Helping military families, veterans, and their pets stay together.
Troops & Tails is a program of Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
About Troops & Tails (and More)
Built From Work We Already Do
Troops & Tails is a new program being developed by Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
While Troops & Tails is new, the mission behind it is not. Through our Spoil a Stray program, Five O’Clock Sanctuary already helps families keep their pets by assisting with approved needs such as pet food, supplies, veterinary care, and emergency support.
We do not simply hand out cash. Whenever possible, we pay veterinarians, clinics, stores, and approved vendors directly so donations are used for the care of the animals.
Troops & Tails will follow that same proven footprint, with a focused purpose: helping military members, veterans, and their families keep the animals who bring them comfort, stability, and unconditional love.
Funds raised through the Troops & Tails Golf Outing will help launch this program and create a dedicated source of support for military-connected families and their pets.
About the Nonprofit Behind Troops & Tails
Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help keep pets with the families who love them.
Through our programs, we provide practical support, resources, and assistance for pet owners facing hardship. Our work focuses on helping families access pet food, supplies, veterinary care, and affordable resources before they are forced to surrender a beloved animal to a shelter.
Our current programs include Spoil a Stray, which helps families with approved pet-related needs, and Affordable Pet Clinics, a resource directory designed to help people find low-cost veterinary care and pet assistance options.
Troops & Tails is our newest program, created to bring this same mission to military members, veterans, and their families. Funds raised through the Troops & Tails Golf Outing will help launch this program and build a dedicated source of support for military-connected families and the animals who stand beside them.
Built From a Working Model
Through Spoil-A-Stray, Five O’Clock Sanctuary already helps families with approved needs such as pet food, supplies, veterinary care, and emergency support.
We do not simply hand out cash. Whenever possible, we pay veterinarians, clinics, stores, and approved vendors directly so donations are used for the care of the animals.
Troops & Tails will follow that same model, focused on military-connected families.
Why Military Families
For many veterans, service members, and military families, pets provide comfort, stability, routine, emotional support, and unconditional love.
During times of hardship, pet care can become one more impossible bill. Troops & Tails is being created to help before those animals end up in shelters.
The Heart Behind the Mission
About Barbie
The Heart Behind the Mission
Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc. was founded by Barbara “Barbie” Mellinger after two dumped dogs changed the direction of her life.
Twix was found after being abandoned in a rural community. Later came Brownie, another stray with her own story of survival. Both became more than rescued dogs. They became the inspiration and mascots behind Barbie’s mission.
After bringing them into her life, Barbie began asking a bigger question: what happens to all the stray and dumped animals who are not lucky enough to find someone? Too often, they end up in shelters not because they are unwanted, but because the cost of care is overwhelming. Spay and neuter surgeries, vaccines, medical issues, training, boarding, food, and emergency needs can quickly become more than a family can handle.
Barbie first created Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc. with the long-term dream of building a true sanctuary. A safe place where animals can have peace, care, and a good life at the end of the day. But before that dream could become a physical place, the need showed up immediately. People began asking her to take animals, but without land or a facility, she knew she needed another way to help.
That is how Spoil-A-Stray began.
Spoil-A-Stray was created to help keep animals out of shelters by supporting the people willing to care for them. Through the program, Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc. helps with approved pet-related needs such as food, supplies, veterinary care, spay and neuter services, vaccines, training, daycare, boarding, emergency support, and end-of-life care when the budget allows.
Barbie’s approach is practical and accountable. The organization does not simply hand out cash. Whenever possible, payments are made directly to veterinarians, clinics, stores, trainers, boarding facilities, cremation providers, and approved vendors so donations are used for the care of the animals.
As the work grew, Barbie saw another problem: people often could not find affordable veterinary care in their own area. Online searches were outdated, links were broken, and families in crisis were wasting precious time trying to find help. That led to Affordable Pet Clinics, a resource project created to help people locate low-cost veterinary clinics and pet assistance options more easily.
Five O’Clock Sanctuary Inc. also provides pet “go-bags” for people experiencing homelessness with animals. These bags may include food, leashes, collars, bowls, waste bags, flashlights, and other basic supplies to help people keep their pets safe, fed, and legally manageable while living through hardship. For many people, their animal is family, comfort, protection, and sometimes the only steady presence they have.
Through this work, Barbie has helped animals receive spay and neuter surgeries, vaccines, medical care, training, boarding, daycare, emergency support, food, supplies, and peaceful end-of-life care. Her goal is not just to help the animal, but to lift some of the burden from the person trying to do the right thing.
Barbie is also an FAA-certified Part 107 drone pilot and the host of Stray Thoughts with Barbie, a podcast where she shares stories, ideas, and conversations connected to rescue, animal welfare, and the real-life challenges facing pet owners.
Troops & Tails is the next step in this mission.
Built from the same footprint as Spoil-A-Stray, Troops & Tails is being created to support military members, veterans, and their families by helping them keep the animals who bring comfort, stability, and unconditional love. Funds raised through the Troops & Tails Golf Outing will help launch this new program and create a dedicated source of support for military-connected families and their pets.