About Us

Peace of Mind Dog Rescue is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in October 2009. Peace of Mind is dedicated to finding new loving homes for dogs whose guardians can no longer care for them due to illness, death, or other challenging circumstances, and to finding homes for senior dogs in animal shelters.

We have a lifetime commitment to all the dogs that come into our care. They will either live out their lives in one of our foster homes or will be adopted into a wonderful, permanent home.

Peace of Mind is run by a six person board of directors who volunteer their time to make a difference in the lives of dogs and the people who love dogs but need to find new family for their dog. Peace of Mind is also supported by a network of volunteers committed to helping Peace of Mind fulfill its mission.

Our vision is to model lifetime care for dogs and all companion animals to help bring about a positive change in the way the society thinks about and treats senior dogs and to create better lives for them through rescue, foster, adoption, hospice and education.

Meet the Peace of Mind Board of Directors:

Board of Directors (Top L-R): Sarala Coberly,Carie Broecker, Debra McCrawLong,
Connie Shelstad, Monica Rua, Elle Brookman, Karen Sheppard
Dogs (Top L-R): Marshall, Diva, Annie, Bok, Spreckles, Lover Boy, Hershey, Tina

President - Carie Broecker served on the board of directors for Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) from January 1999 - October 2009. She volunteered in many capacities including unpaid Executive Director, fostering cats and dogs, writing grants, and putting on fundraisers. Carie has a background in accounting and has a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in Sociology with a minor in Business Economics. She publishes a quarterly magazine for dog lovers, Coastal Canine, which is distributed in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. She also runs a pet sitting business. Carie lives with her husband, three cats (Betty Boop, Tufty and Kona) and four dogs: Sunshine, a 15-year-old Shepherd mix adopted from the Monterey County SPCA, Marshall ,a 12-year-old Chihuahua mix adopted from AFRP, Savvy, a - year-old Spaniel mix whose guardian passed away and Lucy, an 8-year-old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel whose guardian could no longer care for her.

Vice President - Monica Rua is a co-founder of Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) and served on the Board of Directors for 11 years. Eight out of the eleven years she was the board president. Monica was active in overseeing  all facets of operations of the organization for many years as well as developing all communications such as the website, newsletter, educational materials, and brochures and designing the computer programs including the fund raising and volunteer databases and the animal tracking system.  Monica also fostered many dogs and cats and was a much valued dog behavior consultant. Monica has a background in software engineering and has a Master of Science, Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (MSAI), from Stanford University, and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a minor in Philosophy. She worked at Sun Microsystems and was Education Director of Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose before launching into rescue work. Monica lives with her husband, two cats (Snuggles and Thumper) and four dogs: Tina, a 10 year old spaniel mix rescued from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Spreckles (4 years old), a terrier mix and Hershey (5 years old), a Schipperkee mix, two AFRP adoptees who came from shelters when they were too shy to be put up for adoption, and Diva, a Miniature Pinscher, another AFRP adoptee who was surrendered to the organization when her people were divorcing and lost their home. 

Treasurer – Connie Shelstad, E.A. has a background in business and accounting.  For 20 years, Connie worked for a hotel corporation. Connie served on the board of directors, and a corporate officer as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.  In 1990, she opened her own accounting/bookkeeping practice, and in 1994 she became an Enrolled Agent, adding tax preparation to the practice.  Connie is a former member of the Pacific Grove Rotary, serving on the board for several years, and serving as Treasurer for two years.  For the past five years, Connie has made time in her busy life to deliver meals to homebound people through Meals on Wheels. She has also been an active volunteer with Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP)  helping with transportation, cat care, fostering, and home visits for adoption applicants. She is also a volunteer with Nancy's Project and helps load a  flatbed truck with food donated from a local grocery that gets distributed to farmworkers in Salinas and Greenfield.  Connie has adopted several dogs over the years from rescue groups. She currently shares her life with Maxwell, a 12 year old ShiTzu, Hope, a special needs 3 year old Chihuahua mix adopted from All Creatures Great and Small Rescue, R'Becca, 2 year old special needs Chihuahua mix, adopted from AFRP and Simon, an 11 year old toy Chihuahua adopted from CARE as a senior.

Secretary - Sarala Coberly has been a teacher with the Soledad Unified School District for over 20 years. She is guardian to Bok, a senior dog adopted from Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) and two rescued cats, Jewels and Taffy. Sarala has fostered numerous dogs and cats through AFRP for the past seven years.

Board Member – Debra McCraw Long has been rescuing cats and dogs from shelters since 1982. She was on the board of The Animal Interest League of Salinas (TAILS) a non profit group dedicated to eliminating the gas chamber used at the old Work St. Salinas Animal Shelter. Debra began volunteering with Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) when they first started in 1998. For eleven years, Debra has been one of AFRP's main shelter liaisons. She visits the shelters in Monterey County several times a week and often daily to meet and evaluate dogs and cats that may need to go to a rescue group. Over the years, Debra has developed a network of contacts with shelters and rescue groups all over California and has coordinated AFRP's Lifelink Transportation Program which has transported over 3,000 dogs from overcrowded shelters to rescue groups that had space to take them in and place them up for adoption. Debra worked in the produce industry as a Controller for 12 years. Currently, she is the owner of Happy Dog Food, which produces wholesome, fresh dog food. Debra shares her busy life with her husband, her son, and two shelter dogs, Rocket and Sam, both adopted as stray puppies from the Salinas Animal Shelter. Rocket is an Australian Cattle Dog and Sam is an Australian Shepherd.

Board Member – Karen Sheppard, a life- long resident of the Monterey Peninsula, most recently worked as staff support with the award winning Parents’ Place Program for 10 years before spending a year on staff at Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP). While at Parents’ Place, she helped manage finances, produced the newsletter, handled all the quarterly registration of 300+ families, and fielded thousands of questions. She also organized and maintained donations of children’s items for migrant worker families, for Nancy Costello’s program. As Office Manager at AFRP, she was responsible for maintaining the adoptions data base, handled general calls from the public, supported the cats and dog adoption programs, was event assistant for the annual fundraiser, and helped lead and support dozens of volunteers. Now retired from AFRP, Karen lives with husband Andrew, son Aaron and 3 dogs, Minnie, (11 yr) a long haired Chihuahua, Itsey, (3 yr) a Schipperke/Chi mix, and the newest addition to the family, Teddy, (3yr) Chi/Terrier mix with special needs, and 2 cats, Baby, a Siamese mix and Cosmo, a Bombay. All but one kitty are AFRP adoptees. "As I move on into the next phase of my life, I too contemplate the many issues that arise as we get older and have pets to care for. I look forward to offering support and assistance on all levels concerning this issue."

Board Member – Elle Brookman has a background in professional sales and marketing. She has been a volunteer with Animal Friends Rescue Project since 2000 fostering, handling adoptions. working at events, and helping with numerous fundraising projects throughout the year. In 2003, Elle was trained as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Monterey County, and has been an active child advocate for the past six years. Lastly, Elle’s latest work endeavor is staging homes for the real estate market. Her in-home family includes her husband, Bob, their two small rescue dogs, Lover Boy and Orphan Annie; and Sassy, a feral kitty Elle trapped 15 years ago.