Our Mission
The Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation (S.A.R.F.) is an organization dedicated to the well-being of abandoned, outgrown or neglected Stuffed Animals.* We find permanent and/or foster homes for rescued Stuffed Animals (SAs), and we provide shelter, snuggles and good conversation in the interim. We are committed to the physical and mental rehabilitation of stuffed victims of abandonment, and we raise awareness of these problems through our Stuffed Animal Petting Zoo events. We are located in Austin, TX.
Rescue Objectives
- To love SAs whose owners can no longer keep them (due to callousness, ‘growing up’ or apartment redecoration)
- To rehabilitate SAs before placement by providing sanitization, psychotherapy, hug therapy and all needed inoculations
- To place SAs in suitable homes with loving owners**
- To evoke guilty feelings in those who have abandoned childhood SAs and to educate the public regarding SAs’ feelings
- To thoroughly screen adoption applicants before making placement decisions
*The S.A.R.F. does not discriminate against ‘non-animal’ species (eg. snowmen, stuffed fruits or vegetables, strikingly cute pillows) as long as they are plush and are sufficiently adorable to be considered viable candidates for adoption.
**The S.A.R.F. reserves the right to keep any SAs to which we become attached during the rehabilitation process.
Welcome to The SARF!
We're STILL on Sabbatical!
The SARF has hired a very smart business consultant named Sabbatical. He is a stuffed crustacean. This is Sabbatical:
We have been working together for the past few weeks to come up with a plan for the future of The SARF… because things have gotten kind of crazy!
Sabbatical has recommended that we, The SARF, take a sabbatical.
Our sabbatical will occur in two parts:
Part I.
- temporarily closing to the public
- finishing surgeries of all stuffed patients who are currently in in-patient status
- responding to all pending requests for medical attention and providing referrals to other providers where care is needed
Part II.
- This phase will entail a full shutdown of The SARF, allowing for engagement with Sabbatical’s plan to revamp services at The SARF, with an aim to be even more awesome (and organized) than before!
- Sabbatical, our crustacean business consultant will temporarily take over management of The SARF email accounts during this time.
Check out our Substack to stay up to date with our progress, as I intend to post updates on our journey.
I speak for the entire SARF team.
Watch These Videos Because They're Awesome:
From Stuffed Animal Science Fair Winning Project, 2019
Combatting the Effects of Rising Sea Levels on Coastal-Dwelling Stuffed Animals (Possible Solutions) - by Viola (stuffed octopus)
Featured Past Adoption:
Horace
Although Alcatraz was closed to human prisoners in 1963, few realize that stuffed inmates continued to be housed there for decades more. Because operating costs associated with feeding, housing, and restraining SAs are significantly lower than those required for live prisoners, the small-yet-dangerous SA population remained incarcerated on the island despite the subsequent influx of tourists, protesters, and occasional action film crews.
In recent years, however, the SA prison population has been in steady decline, due in part to the emergence of rehabilitation programs like those available at The SARF. This has led to the closing and consolidation of many large SA detention facilities; the lingering SA wing of Alcatraz (SAlcatraz) was one of these pegged for decommission in 2008. It was officially closed in 2010, and the remaining prison population was spread throughout partnering rehab facilities such as The SARF.
Horace has been in therapy at The SARF since 2010, and he has made significant progress. After 3 years of rehabilitation, he is excited to be participating in his first SA petting zoo.
This marks a giant step in his journey and is further evidence that SAs are capable of reform if given the proper guidance, opportunities, and encouragement.
STATUS: ADOPTED JANUARY 2014!
Horace was adopted by a Travis County Department of Corrections employee in early 2014.
More Video!
Episode 3
The SARF Live (But Stuffed)(But This Time Not Live!) Episode 3: Toast Interview:
We had some technical difficulties with out broadcast last Thursday, so here is the full interview with Toast, our special guest!
Episode 4
We discuss Beanie Babies, future SARF Headquarters, potentially-offensive lawn bags, and a bunch of other ‘stuff’.
Episode 6
Featured SA Writing:
By Allen
(stuffed)
Owl
for Carl Salamander
I
I saw the best seams of my generation destroyed by rippers, fraying undarnable furless,
being dragged through the thrift store lines at noon looking for a stitch,
cotton-headed plushies yearning for the ageless human connection to living companions snuggling beside pillows at night,
who lonely and tattered and missing-eyed and squished sat up smashed in the supernatural coldness of crowded resale shelf aisles floating across the tops of old board games contemplating fluff,
who bared their stuffings to shoppers with carts and watched antique collectors digging through retro-themed booths discombobulated,
who passed through scanners with radiant red beams remembering how Suzie and Blake grown now among the scholars of dorms,
had packed for universities and left them alone on empty beds of home,
or now studied in shared rooms in evenings, turning their snuggles to fellow students instead and listening to indie music until dawn,
who were ridiculed for being immature bears and returned home with a weekend trip to do laundry,
who sat in dark crates or plastic bags in Goodwill Alleys, sealed, or tossed in with smelly shoes night after night with thread, with dread, with broken stitches, faded and unraveled and inappropriately holiday themed,
with narrowing limbs and bottom heavy settling of polyester batting, illuminating all the motionless world of Time between incongruent plastic dolls, forest green tortoises, Build-a-Bear refugees,
relegated to mix-and-match grab bags, robbed of individual identities, a swarm
II
I’m with you in Texas Thrift
where you’re fuller than I am
I’m with you in Texas Thrift
where your loneliness and laughter are invisible
I’m with you in Texas Thrift
in my dreams you talk haltingly from an electronic voice box with swiftly-failing batteries whispering to me in my SARF Headquarters cubby at night.