Annabella Mireles
When we think of local heroes, our minds might immediately think of firefighters, police officers, doctors and teachers. However, the stories of the unsung heroes of dog rescuers should also be on that list. Teresa Meraz, who received the Hispanic Heritage Award for making an impact on the community along with her daughter Diana Meraz, have made their own mark on the community.
The mother and daughter duo created the non-profit A Home to Bark and Purr, which helps dogs and cats not just find a place to stay but find their new families. Teresa says it was her first rescue that influenced her to become a rescuer.
“I had found a small dog behind a trash can that I thought was a rat,” Teresa Meraz said. “I think someone saw him and threw him away because they thought he was dead. I think that’s what started it for me, my very first rescue and he lived to be 15. He was our little Frankenstein Chihuahua who had lots of health issues. I ended up keeping him.”
Teresa spread her passion of caring for animals to her daughter and son after she took them to volunteer at animal rescues when Diana was in sixth grade.
“We started volunteering at Fred Wilson Animal Services and the Humane Society,” Teresa Meraz said. “Then we started picking up dogs off the street little by little and taking them to the local rescues. Then one day, Diana gave me the idea to start our own 501. We finally created our own non-profit in 2018.”
Diana, who is also involved in the non-profit Mija, Yes you can, has always been interested in the non-profit community and is part of the team of volunteers who help organize events and find animals’ homes.
“My mom and our rescue partners do more of the rescuing and I do more of the PR stuff like handling applications and the social media,” Diana said. “I don’t think we were known in the community until about two years ago. We started opening a Facebook and Instagram account and that’s when we started popping.”
The organization’s social media accounts are populated with photos of the animals they look after and are up for adoption. Although the non-profit does not have a brick-and-mortar facility, the animals that are rescued stay with “fosters” which are volunteers who take in the animals until they get adopted.
“A lot of our animals are in foster homes, and those foster parents will bring them to our adoption events where if their animal gets adopted, they help us foster another animal,”
Diana. “Most of our fosters have four or five, so it’s not like one foster, one dog, it’s more like one foster, several dogs!”
Teresa also takes part in fostering the animals and currently homes eight of the animals in her own home. When she’s not working as a teacher, she’s taking the animals they’ve rescued to the vet, using donations and money from fundraisers to help her aid the animals to health.
“Most of the animals are at my house,” Teresa said. “I converted my garage and put long kennels and some air conditioning units that we were able to purchase after our fundraising event at Rush Cycle.”
“We are always doing fundraisers,” Diana said. “They really help because that money always goes toward something that’s going to benefit us like helping to cover vet bills, equipment, and cleaning supplies.”
In addition to running A Home to Bark and Purr, Teresa works as a teacher and Diana works for the State of Texas, a challenge they both must balance; however, they also have the help of their two rescue partners, Devon Velasquez and Diana Flores.
“Our rescue partner Devon Velasquez is very knowledgeable as far as the medical aspects because she volunteers with a vet in Juarez, so she’s learned a lot from him,” Teresa said.
If fosters aren’t able to take the pets to the vet, Teresa will take them when she isn’t teaching.
“She’ll get off work and just go straight to rescuing, and then she doesn’t go home until 9PM,” Diana said. “My brother and I always remind her to take care of herself, but rescue is her passion.”
If someone is interested in adopting a dog, they can reach out to them through their Instagram where they can also see their fundraising and adoption events in which people can visit the animals. If a person is unsure whether an animal might be the right fit, the non-profit offers “sleepovers” where people can apply to take home a dog for a few days and see how they adapt to their environment.
“You have to think about it from their perspective,” Diana said. “Sleepovers are beneficial because they can get a feel for the environment. During those few days, they might be confused and uncomfortable because it’s a new environment for them and they might have an accident. But like my mom says, ‘When you go to somebody’s house, you need to ask where the bathroom is because you wouldn’t know,’ that’s how they feel. The sleepovers also help people find out if they are ready to adopt an animal.”
Teresa and Diana have been a part of several success stories and have helped change animals’ lives, one of them is named Pecan, a Pitbull mix.
“He was found by a pecan tree which is why we named him Pecan,” Diana said. “His eyes were closed shut and we think it was from the pesticides from the area. We believe he was abandoned there because he was in the middle of nowhere and one of the fosters found him. He was very emaciated, and we didn’t think he was going to make it. Claudia at Kendra Scott helped us raise money and he finally made it out. He got adopted and they ended up moving so they brought him back. I started fostering him and this couple who owned all pugs came in and expressed interest in Pecan. They did a sleepover, and they ended up adopting him.”
Through their dedication and compassion, Teresa and Diana Meraz have not only saved countless animals but have also inspired a community to see the value in every life – no matter how small or forgotten. Their journey, from rescuing a single abandoned pup to building a thriving nonprofit, is a testament to the power of love, persistence, and the belief that every animal deserves a second chance.
