About Us
It Takes A Village No-Kill Rescue
To work as one in helping animals, no matter the breed, location, or circumstance.
About Us
Browse adoptable dogs and cats. Every adoption gives a homeless animal a second chance at life.
Our Story
It started with one lunch, one idea, and a village.
In 2010, two passionate women—Brie Stafford and Susan Gainey, JD—met over lunch at a McDonald’s in Evansville. From that conversation, It Takes A Village was born. Guided by the belief that “saving one dog will not change the world, but for that one dog, the world will change forever,” they dreamed of a no-kill rescue dedicated to the most vulnerable animals.
From humble beginnings fostering out of homes, ITV opened its first facility in 2012 after winning a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh grant. Community sweat equity transformed an old storage building into the ITV Rescue Center—Evansville’s first no-kill rescue.
In 2019, a second location opened in Spencer County, expanding ITV’s ability to save lives. And in April 2025, ITV will continue to grow with the opening of a third location in Daviess County, further extending its mission to help animals in need.
Meet the Team
Tangila Smith
Tammy Schmitt
Terri Melton
Shay Harrington
Neal Anderson
Halee Dickinson
what we believe
- No breed, size, color, or circumstance defines worth
- Every animal deserves a second chance
- Rescue doesn’t stop with animals—it starts with people
- Hard-to-place pets—bully breeds, black dogs, those with medical needs—are our specialty
Our impact
- First no-kill rescue in Evansville
- We never euthanize for space or time
- Every action backed by our promise: we are with them for life
- We care for dogs, cats and occasionally other small animals
- We provide food, housing, veterinary care, and lifelong commitment
community programs
- Pet medical assistance for struggling community members
- TNR initiatives & cruelty task force involvement
- Pet food bank and supplies for local families
FAQs and Transparency
At ITV, we believe every animal deserves time, love, and a real chance at a forever home — no matter how long it takes. We are a no-kill rescue, which means we never euthanize for time or space. All healthy and treatable animals are saved, with no “time limit” for adoption. Some, like Toki — a high-energy pit bull who waited over 4 years — remind us why we never give up.
While our goal is to save every animal, no-kill does not mean we never euthanize. In rare cases of untreatable illness or severe aggression, we make difficult, humane decisions with guidance from our veterinarians. We always prioritize the animal’s quality of life, the safety of our volunteers, and the well-being of our community.
Since 2010, we’ve helped over 11,000 animals — and we’re just getting started.
Learn more about no-kill philosophy:
If we make the difficult decision to euthanize an animal, we never take the animal to a city shelter to do it. After consulting with one of our vets, the animal is euthanized by our vet with one or more ITV representatives present. We provide the animal with the dignity of crossing the rainbow bridge being loved on by someone he or she knows. Since our founding in 2010, our yearly euthanasia rate is less than .04%. The number of animals we have rescued and our euthanasia rate is published on the home page of the ITV website.
No, not unless medically necessary to prevent suffering. Puppies who test positive for parvo are immediately hospitalized. Because of this, we have a very high success rate of saving parvo puppies. Many times, we take in sick animals who face euthanasia at other shelters or rescues. However, it comes at a high cost and each parvo puppy we save is a financial “loss” to our rescue. The standard adoption fee of $200 is not sufficient to cover the hundreds to thousands of dollars it costs to save a litter of puppies who test positive for parvo.
We also test all adult dogs for heartworms and will not euthanize a dog who tests positive. We treat all heartworm positive dogs at the cost of $400 to $700 each. Each year, we treat approximately 25-40 heartworm positive dogs. On average, we collectively spend at least $15,000 (and usually much more) helping heartworm positive dogs.
Further, we have gone through intensive therapy for several dogs to help them recover from injuries, including birth defects, broken bones, paralysis, disease, and many other ailments. Just one of the many examples of dogs we have helped – we took in puppies who were born with birth defects and we spent over $2000 helping them. We have taken dogs to specialists both locally and to Louisville, Nashville and Purdue University.
No. We make a lifetime commitment to all our animals. Our adoption contract requires adopters to return the animal to ITV if they are not able to keep the animal. On occasion, an adopter will take the adopted animal to another shelter or to another rescue and we always reclaim the animal.
We work very hard to learn about individual animals upon intake by getting as much of the animal’s history as possible. When an animal is new to us, we find that many times he or she is very scared, and we believe it is unfair to put the animal through a test during one of the most vulnerable times in the animal’s life.
We learn about our animals through reports from foster families, animal caretakers, and volunteers. We have a volunteer trainer who we also consult with when necessary. When possible, adopters meet the foster family during the adoption process, where they can ask questions about the animal. If the animal is living at the ITV Rescue Center, ITV provides as much information as we know to a potential adopter.
We strive to get to know individual animals and we do not judge animals by how they act when they first arrive at our rescue. In fact, recent studies show that conducting temperament tests upon intake into a shelter environment is not an accurate predictor of an animal’s behavior in a home.
“The tests are artificial and contrived,” said Dr. Gary J. Patronek, an adjunct professor at the veterinary medicine school at Tufts, who published an analysis concluding that the tests have no more positive predictive value for aggression than a coin toss.
“During the most stressful time of a dog’s life, you’re exposing it to deliberate attempts to provoke a reaction,” Dr. Patronek said. “And then the dog does something it wouldn’t do in a family situation. So you euthanize it?”
Sources:
No. Unfortunately, we are limited by the number of kennels and foster homes we have available. We receive daily requests for help and we help when we can, but we are not required to take an animal into ITV. Many times we work with individuals to schedule an intake date. We operate at capacity almost daily and we know our limits. Once a kennel is opened up by an adoption or an animal going to a foster home, there is always another animal immediately waiting for the kennel. We post on our Facebook page every Sunday our adoptions for the week. But, if we post on Sunday that we had 15 adoptions for the week, it does not mean we now have 15 kennels open. Instead, it means that fosters have adopted their foster animal and will not take another and/or we probably have already lined up many more animals to fill any empty kennels at the ITV Rescue Center.
No. We do not keep open kennels at the rescue center “just in case.” ITV’s kennels are always full because we do not believe that we should have empty kennels when so many animals are dying every day, every hour at area shelters. When an animal is adopted from an ITV foster home or from the rescue center, there are always many more waiting to fill the empty spot.
Our name comes from an African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. We believe that it also takes a village to save an animal. We cannot do this alone. We need the support of our community to save as many animals at possible. We formed in 2010 when a small group of people saw a need to help animals at regional shelters. One of our co-founders, Brie Stafford, believed strongly in the quote that “Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever.” (Quote by Karen Davidson). ITV operates following this motto and we do our best to change the world forever, one dog at a time.
ITV opened our rescue center on July 21, 2012 after we won a $25,000 grant from Pepsi. Each year, we continue to expand and increase the number of homeless animals we help. Since we formed, we have helped over 10,000 animals! We expect this number to continue to grow as ITV grows.