Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  The Language of Community Supported Sheltering

    Posted 10-15-2021 11:17 AM
    Hi all, 

    There is a lot of energy around the topic of community-supported sheltering and how we can go about promoting this concept and new way of working with community members. 

    In your experience...
    What types of communication work best at getting your community members to "get it"?
    What type of language/words / phrases are confusing to the public? 
    Do you have marketing materials that are helping you promote community-supported sheltering?  - I know HASS has some pretty awesome ones. 
    Has anybody done messaging / language testing with community members on this topic? 

    Would love to learn from all of you.
    #CommunityPartnerships*
    #MarketingandSocialMedia
    #Rehoming

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    Amy Dávila Sánchez
    Marketing Manager,
    Strategic Initiatives and Multicultural Marketing
    Best Friends Animal Society

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    Marketing Specialist
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  • 2.  RE: The Language of Community Supported Sheltering

    Posted 10-16-2021 04:36 PM
    Amy and All, 
    In my experience the phrases "kill" or "no kill" shelter seem vague to the general public and frequently misconstrued. This also commonly leave a negative stigma on shelters, sadly! I volunteer for both a local humane society and a specific breed rescue and BOTH do amazing livesaving work for our homeless friends. I like to provide education to misinformed folks especially around shelter work/workers around their community's expectations in sheltering/saving/rehoming homeless animals with grossly underfunded budgets. Kudos to ALL shelter workers...their job while so rewarding, is most difficult. They share their stories with me, good and bad....Jan

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    Jan Williams
    Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue
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  • 3.  RE: The Language of Community Supported Sheltering

    Posted 10-18-2021 09:14 AM
    Jan, thank you for bringing this up, for your candor and openess.  I echo your KUDOS TO ALL SHELTER WORKERS!!!!! 

    May I ask what points you find educating the public on most? And where expectations gap exist? 

    Is it mostly conversation around limited funding? What other topics do you find yourself constantly explaining? 


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    Amy Dávila Sánchez
    Marketing Manager,
    Strategic Initiatives and Multicultural Marketing
    Best Friends Animal Society

    --------
    Marketing Specialist
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: The Language of Community Supported Sheltering

    Posted 10-19-2021 08:43 AM
    Amy, 
    Thanks for asking. Yes, I most frequently educate people around the limited resouces of community shelters. That the expectations of our communities FAR exceed the financial support they receive from those  same communities.  The even more important education I, and really any other rescue/shelter advocates can/should/do provide is the necessity in having animals spayed/neutered!!!

    Just this morning on our local FB pets group (Flagstaff Pets) a non prof shows a pit bull in need of foster before 10/21 or the "shelter will kill it". First, where is this pro animal non prof on educating the post readers on spay/neuter, the heart of the problem, hands down? Second, why is this pro animal non prof NOT educating the post readers on shelter infrastructure so readers can decide to volunteer and help the fight? I could go on and on...but...the point is, shelters bear the brunt of the homeless animal population and that is 100% WRONG and immoral!

    As a psychotherapist, I have worked with many domestic violence organizations. They unanimously report that the public always asks, " why does she/he stay"?  They should be asking "why does she/he" abuse?" Blaming the victim!!! Blaming the shelters as being "killers" is tantamount to blaming the victim.

    Rant over!
    Jan


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    Jan Williams
    Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue
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  • 5.  RE: The Language of Community Supported Sheltering

    Posted 10-19-2021 04:17 PM
    Hi Jan, 

    Thank you so much for sharing. I appreciate your candor and your thoughts and ideas.  I will be absorbing these and taking them into consideration in the work that I put forward.  There is so much truth in your thoughts. We should all be supporting each other and helping to lift each other ( shelter works,  families, rescue orgs, community members) up rather than tear each other down. 

    How can we bring more positivity, collaboration and "rooting of each other" to our space? These are questions that I want to solve for and they are some tall questions indeed. 

     thank you for all that you do!

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    Amy Dávila Sánchez
    Marketing Manager,
    Strategic Initiatives and Multicultural Marketing
    Best Friends Animal Society

    --------
    Marketing Specialist
    ------------------------------