Our Board of Directors
President
Shelby Escourt
Realtor, Wife, Mom
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Shelby Escourt is a passionate Realtor® with the Premiere Group at Real Brokerage, devoted to helping families and their pets find the perfect place to call home. She is a proud wife to Todd and mom to two wonderful children, Blaze and Phoenix, who inspire her every day.
Shelby recently stepped into the role of President of the Board for Familiar Hearts Animal Society, combining her love for animals with her dedication to helping those in need. Her own home is filled with rescue animals, including three cats—Lexus, Semira, and Pumpkin—a curious bearded dragon named Daisy, and Jasmine, a senior Bichon Frise lovingly rescued by Familiar Hearts.
Her passion for animal rescue has also inspired her son, Blaze, who brought Familiar Hearts to Henry Houston School through his “Paws for a Cause” campaign, encouraging his classmates to embrace kindness and empathy toward animals. Shelby also gives back through her real estate work, donating a portion of every home bought or sold to support Familiar Hearts’ mission of finding loving homes for both people and pets.
When she’s not working or volunteering, Shelby loves spending time outdoors with her family, cherishing quiet moments together, and exploring new ways to make a meaningful difference in her community.
Secretary
Gretchen Britton, Ph.D.
PA Licensed Psychologist, PA Certified School Psychologist
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Gretchen has been a member of the Mount Airy community for two decades and a passionate lover of animals all of her life. Born in Texas, her first pet was a dogie lamb from her grandparents’ ranch. Since then, Gretchen has been the loving owner of many cats, a snake, hermit crabs, and currently two adorable little dogs named Francis and Lester. She believes life is so much better with pets and that it’s impossible to be in a bad mood when you see your dog’s tail wagging and sweet face smiling (or with a purring cat on your lap).
Gretchen is a school psychologist with the School District of Philadelphia, and has 25 years of experience helping children reach their full potential. Outside of work, she loves reading, especially books about science and sociology/psychology, cooking, gardening, anything to do with design and fiber arts and of course, playing with Lester and Francis.
Gretchen first met Aminda Edgar, the Executive Director of Familiar Hearts Animal Society (FHAS), about ten years ago, and was impressed and inspired by her love for animals. When Aminda established FHAS, Gretchen wanted to be involved. Gretchen deeply believes in FHAS’s mission to place abandoned pets in their forever homes, to address the root causes of pet abandonment by educating young people on responsible pet care and to assist financially stressed pet owners in finding low-cost pet food, vet care and behavioral services. She believes every pet deserves to be loved and cared for and is proud to be part of FHAS’s mission.
Bookkeeper
Marcia Piccione
Drummer, Artist, Mountain Climber
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Marcia has been involved in animal rescue since at least 2002. She was one of the founding members of People Pet Partnership which eventually went on to become Philly Paws. Marcia was an active volunteer at ACCT over the years and a volunteer and foster for Tiny Paws Rescue. She has taken in many dogs over the last decade, focusing on seniors, her favorite kind. The more messed up, the better.
Outside of animal rescue, Marcia is a software engineer who enjoys drumming with an adult performance group at School of Rock, doing pencil drawings of animals and climbing mountains.
Advisory Board
Heather Gibson
Principal at Sentry Arts LLC, Wife, Mother
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Heather Gibson has been a member of the Mount Airy community since 1997, where she has established deep roots both personally and professionally. As a dedicated business owner, she has demonstrated her entrepreneurial spirit while contributing to the local economy. Her commitment to family life is evident in her loving marriage and the joy she finds in raising her son, creating a warm and nurturing home environment that reflects her values.
Living by the golden rule, Heather approaches her personal and professional relationships with empathy and kindness, treating others as she wishes. Her profound love for animals further exemplifies her compassionate nature and adds another dimension to her rich life in Mount Airy. Through her various roles as a business owner, wife, mother, and animal lover, Heather embodies the values of community engagement and personal integrity that make her a valued member of her community.
Our Volunteer Staff
Executive Director
Aminda Edgar
Peaceful Pet Care Dogwalking & Petsitting
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Growing up, while other children played “House” or “School,” Aminda imagined herself as other animals. She and her best friend would play at being cunning and loyal dogs or embody the wild strength of horses. She grew up with two cats, Big Kitty and Frieda. She begged her parents endlessly for a dog. When she was ten, her parents brought home a little dog named Tootsie for the family from a neighbor. She spent every spare moment outside of school and extracurricular activities devoted to her canine friend, spending hours exploring the woods, river and meadows surrounding their Wisconsin home with her. Aminda cannot imagine life without a dog and at least two cats.
As she entered her teens, she became increasingly aware of the dire fate of animals who enter the shelter system and vowed to one day open a sanctuary to help. As the daughter of educators, she also began to see how educating people about animals was as important as rescuing them and finding them forever homes. She strongly believes that the crisis of homeless and suffering animals can only be solved by empowering and educating caring people.
After 25 years in various positions in animal rescue, welfare advocacy and direct care-giving, she is building the organization that she has always dreamed. Familiar Hearts is not just a rescue, it’s a society to bring together people with just this quality: Familiar Hearts for animals! If you have a heart for animals, we are your family!
Familiar Hearts Animal Society is on a mission to not only swoop animals in need up and into the hearts of people who will love them forever but to offer those who love their animals resources to be better caregivers and help animals stay where they are already loved.
Aminda lives with her partner, Rizwan and their six rescued dogs, a dozen rescued cats and two rescued ferrets in a small home in Northwest Philly. They dream of a sanctuary space for Familiar Hearts Animal Society so they can help more animals!
Foster Coordinator
Madison K. Mendivel Metzger, M.S.
Bilingual Research Interviewer at UPenn, Wife, Mom
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Madison is a proud dog mom to two adorable pups and a toddler mom to one amazing little human! Fully bilingual in Spanish and English, she brings a love for connection and communication to everything she does.
Winter and fall are her favorite seasons, and in her free time, Madison enjoys playing video games and making cherished memories with her family.
Her absolute favorite part of animal rescue is witnessing our furry friends get matched with their perfect forever homes!
Volunteer Coordinator, Dog Adoption Counselor
Linda DeMento, M.S.
Licensed Family Paws Educator, Owner at Canine In Translation
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Linda began her work life as a bilingual social worker and later pursued a Masters degree with an emphasis on Human Services Administration. Soon after, she began studying with training expert and author Sue Bulanda, completing the Canine Training and Management Program and volunteering at various animal shelters. Focusing on advocacy she studied the work of rescue experts, attending Sue Sternberg’s Training Course in 2011. At Sue’s Rondout Shelter she encountered and adopted fellow trainee, her soulmate Jefferson.
A self described behavior nerd, Linda’s interests include studying animal behavior, human and canine language and communication. She recently completed Living and Learning with Animals with Susan Friedman. In 2022 she attended the Advanced Animal Training Course at the Karen Pryor Academy with Ken Ramirez and was privileged to work with an expert training partner, Sparkle the donkey.
Linda is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and continues enrolling in classes and workshops whenever she can.
She is now privileged to join the team at Familiar Hearts Animal Society combining her experience as caseworker, ESL teacher and student of animal behavior by engaging with animals in need and their humans.
Her favorite pastime is spending time with her family who are spread across the country in California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Dog Foster Orientation Lead
Leah Edgar
Dog Lover, Local Lady of Mystery, Sister to the Amazing Aminda
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Leah was the proud dog mother of the beautiful Maybellene, who she lost to cancer. She is able to keep her life and heart full of canine companions by helping orient new dog fosters as well as by caring for her client’s family dogs.
Operations Alchemist
Diane Ludeking
Energy Medicine Specialist, Animal Liaison
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Diane is the behind-the-scenes force that keeps Familiar Hearts running smoothly. As the Operations Alchemist, she weaves together big-picture vision with the intricate details of day-to-day rescue work. From designing and maintaining the website to building essential databases, streamlining communication, and supporting the volunteer team, she creates systems that help people help animals.
Her passion for animal well-being extends beyond Familiar Hearts. With a background in Horse Science and a lifelong dedication to intuitive animal communication and energy medicine, she also runs SoulPlaces Oasis, where she helps pets and their humans navigate healing and connection.
Whether organizing rescue logistics or working one-on-one with an animal in need, Diane is dedicated to fostering harmony between humans and their four-legged companions—one thoughtful connection at a time.