About James A. Hueholt
Jim Hueholt loved life and appreciated both animals and people. He offered courage to everyone he met through his example of living life to its fullest, even under adversity.

Jim died at age 37. Castaway Critters continues his legacy of acceptance, appreciation for life, and giving.

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Our Mission Statement

Our Mission is to save the lives of and provide new beginnings for lost, sick and abandoned companion animals through rescue, rehabilitation, adoptions and spay/neuter programs.  Our Mission is to be the help that these animals would not otherwise have.

Castaway Critters, The James A. Hueholt Memorial Foundation for Animals is a local grass-roots No-Kill animal rescue founded by Barbara Holmes and friends and family of James A. Hueholt, who died in 1994 at age 37.  Jim rescued and cared for many animals himself.   Our work in lessening the suffering of companion animals is a tribute to him and to his love of life.

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Castaway Critters has a unique focus on sick, hurt, and special needs animals.  We never turn our backs on the “hard cases”, and in fact open our arms to them.   Our mission is to offer hope and new beginnings to the lost and forgotten, the sick, injured and abandoned animals in our community.  We believe every life is worth saving!

We are a volunteer and foster network.  We do not have a public shelter.  Our rescue animals stay in the homes of our foster caregivers until they find their forever homes. In addition, we do use kennel partners when needed for dogs and community businesses who open their doors and hearts to foster cats.

Our volunteers and foster caregivers are now in 6 counties: Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Perry, Lancaster and York. 

We provide professional veterinary care, emergency care and spay/neuter our animals prior to adoption   The cost of this high quality care is often overwhelming, therefore we depend on the generosity of our community and friends to help support our mission.  With your help, Castaway Critters has assisted more than 13,000 animals since our incorporation as a non-profit in 2001!

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Many of these animals are rescued from standard shelters or found abandoned or in dire circumstances. Often those that come to us are terrified, some have given up hope.  They don’t know, or have long forgotten what it’s like to have basic care, compassion and kindness.

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We at Castaway Critters welcome them with patience and understanding – that they may trust once again, and live out the rest of their lives happy, content…loved.

Under our Operation CatNip program, we periodically operate spay/neuter clinics  for cats for low income households, stray, and feral cats.    More than 3500 cats have had the gift of spay/neuter and basic preventative care since the inception of our “Operation CatNip” spay/neuter program.

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Castaway Critters’ ultimate vision is a future where there are no more homeless pets and all animals are spayed or neutered and humanely cared for by the community.

Every day we receive dozens of phone calls and emails asking to assist stray animals.  We struggle to keep up with the demand for our services. Your generous donations allow us to continue our mission.

Our Foster Caregivers give of themselves each and every day to meet the needs of these worthy animals. Please give to help us help them. Thank you. 

Barbara A. Holmes
Founder and Executive Director