About The Rescue Project
The Rescue Project is 100% volunteer run, 501c3 non-profit, Missouri state licensed, animal rescue dedicated to improving the lives of animals in and around Kansas City's most underserved communities. Our community outreach program focuses on building trusting relationships with people and their pets by providing essential items such as food, water, flea/tick prevention, tie outs, dog houses and financial medical assistance for animals in need. In addition, we are heavily focused on educating the importance of spay/neuter, vaccines and needs of animals to ensure responsible pet ownership.
In addition we are also a fully operational foster based group with hundreds of foster homes in and around the Kansas City metro. ALL animals in our program reside in these foster homes as we do not have a shelter or physical location. We focus on providing the absolute best care with our vet partners as well as behavioral trainers so animals are ready for their forever home. We fully screen all applicants to ensure all pets adopted from TRP are getting their best possible chance at a wonderful home and future.
Donations made to The Rescue Project go directly to support animals right here in our community. Our dedication to remaining completely volunteer operated and foster based ensures every dollar gets where it is needed the most
Meet Our Board of Directors
Amanda Vanlandingham - Director of Operations
Amanda developed a love for animals at a very early age, fostered by supportive parents who allowed her a menagerie of pets including gerbils, cats, bunnies, dogs, and horses. Her first exposure to the shelter system was when her family adopted her beloved childhood dog Bear from a shelter.
This was furthered when her parents made her work off a speeding ticket in high school by doing community service hours at the local humane society. This stuck with her forever, and while completing her medical residency in Kansas City she started to volunteer with various rescues, quickly settling into a focus on outreach work, seeing how important it was to the community as a whole.
She was one of the original volunteers at the inception of The Rescue Project and while she now resides in Oklahoma City where she works as a Pediatric Hospitalist, she has remained an active volunteer managing our adoptable pets on the websites, coordinating our online auction fundraisers, and fielding community medical assistance requests.
Erica Johnson – Board President
Erica always wanted a dog growing up, but her family always had cats. She finally adopted a puppy from the Emporia Animal Shelter and her life was changed forever! She saw that a rescue is no different from any other dog and they deserve every chance at a great life. Erica moved back to Kansas City after finishing her Accounting Degree at Emporia State. She was looking for an animal rescue to foster with and found The Rescue Project. She fell in love with the mission and being the voice for animals in need.
Erica has volunteered in a variety of ways with The Rescue Project including Fostering, Outreach, Donations, Foster Supplies, and now as the Accountant. Since 2018, Erica has fostered over 50 dogs and cats with The Rescue Project ranging from puppies to seniors and even a nursing momma dog. She is happy to finally be able to put together her passion for animals and love of accounting as the Accountant. She brings experience from For-Profit and Non-Profit companies to this role.
Holly Lawton – Board Member, TNR Lead
Holly has loved and lived with cats almost her entire life, usually multiples. Her all-time high is eight. If you look up “crazy cat person” in your Merriam-Webster, you’ll see her face. She then began fostering, but after four foster fails, she had to quit cold turkey. When she trapped her first stray cat at an Olathe Chipotle, she became forever hooked on the Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) mission to address the tremendous numbers of homeless and feral cats.
Holly started volunteering for The Rescue Project’s TNR team in 2016. She now coordinates citywide trapping efforts for TRP and in south Johnson County as part of a collaborative local trappers’ network. She’s also part of the national Alley Cat Allies organization and loves to educate and support people in caring for cats responsibly. TNR is crucial to preventing 2-3 litters a year for a single female, which often results in dozens of kittens over that cat's lifetime. Because many people who care for community cats need help and support just like the cats do, Holly has a great passion for making feline and human lives a little better whenever possible. She’d also like to share that trapping is NOT as intimidating as it might look (she’ll show you, it’s easy) and invites you to join us in reducing the feral cat population – trapping, transporting for spay/neuter, or volunteering at TNR clinics!
Liz Wright – Board Member, Treasurer
Liz became involved with The Rescue Project in 2020 after she foster failed 3 kitten brothers who have since forever changed her life. She was introduced to TRP and the world of animal welfare by a close friend and hasn’t been the same since! After adopting, Liz knew she wanted to become more involved in the rescue community so in April of 2022, she joined the TRP board as the Treasurer. Since joining the board, Liz has played a critical role in executing TRP’s biggest fundraiser to date, PicklePaw.
Liz and her husband have now fostered and helped 6 cats find their forever homes since 2022. Having gained a reputation of being the “cat whisperer”, Liz and her husband hold a special place in their hearts for the cats who tend to be shyer and more fearful.
Emily Burrows – Board Member, Outreach Lead
Emily has always been an animal lover, but while working as a Supervisor at a Law Firm in the KC Metro area she noticed a growing need for animal rescue groups. Emily became an active member of the Charities Committee in her office and began organizing donation drives within the office for various animal shelters and rescues throughout the Kansas City area.
Emily was introduced to The Rescue Project by a mutual friend and within the first few weeks was an active volunteer, and within the first two months she had her first foster dog, Bailey. In 2017 Emily became the Foster Coordinator for TRP and recently transitioned to being the Animal Vetting Coordinator and board member. Emily and her husband have fostered a total of seven dogs and have enjoyed having the experience with each of the dogs as they all brought something different into their “herd”.
Stephanie Marrello – Board Member, Secretary
Stephanie grew up in the country taking care of goats, pigs and stay cats. Her heart for animal welfare only grew after moving to Kansas City in 2011 when she began volunteering for the KCMO animal shelter. She has fostered dozens of cats and one pigeon.
Stephanie began volunteering at The Rescue Project because their mission keeps pets out of shelters. As a nonprofit marketing expert, she uses her professional skills to increase awareness of our mission. More than ever, TRP is need of financial donations and volunteers. Stephanie encourages you to join our mission to help pets in KC who need us most.