rescue began. In 2017, she took in a foster who found himself on the euthanasia list. Being that this was his 4th home and Maria bonded deeply with him, Leo, the now 11 year old Chihuahua mix, has found himself a permanent member of her pack. Having a full house, Maria began fostering kittens with RRR years ago, bottle feeding and prepping the little ones until old enough for adoption. On top of this, she's a Foster Liaison, fielding questions, and serving as a support to new foster families. Chair of the Applications Screening Committee, Maria works hard to make sure our animals are placed with the perfect applicant. Outside of the rescue, she recently graduated from Montclair State University with her BA in Journalism.
Gail’s family adopted several cats before getting more involved in rescue. After having her cats for a few years, she began fostering to experience life with a kitten (her cats were all adopted as young adults). She became involved with two shelters and fostered many litters of kittens, plus everything from mice to a nursing dog with puppies. As people turned over at the shelters she volunteered for and things got disorganized, she answered a Facebook post from RRR to foster a kitten. She foster-failed on that kitten (on her next foster also, but who’s counting) and has since taken on several roles with RRR. Little did Gail know, her role with the rescue would soon transform to being fully in charge of our Feline Division. Today, Gail serves as Chair for our Cat/Kitten Division, managing fosters, overseeing vet appointments, and screening applications. During the day, Gail spends her time as a marketing research consultant. She is married and has two sons who all support her rescue efforts.
Alyssa started volunteering with the rescue after a delivery of dog food ended up on her doorstep by mistake. She came to an adoption event just donate the food, and instantly fell in love with a chi-weenie that was up for adoption. Rudy was the first in a lineup of foster fails! She then started attending various RRR events, and volunteering whenever needed. Not before long, Alyssa realized she'd found her home-away-from-home at RRR. Alyssa is a retired Labor and Delivery nurse, mother of 3 sons and grandmother of one. She still taps into her years of nursing experience by caring for rescues needing post operative care, pets requiring medications and bottle feeding kittens. Alyssa’s husband Gerard, a retired physician, and son Jerry lend a hand in caring for the recouperating fosters. Alyssa also manages our RRR Resale Shop in Verona. She accepts your generous donations from the community, and plans sales specials to keep our wonderful customers coming back! Stop in and say hello, you'll find our little Rescue Resale Shop the friendliest place in town! And, of course, we are pet friendly, so bring along your best friend too!
An administrative professional, Dale has worked many office jobs over the years; but working with animals has always been a personal passion. On almost any day, before and after work, you could find her out in local neighborhoods walking dogs for her side gig - pet care. Upon retirement, Dale chose to become more actively involved in supporting rescue through RRR. As Assistant Manager, she now helps run our wonderful Rescue Resale Shop in Verona, while also serving on our Fundraising Committee. Dale is a proud grandmother of two animal-loving young girls who were raised around rescue from the beginning. Dale loves working with the rescue and is glad to help in many ways.
Laura has been by Susan’s side, supporting the rescue, since 2018. Their history together began long before Laura even came into this world, as her mom and Susan went to school together in Verona. “Our family always had hypoallergenic Bichon mixes, and I remember one day Susan just showed up with a newly saved Bichon mix from a puppy mill. She literally handed the dog to my mother, ‘asking’ her to foster.” Within 24 hours, a new foster-fail was born, and a rescue relationship was formed. Laura has always had rescues in her home, including: Hope, who she rescued from Beth Stern, Brisket, and Marta. Today, Laura serves as Chair of the RRR Fundraising Committee. If you have attended our Pancake Breakfasts, Online Auctions, or Virtual Garage Sales, Laura was responsible for bringing it to fruition. Outside of Rescue, Laura serves the community as a Paramedic. She is happily married to a Paramedic/Firefighter, and together, they enjoy travel; especially to Bar Harbor, Maine, in their new RV.
Amy started working with homeless animals years ago at her town’s animal shelter where she volunteered for many years. Although the work was important, it lacked a sense of community and camaraderie and was a limited learning experience. Her work with Rosemarie’s Rescue Ranch started about 3 1/2 years ago when she adopted her kitten Opie. With more availability since retirement, her roles have varied over the years but have included pulling from shelters, meeting transport and providing transportation, and is more recently focused on the pet write-ups for the rescue on Petfinder. Amy feels she has found a home with this community of wonderful, caring and helpful people, and is proud of the rescue’s work, and the work she has contributed to so far.
Danielle found RRR through a facebook post, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Susan was in dire need of support and assistance for saving shelter dogs on death row down South. Danielle couldn’t volunteer fast enough. She had always wanted to work in rescue and this was the perfect opportunity. Today, as Chair of the RRR Pull Team, Danielle orchestrates the many moving pieces involved in saving lives from high-kill shelters all over the US and in other countries. She also serves on our board of directors, assisting in wherever is needed, whenever! Outside of RRR, she is a board certified behavior analyst, working with individuals on the spectrum. But her claim to fame is “being married to my super supportive husband, Anthony and Mom to our two beautiful baby girls, Mia and Lucia.… and of course our two wonderful rescues, Toby and Twist.”
Christina has always been an ally and friend to animals. She attended Mercy College and received a Bachelors of Veterinary Medicine, but got cold feet when applying for veterinary school. Instead, she decided to start working in the field at an emergency animal clinic. After several years, Christina stepped away from her passion for animals to help with the family business. Fast forward 15 years, she found herself pulled back into fostering. Having saved hundreds of lives independently, rescue quickly became a family affair for not only Christina, but her husband and two sons as well. There is rarely a time when they don’t have a foster at home. Susan and Christina met through their “day jobs” in the oil and energy industry. Once they realized their common dedication to animals, they collaborated to combine efforts and reach further areas to Rescue, Rehab and Rehome. Today, Christina serves as our Chair for the RRR Hudson Valley, NY Division.
Renna has been an animal lover since childhood and has always had a passion to save them all. She does what she can through rescue and foster, currently with 3 senior rescue dogs and many foster fails. As RRR’s Medical Coordinator, Renna works directly with Susan and the Foster Liaisons to book vet appointments for our fosters. Adding this position to the rescue has been a game-changer, providing needed control over our rescue's heath, diagnosis, prognosis, follow-up care, and the procurement of medical records. We selected Renna specifically for this role because of her exceptional organizational skills and her desire to help. Renna says she "thrives when multitasking, and loves being able to help." Renna has two teenagers of her own and outside of RRR works as an Account Executive with L’Oréal Luxe. Renna loves what she does and hopes to continue helping animals in need for many, many years to come.
