Best Friends Animal Society Awards ASTRO Foundation for 2025 Pet Lifesaving Results
Oakdale, CA) June 4, 2026) ─ ASTRO Foundation has been recognized with the Collective Impact award from Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s shelters.
ASTRO Foundation was selected for the Collective Impact award based on Best Friends’ national shelter data, expert recommendations, and lifesaving impact from January — December 2025. National, state, and shelter level data can be found on the pet lifesaving dashboard published by Best Friends.
"Receiving the Best Friends Collective Impact Award is a profound honor for ASTRO Foundation and a testament to the dedication of our staff, volunteers, fosters, and community partners including the City of Oakdale who show up every single day for the animals in our care. At ASTRO, we've always believed that saving lives requires more than one organization — it takes a village. This award affirms that the collaborative spirit driving our work in Oakdale, Riverbank, and Escalon is making a real difference. We are grateful to Best Friends Animal Society for recognizing that collective impact isn't just a strategy — it's the heart of everything we do."
— Jaydeen Vicente, Founder & President, ASTRO Foundation, Inc.
ASTRO Foundation is a member of the Best Friends Network, which is comprised of more than 6,000 animal shelters, spay/neuter organizations, and rescue groups across the country working to save the lives of dogs and cats in their communities. Together, Best Friends and its network partners are working to take the country no-kill*. Today, more than 2 out of 3 U.S. shelters are no-kill, and hundreds more are within reach of that goal. Reaching this goal will mean that every shelter in America gets the community support it needs to save every healthy and treatable dog and cat who can be saved while prioritizing public health, safety, and a high quality of life for both pets and people.
"These honorees have shown what's possible when shelters embrace data-backed strategies, invest in collaboration, and pursue lifesaving innovation," said Whitney Bollinger, Director of Strategy & Network Operations, Best Friends Animal Society. "Their cat and dog lifesaving results are an inspiration — and proof of what the field can achieve."
The path to no-kill varies by community but always includes collaborative partnerships and coalitions among animal shelters and rescue groups, as well as community members working toward a collective goal. Other best practices include the implementation of proven pet lifesaving programs such as inclusive adoption and foster programs, community cat that use trap-neuter-return programs, transport efforts, returning lost pets to their owners, spay/neuter services, neonatal kitten nurseries, and data-informed decision-making and strategy development. The Best Friends Network offers partners vast resources to support implementation of these practices, and more.
*No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles. This means cooperation among animal shelters, animal rescue groups, government agencies, community members and other stakeholders, all committed to best practices and protocols.
About ASTRO Foundation
ASTRO Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit rescue organization dedicated to saving the lives of cats and dogs in Oakdale, Riverbank, and Escalon, California. Founded in 2012, we've grown from a small foster-based rescue into a full-service adoption organization operating out of our facility at 20 S. Stearns Road, Oakdale — with a network of loving foster homes and programs that address the root causes of animal homelessness. Beyond adoptions, our Community Cat Program reduces feline overpopulation through Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR), reflecting our commitment to humane, community-wide solutions for animals in need.
About Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization dedicated to saving the lives of dogs and cats in America's shelters and making the entire country no-kill. Founded in 1984, Best Friends runs lifesaving facilities and programs nationwide in partnership with more than 6,000 shelters and rescue organizations. From our headquarters in Kanab, Utah, we also operate the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary — a destination that brings our mission to life for thousands of visitors each year. We maintain the most comprehensive animal sheltering data in the country and make it accessible to the public — empowering communities with critical insights into the needs of their local shelters and how they can help. We believe every dog and cat deserves a home. And we believe that, by working together, we can Save Them All®.