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Housing up to 100 animals in a single-story building equipped with a large backyard, one local Inglewood organization has been making an impact on an otherwise quiet street.
Through the Lovejoy Foundation, a volunteer-run, no-kill animal shelter, Erin Lovejoy has committed the last 16 years of her life caring for unhoused pets. Her shelter serves thousands of pets each year in Inglewood.
“The whole mission of this organization is that we provide the best quality of life for [the dogs] while they’re in our care, however long it takes for them to get a home,” Lovejoy said.
The LA County Department of Animal Care and Control admitted more than 38,000 animals countywide in fiscal year spanning 2025 and 2026, according to the agency’s tracking. That same fiscal year, more than 11,000 were euthanized.
The Lovejoy Foundation guarantees that the animals in its shelter will not be put down.
“We don’t operate under the same guidelines as what a city or county shelter might do, “ said Lovejoy. “Shelters have to euthanize based on space. So, if there’s a whole bunch of dogs that come in and they only have room for five and there’s ten dogs then they’re gonna have to make some decisions in order to make space for the new intakes.”
Those numbers are a stark difference from the number of adoptions Lovejoy and her staff helped facilitate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We house up to 100 dogs here, and we cleared it out like three times over the pandemic,” Lovejoy said.
Lovejoy’s love of animals did not start at her shelter. She was in marketing before she pivoted to caring for horses, and established her foundation in 2010.
Lovejoy credits her mom for teaching her to appreciate animals, a gift she said has always stuck with her.
“My mother was huge into animals. She had a really special gift, and that was probably my biggest influence,” Lovejoy said. “And then I kind of grew up and realized I had it even more special than she did.”
Staff member Adrianna Correa said working at Lovejoy is fun, and calls her job at the shelter one of the happiest aspects of her life — but it’s not easy
“I think everybody should come to adopt [and] come volunteer. It’s a wonderful thing that we do here, honestly.” Correa said.
Heather Rongerude is a Mar Vista resident who adopted her second dog — a pug named Kyle — from Lovejoy’s shelter in 2025. She came to the foundation with a friend who was thinking about adopting a dog, when she found one for herself.
“There’s just so many dogs that are running free on the streets and just don’t have homes,” said Rongerude. “And [Lovejoy] is really good about finding the right home, the right people and just making people happy.”
The Lovejoy Foundation heavily relies on donations that support giving the animals basic needs like food, toys, walks, cleaning supplies and many other necessities. They also provide medical care, vaccines, and spay and neuter services.
The foundation hosts adoption fairs every weekend, welcoming people from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to walk dogs of all sizes.
Correction, Aug. 12, 2026 12:58 pm: A previous version of this story misstated the time of the adoption fairs.
