the almanac J U LY 27, 2025
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
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‘Heartbreaking’
COURTESY OF NO DOG LEFT BEHIND
Crates are loaded with pets as No Dog Left Behind prepares for a transport.
COURTESY OF LISETH CARVAJAL
Jesus Teran, left, with his wife, Liseth, center, son, Lukas, 5, and daughter, Kamila, 14, on a vacation to Niagara Falls. Fernandez, a member of St. Oscar Romero Parish in Washington County, was detained by ICE on July 8 and is being held at a detention center in Phillipsburg.
Local Catholic church fights to free immigrant detained by ICE, help his family
Life-saving rides
No Dog Left Behind helps give animals a second chance By Jill Thurston Staff writer
jthurston@observer-reporter.com
By Karen Mansfield Staff writer
kmansfield@observer-reporter.com
A local Catholic church is rallying around the family of a Venezuelan immigrant and church member who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and calling for his release. Jesus Teran was detained on July 8 after he went to the ICE Pittsburgh field office for a scheduled check-in. Teran, 35, a civil engineer from Venezuela who works for a local carpenter’s union, was sent briefly to Northern KAREN MANSFIELD/OBSERVER-REPORTER Regional Jail in Moundsville, W.Va., Liseth Carvajal, center, is surrounded by her daughter, Kamila, son, Lukas, before he was moved to Moshannon and the Rev. Jay Donahue of St. Oscar Romero Parish. They are standing Valley Processing Center, operated by in a community garden that the Teran family helped to create at St. Patrick SEE CHURCH PAGE A2 Church in Canonsburg.
This year, No Dog Left Behind transported its 18,000th animal to safety since becoming a nonprofit in 2013. In the animal rescue world, No Dog Left Behind gives animals a second chance by transporting them from shelters that euthanize to shelters prioritizing adoption, at no cost to the shelters. “As far as what we do, there aren’t that many, but there are some. Most (services) are rescue shelters, or foster-based. As far as doing the transporting, and doing the transporting at no charge to the sending shelters and the receiving shelters, there’s not a lot of that going on,” said Tiffany DeCosmo, operations manager for No Dog Left Behind, based at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin. Most transports are for dogs and cats, but the organization has handled a chicken,
guinea pig, ferret and even a butterfly that missed its migration window since two local pilots formed the nonprofit in 2013. Founders Jonathan Plesset and Brad Childs used their aviation skills in the early 2000s to rescue animals, mainly dogs, and take them to “no-kill” shelters for adoption. Originally called Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team, the name was changed to No Dog Left Behind in 2021. The planes have been phased out, according to DeCosmo, and now the group uses vans to transport the animals. About 40 dogs can be carried in the vans, significantly more than the number that could be transported via air. NDLB has built relationships with shelters outside of Pennsylvania with overwhelming pet populations that have scant resources for spaying and neutering. She said for these shelters, the SEE DOG PAGE A2
Superhero race to Hungry heron raise funds for DIPG
The Joey Fabus Superhero 5K Run/1 Mile Walk will be held at 9 a.m. Sept. 14. The race starts at Bethel Park High School and the course travels local neighborhoods. Joey was an 8-year-old boy who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in May 2014. His cancer, DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), has no survival rate, and on Jan. 21, 2015, Joey died from the disease. The nonprofit Joey Fabus Childhood Cancer Foundation (JFCCF) was formed in his honor to help bring awareness and funding to find a cure for DIPG. This race is JFCCF’s largest fundraiser with over 400 participants last year. In addition to runners and walkers, the foundation is seeking company sponsors for the race.
ELEANOR BAILEY/THE ALMANAC
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cindy and David Fabus share a tender moment with their SEE RACE PAGE A3 son, Joey, when he underwent treatments for DIPG.
CANONSBURG City Mission Thrift Store reopens at new location PAGE A4 What’s happening, B3
A great blue heron casts a reflection upon the waters of a pond at South Park while it hunts for a meal on a warm summer evening. The long-legged, long-necked, freshwater bird feasts on fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, mollusks and insects.
SPORTS Buonomo appreciates assists from other people PAGE B1 Real estate transactions, A6
SIGHTS & SOUNDS Olympic equestrian holds riding clinic PAGE B3 Classifieds, B4,5