ELMSFORD, N.Y. – Pets Alive Westchester is proud to announce the appointment of Joy Sarnelli-Carson, Executive Director, and John Sibley, Director of Operations. With hundreds of animals waiting for homes, Sarnelli-Carson and Sibley are facing significant financial hurdles in the effort to keep the doors open on this 81 year old organization.   Sarnelli-Carson and Sibley are up to the challenge, and are expected to bring monumental changes that will breathe new life into to the struggling shelter.
With their focus squarely on the needs of the animals in their care, Sarnelli-Carson and Sibley will implement solid plans for fundraising to secure the future of the organization.  Their plans also include programs to broaden the reach of adoption promotions for their highly adoptable pets, plus a senior pet foster Program to help some of their aging residents find loving, forever homes.

Pets Alive Westchester, a sister organization to Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary in Middletown, NY, took over the failing Elmsford Animal Shelter in June of 2010.  At that time, the shelter was bleeding red ink and about to close its doors.  The Elmsford Animal Shelter had a reputation of being unfriendly to the community and had such stringent adoption policies that very few animals were adopted.  The sad result of those misguided policies is that there are currently animals that have spent many years at the shelter – many have been at the shelter for more than ten years!
John Sibley and Joy Sarnelli – Carson

Since Pets Alive stepped in, tremendous opportunity for the animals has been realized.  Adoptions have increased over 50 times, the volunteer program has blossomed, and the social media followers are in the thousands.  Sarnelli-Carson and Sibley have demonstrated that they plan to carry that momentum forward and build on it.
“We have 250 dogs and 300 cats in our care at the moment.  Many of them have spent their entire lives here. To their credit, they are still loving and hopeful.  Each one deserves to have their own people who love them, their own warm bed to sleep in at night. They need to go home.  That’s our job, to find the best homes for these animals,” said Joy Sarnelli-Carson.
Sarnelli-Carson brings much needed operational strategies and tremendous vision to Pets Alive Westchester.  With over 10 years of animal welfare experience, Sarnelli-Carson serves on the board of directors of Pets Alive and was the volunteer and community outreach coordinator at the Middletown   N.Y. sanctuary until her recent appointment.  She was instrumental in creating and managing a broad range of programs, and helped to develop the organizational infrastructure to position Pets Alive for growth.  As a result, Pets Alive was ready when Elmsford Animal Shelter needed help.
Sibley has a breadth of rescue experience and dedication so unlike most others that he was the natural first choice for such an important project.  Sibley brings 10 solid years of experience in animal welfare to champion for the animals at Pets Alive Westchester.  Sibley has been a vital part of the Pets Alive organization since 2007 and has seamlessly and consistently managed critical projects with the animals. His years of experience working directly with dogs for Best Friends Animal Society, and serving as a key partner in multiple mass rescues, means that the animals have the right guy on their side.  “The animals here are incredible.  Their eyes just light up when they see you come to them.  Even the animals that have been here for years – they still trust. We need to work as hard as possible to get them home.” John Sibley.
Sarnelli-Carson and Sibley are a strong team with an unwavering commitment to the future of no-kill, to the animals in their care, and to the animals in the community.  They are currently outfitting a surgical suite which will save the organization tens of thousands of dollars in veterinarian bills each year.   “We look forward to opening the surgical suite to not only care for our animals, but to offer low cost spay/neuter to the community.   This spay/neuter program will help to advance no-kill by dramatically reducing the number of animals entering the shelter system each year”, said Sarnelli-Carson.
How You Can Help:
The team is aggressively working to raise the funds to cover reserves for medical supplies.  They are also in need of animal sponsors to help to cover the cost of daily care and feeding of the animals.  To sponsor an animal, or to adopt, donate or volunteer, please visit www.petsalivewest.org.
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About Pets Alive Westchester, Elmsford New York:
Pets Alive Westchester is a no-kill animal shelter located in Elmsford NY.  The mission of Pets Alive Westchester is to improve the lives of companion animals everywhere by any means possible, including rescue, adoption, advocacy, collaboration, intervention and education.
Founded in 1931 and one of the oldest no-kill organizations in the United States, Pets Alive Westchester cares for dogs, cats and rabbits at the sanctuary in Elmsford, NY.  A non-profit (301c3) charity operating solely on individual donations, Pets Alive Westchester receives no funding from city or state.  Generous support from our members makes possible all that we do. Pets Alive Westchester is a proud member of the Pets Alive family.  Pets Alive is recognized locally, nationwide and around the world, as a leader in developing alliances to end the killing of adoptable animals and promoting the humane treatment of animals.