Dec 11, 2024 By Melissa Gibson 4 min read

Sisters Sara Gmutza-Balling and Erin Haggerty have always loved animals.

As young girls, they enjoyed caring for injured or homeless pets and the idea of turning their passion into a career was always discussed.

Gmutza-Balling was an animal care technician for Fayette Friends of Animals for years and then worked as a veterinary assistant for Woodlands Animal Care Center.

Haggerty also went into the veterinary field and currently serves as a veterinary technician for Grace Veterinary Services.

In 2019, they decided to make their dream a reality and formed Keeping the Faith Animal Shelter.

“We formed a board and became a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), and then the pandemic hit and things got stalled a bit but we worked through it like everyone else,” Gmutza-Balling said.

So far, they’ve been relying on foster families to care for the animals, but in 2022, the sisters purchased a brick-and-mortar location in Uniontown which is currently under renovation.

“We’re getting really close. We’re planning to house reptiles, birds and cats upstairs and the dogs downstairs, but I know it will be filled instantly so our biggest need – and actually what is better for the animal – is to be fostered in a home,” Gmutza-Balling said.

The application is short, and the sisters verify the animal is going into a safe home. Foster families can choose how much they are willing to take on. Are you willing to foster puppies and kittens, or prefer older animals? Can you care for an animal that might have special needs?

“We provide everything the animal will need from food to vet appointments, and then the foster family is a very important part of the adoption process,” Gmutza-Balling said. “They spend so much time with the dogs and cats, they know them better than we do sometimes.”

Every foster home is also paired with a buddy who checks in to see where they are with supplies or if anything else is needed.

Right now, most of the foster families are people who have found the animal and have agreed to care for it until the sisters can find a permanent home. It can be emotional, and many worry about the attachment they’ll have to the cat or dog.

“It is sad to see them go. We get attached too, but if you realized how many lives we could save by just doing that … see how happy they are in their new home and take another one to care for,” Gmutza-Balling said.

It’s also important to keep pets in their home if at all possible.

Keeping the Faith has a program, Keeping Them Together, which originated out of stories they’d hear from deployed military individuals or victims of domestic violence.

“If they fill out an application and are approved, we’ll foster their pet at no charge until they are able to get back on their feet,” Gumtza-Balling said. “For example, we had a young couple with a baby and the husband lost his job. They moved in with her mom and mom has a dog that doesn’t like cats. We’re caring for the cat until they move into their own place.”

In fact, they are applying for grants now to build a secondary building on their property just for those animals. Someone might be in rehab, in the hospital or lost their home in a fire, and it’s a way Gumtza-Balling and Haggerty can give back to their community.

“We’re here for the animals of course, but the people matter just as much if not more. We want to be here for our community and we might have a direct solution to your problem or at the very least, we’ll give you resources,” Gumtza-Balling said.

Like Keeping the Faith’s Facebook page for upcoming events and fundraisers and volunteer opportunities.