Prevention before crisis • Tri-Cities, WA

Helping our community one pet at a time.

Sam I Am Outreach is rooted in prevention: helping pet owners, fosters, and adopters before animals and families reach a breaking point.

Sammich, a black-and-white Boston terrier, relaxing in a red harness on a sunny wooden deck
Pets are a lifetime commitment. Education, resources, and compassionate support can prevent neglect, emergencies, and avoidable surrender.
Mission

The mission of Sam I Am Outreach

Sam I Am Outreach is rooted in prevention.

Rescue matters, but rescue usually begins after something has already gone wrong — after an animal has been neglected, abandoned, surrendered, misunderstood, under-supported, or failed by the people and systems around them.

Sam I Am exists to help before animals and families reach that point.

Our mission is to help pet owners, fosters, and adopters better understand the responsibility of caring for an animal. Pets are not temporary. They are not disposable. They are living beings who depend on us for their safety, health, training, structure, enrichment, and lifelong care.

We believe many emergencies, surrenders, and cases of neglect can be prevented when people have access to honest education, practical resources, training support, and community help before they are overwhelmed.

Sam I Am Outreach exists to support responsible pet ownership, prevent avoidable suffering, and help people do better for the animals who depend on them.

Origin story

Why “Sam I Am”?

A close portrait of Sammich looking toward the camera
Sammich — “Sam” for short — the dog behind the mission.

Sammich’s story

Sam I Am Outreach is named after Sammich — “Sam” for short — our founder’s first dog as an adult.

Sam first came into the family after heartbreak. After the family lost two dogs connected to a recalled dog food, our founder’s grandmother found Sam at the shelter and adopted him. Not long after, her grandmother passed away.

Our founder was 17 at the time. Her grandmother had raised her and had been more like a mother. When she passed, Sam was left to our founder during one of the hardest and most unstable seasons of her life.

He was her first dog as an adult, and in many ways, he was all she had.

Love, regret, and purpose

Our founder loved Sam deeply. But as Sam got older, and especially after he passed, she began to understand something painful: love alone had not always been enough. She realized there were years of his life when she did not have the knowledge, stability, resources, or support to give him the absolute best life he deserved.

That regret became part of the purpose behind Sam I Am Outreach.

Sam I Am exists to help people and animals before they reach a breaking point — not with judgment, but with education, honesty, compassion, and practical help.

Because sometimes people do love their animals. They just need support, resources, and someone willing to teach them before it is too late.

Programs

What Sam I Am supports

Prevention resources

Education, guidance, and practical help around pet care, training, behavior, safety, planning, nutrition, and long-term responsibility.

Community support

Connecting people to resources before crisis: supplies, volunteer help, outreach, and support for responsible pet ownership.

S’more Dogs Rescue

S’more Dogs Rescue is the direct animal rescue program that grew out of Sam I Am Outreach. S’more Dogs handles foster-based rescue work for both dogs and cats.

Visit S’more Dogs

Prevention before crisis

We believe many cases of neglect, surrender, and emergency rescue can be prevented when people have access to education, training resources, practical support, and honest guidance. Our goal is to help people understand the commitment before and after adoption — so more animals can stay safe, loved, and properly cared for in the homes they already have.

Support

Support Sam I Am Outreach

Donate

Donations support prevention, outreach, supplies, resources, and community help.

Volunteer

Help with outreach, events, supply organization, pet-owner support, transport, and community resource projects.

Volunteer Links

TNR & community cats

Use the Trap-Neuter-Return form for community cat help and outreach coordination.

TNR Form
Contact

Contact & links

Email

SamIAmOutreach@gmail.com

For rescue adoption, foster, surrender, or animal intake questions, use S’more Dogs Rescue instead.