Each month, CitySide Subaru, in Belmont, sponsors a guide to Boston- area animal shelters and rescue groups right here in the pages of Natural Awakenings. The man behind this caring and committed gesture is Rick White, general manager of CitySide Subaru, who is passionate about inspiring more animal adoptions.

“I’ve been to shelters and been really moved by the number of animals that need homes,” says White. “And the people who work in the shelters are so selfless and caring. They love all the animals, and a lot of them will keep a pet until it gets adopted, or transfer the animal to another shelter in the hopes that someone will adopt it.”

In addition to raising awareness in magazines, White and his company work with the Animal Rescue League of Boston to help promote month-long cat and dog adoption events each fall and spring. He says the reason for these efforts is to help animals who have nowhere else to go.

“I think people probably get pets for all the right reasons, but they may go into it uneducated and, when things don’t go as expected, you end up with a lot of pets in shelters that need homes,” says White. “You also get pets that are abused or are created at some of these factory pet farms, and they all need homes.”

White’s love for animals is reflected at work, too, where employees and customers at the dealership are encouraged to bring in their dogs. His own dogs have always been rescue animals, he says, and it’s a message he spreads wherever and whenever he can.

“CitySide Subaru also has a monthly newsletter that goes out to about 30,000 people, and we collaborate with a local animal hospital to include an article each month called, ‘Ask the Vet’, where people submit questions and the vet answers them,” White says. “We also put lots of articles in there about the need to adopt pets from shelters.”

Championing animal adoptions and supporting animal charities is high on White’s list of priorities, he says, because they have a much greater need. “For instance, The Elephant Sanctuary, in Tennessee, is a place where they take animals that may have been in circuses or something like that and allow them to live out the rest of their lives in an open range environment,” he remarks. “I really encourage anyone thinking about getting a pet to adopt it from a shelter.”

Location: CitySide Subaru, 790 Pleasant St., Belmont. For more information, call 617-826-5000 or visit CitySideSubaru.com.