Animal Welfare Professionals

Updated 11/1/24: Congratulations to the October giveaway winner, @Yaned Rodriguez (She/Her)! 
Check out our November discussion thread to enter to win our next Cuddly prize pack: maddies.fund/30YearsGiveawayNovember2024

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🎉 Happy 30th Anniversary to Maddie's Fund! 🎉
We're kicking off this incredible milestone with something special – a monthly giveaway in collaboration with our friends at Cuddly, and you're invited to join the celebration!

✨ How to Enter: Simply drop a comment on this thread during the month of October and you're automatically in the running for a $1,000 Cuddly prize pack filled with pet supplies! Whether you want a handpicked bundle or prefer to curate your own, this prize is a paw-some treat for you and your furry friends! 🐾

🎉 October Giveaway: Celebrate the People Who Inspire You! 
This month, we're shining a spotlight on the people who make a difference in animal well-being. We want to hear your stories! To be eligible to win, tell us in the comments:

✨ Who has inspired you the most in your work, and how do they continue to motivate you? ✨

Whether it's a mentor, volunteer, or colleague, share the love and let us celebrate the changemakers that make a difference every day. 🐕❤️🐈

🔗 Learn More & Enter
Find out more about this monthly giveaway and quickly find the discussion threads for each month as they become available: https://forum.maddiesfund.org/30yearsgiveaway

Thank you for being a valued part of our community, and for everything you do to support animals and their people. And thanks to Dave and Cheryl Duffield for their fulfillment of their promise to their beloved Miniature Schnauzer, Maddie. 

Let's make this 30th anniversary celebration unforgettable! 🎉

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Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Maddie's Fund
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#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Maddie's Fund
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We spent a few weeks in Thailand volunteering at Elephant Nature Park. The founder, Lek, blew our minds with what they have been able to create from a very small village and minimal financial resources. On the flight home, we decided to not wait until we retired to start our dream of a farm animal rescue. We worked overtime, sold a ton online, and 9 months later, we opened Freed Spirits Animal Rescue. 

Denise 

Freed Spirits Animal Rescue 

While I can't think of just one inspiration. I can think of thousands of struggling rescues across the US that are going thru some of the worst times they've ever faced. Esp those impacted by hurricane Helen, shout out to everyone out there powering through this devastating time in animal rescue- from one struggling rescue to another, you'll see brighter days 🙏 

I find inspiration every time I am around volunteers loving and caring for the animals at our shelter.  From the athletic younger men and women who come run with the active dogs, to the older or less active people who come regularly to walk easier to manage dogs, sit with scared dogs who need confidence, snuggle and clean up cat kennels or help adopters on a busy Saturday.  Watching people spend their time giving love to those innocent animals who want it so much and have been failed by humans, inspires me to continue offering my time, talent and treasure as I can.  The biggest inspiration, though, comes from the dogs and how they respond to the kindness shown to them.  Just 10 minutes of walking and petting, followed by a treat, makes them so happy. 

The founder of Wildthunder, Tracy, is my inspiration. She has compassion for all living things and continues to relentlessly rehab wildlife as well as some domestic cats and dogs and such. I continue to have the time and energy to show up every week because of her!

My current manager at the rescue I work at has really inspired me. She always takes the time to teach me something new and has such a huge heart to do as much as she can for the rescue world.  I love enrichment and she is always helping me come up with new enrichment ideas and activities for the rescue animals. She has taught me so much about medical care and animal care and always checks in on the staff because some days can be so rough. She started out as a volunteer with the rescue and now is basically running our feline program and does an amazing job. The rescue work we do is so rewarding, but my manager always makes sure we take time to focus on the positive and do what we can for the animals.

The special needs cats and dogs that were at the shelter when I started volunteering 22 years ago.  They really had no place else to go at that time and the staff and other volunteers gave them everything they needed and love until they found their forever homes. So they were also my inspiration.

When I was about 12 years old I was riding my bike to get some comic books and I rode past some bigger kids climbing in a tree.  As I watched them they found a nest and started messing with the birds and began throwing them at the ground.  I tried to stop them and got pretty convincingly beat up then they resumed/finished throwing the baby birds until they all died.  Those baby birds continue to inspire me 40ish years later.

Dylan.

My staff continue to inspire me every day. I started out cleaning kennels with them and have since moved up to supervisor. I know first hand how much effort they put into making the cat's lives at my shelter something better than just sitting in a cage. They often put the animals before themselves here, taking the extra time to make things just right. Their job is to support and take care of the animals and it is my job to support and take care of them. I do everything in my power to make sure that my staff are taken care of, they are taking their 15 minute breaks, they're taking a full lunch, I'm a listening ear to them, I try my best to advocate for my staff and I help them whenever I can. The dedication they have to the care of these animals is unmatched and being there for them is what keeps me going in this job. Often it feels like the position they are in is the lowest on the totem pole at this facility but I tell them all the time how important they are and how much their work impacts the lives of the animals that the shelter was created to protect. The hard work that they put in each day is extremely inspiring to me.

Coming from the human services side of the nonprofit world seven years ago, I found myself inspired by the vision of our CEO, Joe Elmore. The connection between animal cruelty and suffering with human suffering is now known as treating both sides of the leash.  Joe sent me to Expo to begin my animal welfare education and my journey as a grant fundraiser for an animal shelter began.  I find passion in working on solutions and capacity-building that impact animals and ultimately our community because of him.  From unhoused animals to the humans at our door, our team is motivated to lift them all because of Joe.

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Lisa Pearce
Senior Grants Administrator
Charleston Animal Society
N. Charleston, SC 29406
GPA SC Chapter Board President
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In 2016, I adopted a blind, 11-year-old Shih Tzu, named Elsa, from a local Humane Society. She quickly became my best friend with her spunky personality. We grew to understand each other and she was, and still is, my companion.

Elsa is now 19-years-old, can you believe it? She's a spit fire and I can only.hppe she lives forever. She is my inspiration. 

I realized my life for rescued animals after years of being with her. I've since rescued three other animals,  2 dogs and 1 kitten. This loved as expanded, and I am currently training to become a director of a local Animal Rescue, Saving Whiskers and Tails. I hope to eventually start my own rescue dedication to Elsa. She is my inspiration. 

My biggest inspiration comes from other individuals in this industry. Whether it's the comfort of knowing I'm not the only one dealing with a situation, or getting a new idea to expand my knowledge, skills, and shelter programs. Knowing that we are in this together is most inspiring. 

There are so many mentors I have had along the way! But, two individuals who have made the most impact on my career trajectory: 

• Dr. Elizabeth Strand: I met her at the 2016 CSWE conference and asked her to tea. I told her I would be a Veterinary Social Worker, but I didn't know how. On the spot, she offered a process. She offered for me to get the VSW certificate, and then teach in her program. Without this offer, I don't know that I would have had the momentum and support to develop the career path I have been on since that first cup of tea.
• I met Dr. Farkas in 2015 when I entered my doctoral program as she was teaching a required course. Dr. Farkas stepped in to chair my dissertation committee saying "this area of Veterinary Social Work is new to me, I will learn with you but I will also hold you to a high standard for research". And she did! I defended my dissertation in 2019 and launched the Veterinary Social Work certificate program as assistant professor at Cleveland State University fall of 2024. 

 I am thankful to sooo many, who have influenced me and my career. But, these two women, faculty, researchers, advocates, mentors...were fundamental to shaping my career trajectory and continue to challenge me to be a change agent within our shared community!

The person who inspired me was everyone at St. Sophia's Forgotten Felines. I first discovered this organization after I lost my senior cat and was looking to adopt a friend for my now lonely cat at home. We found a match instantly and after talking to the director, Lauren, about volunteering I immediately  was interested.  I started off doing care taking but then grew with the rescue and now do intake, adoption applications, and so much more. Lauren continues to inspire me to keep working to better the lives of each and every cat. I couldn't have asked for a better way to get into animal welfare.

I am celebrating my 30th anniversary at the SPCA Serving Erie County today and would like to thank my previous boss, Sheila Foss, who got me started here working in our Educational Farm back at the start!  She recently retired after almost 40 years here and has such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to rehabilitating and caring for farm-type animals.  I spent the first portion of my time here working with the farm animals (horses are my first love and what I went to college for) and then it was noticed that the computers and other technology behaved for me as well, so I started managing that as well.  Just this summer, I switched to doing IT full-time here, but the horses and farm critters are my first love and I am always ready to help out there if they need an extra hand.

What a happy coincidence for both of us to be at 30 years now!!

My inspiration for my work stemmed from watching Steve Irwin as a child. Between he and my dad, they both fostered my curiosity and respect for animals and nature. Though neither of them are active in my life anymore, I have continued to envelope myself in the animal welfare field.

My neighbor, Ruby, is my inspiration. I have always had personal pets but it wasn't until I moved in and met Ruby that I was truly inspired to get into animal rescue work. Ruby is a 30 year veteran school teacher and beyond her passionate work for education, she has also dedicated a large portion of her life and time to helping pets in need here in Oklahoma. She's done it all - fostering, countless transports, running supplies to foster families, volunteering, running events, to being a board member. You name it, Ruby has helped make it happen. Never a complaint, always happy to lend a hand, and simply wants to leave the world better than she found it for both people and pets. I wish everyone had a Ruby.  

It is so hard to pick just one inspiration for me. I've moved around a lot in my younger adult life, which really exposed me to some great mentors and co-workers(co- volunteers?) of the animal rescue world. So many of these people give so much of themselves for simply the good of the animals.

But I am most inspired by my mentors in my professional field (conservation ecology) that seem out those dogs that cannot thrive in pet homes- the ones that have been returned multiple times for having too much energy or wrecking people's possessions, or even some that have bite histories (generally due to over arousal or fear rather than overt aggression.) When they adopt these dogs into their detection dog programs, they give them a place to grow and thrive with a job to do that is really just a fun game to the dogs.  I only wish we had more space in these types of programs for more dogs because I know there are so many out there that if they could just land in the "right" place, they would thrive. Sadly many many of those pups can never find a placement, but for the ones that do, it is life changing for them!

I've gained a couple wonderful mentors over the years through Maddie's Fund Apprenticeships! Ann Dunn from Oakland Animal Services (formerly of Cat Town Cafe/Rescue) really inspired me to move into animal welfare full-time and to advocate for Conversation-based adoptions. De Daltorio and her Humane Education team at Charleston Animal Society have been wonderful mentors and my main cheerleaders the last couple years since I started running my shelter's education program.

I highly recommend the Maddie's apprenticeships - you learn a ton and can build relationships that last for years :) 

From a professional standpoint, the person who inspired me to continue working in Animal Welfare was one of my first bosses at the first shelter I worked at, Jake Confer. He was a great boss who instilled in me a sense of purpose to continue working in this emotionally charged field. He showed me that a boss can be compassionate and work alongside the frontline staff while still maintaining a positive attitude, even when things were tough. If it wasn't for him, I don't know if I would've had the power to continue working my way up through this field. He has been a wonderful mentor and friend to me, and I am grateful for everything he has taught me.

One dog that lives forever in my memories is Gris. He was not an adoption candidate and was unfortunately euthanized, but he loved me and I loved him. It's dogs like him that keep me motivated too. Seeing such a huge change in dogs when they first come in vs when you build that relationship with them, regardless of the outcome- it's extremely rewarding and keeps me moving forward to this day.

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Shelby Bundy
Shelter Manager
Longmont Humane Society
303-772-1232 x 265
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In 2007 my husband, Dave, and I met the founders of a local farm, exotic and wild animal sanctuary. They came into our retail water garden store to inquire about a fountain for their natural pond. Dave visited their sanctuary to help with the pond and fell in love with the place. We became friends with these amazing ladies and both of us started volunteering and continued to volunteer for eight years. Our friend, who started the sanctuary, was a retired vet and taught us so much.  At that time, she was dealing with inoperable lung cancer and could no longer run the sanctuary. They asked us if we would move in as live in caretakers, as they rehomed and found placement for many of the animals that lived at the sanctuary. We couldn't say no, so we packed up and moved to the sanctuary, staying two years. We couldn't let their dream die. We discussed it with them, and decided to start our own 501c3 sanctuary taking the remaining 65 animals to our property. We took some of their ideas, mixed with some of our own to grow and offer new programs over the last few years. Our friends have continued to support us with advice, donations and just being there to listen when we were frustrated. This past April we lost our one friend to the terrible cancer that made her life unbearable.  She was great at getting us to do things outside our comfort zone and taught us so much. I only hope that we have made her proud. 

My father took my mother to a dog show on their first date in 1950.  He showed her the Newfoundlands and said "when we're married, we'll have one of these".  When he proposed to her, he showed up with two kittens to convince her.  I am the ninth child of ten and we always had dogs, cats and rabbits in the house.  My father said that the pets could do no wrong.  My mother said the animals will love us even when the whole world is crazy.  I think I had no choice but to spend my life working with, for and alongside non-human animals.  When I win the lottery, I will donate to several shelters all in honor of my parents. Keep your eyes peeled for the Rosemary and Serge Gratch Community Veterinary Health Centers and then you'll know that I hit the Lotto! Neither of them are around anymore and they wouldn't want buildings named after them but I'll figure something out. 

I would have to say to start my journey into the cat rescue field, I have to name Megan Brodbine of Nashville Cat Rescue as the most influential person on my journey.  She is one of the founders of the nonprofit that continues to exist after 20 yrs.  I started as a simple adopter, taking in two special needs kitties, born with deformities. Several years later, after retirement,  I began working as a volunteer and store coordinator.   From there, I became a board member for a different nonprofit cat rescue, serving as president with responsibility for regulatory, legal issues as well as grant and fundraising efforts.  My tenure in the field has been over 12 yrs.  I have since resigned from the board due to personal issues, but continue doing some database transactions to track adoptions at one of the partner stores for Nashville Cat Rescue.   I remain committed to cat rescue missions and look forward to helping a new rescue in the future.    I remain good friends with Megan after all these years and, though she also has had to step back from some of her responsibilities,  she is truly the one person who inspired me the most in my journey to help cats in need.  

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Cynthia Williams
President, Board of Directors
[Catio Cat Lounge, Inc
Nashville, TN
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It may sound too easy, but my mother was who inspired me the most to become involved in animal welfare. She taught me the value of all life from the smallest to the biggest creatures and instilled in me values I carry with me to this day such as a reverence for life, wildlife management and conservation, and protecting and standing up for those without a voice.  When I was a child, my mother found a vole (small rodent) that was caught in some fishing line. She, as always, swooped into the rescue but upon freeing the little guy she got her finger bit. She's hopping around trying to free the vole from her finger without hurting it and I'm laughing my head off, quite the site I imagine. Fear not, the little guy let go and mom and vole were just fine. But it's the compassion for that animal my mother showed even when being bitten, which I imagine hurt quite a lot, and that story I remember when things get tough or hopeless and that motivates me to this day.

I am originally from Peru and we have a shelter/sanctuary (nobody adopts older dogs or mutts), we don't have animal control there so dog roam around everywhere and its pretty bad, we try our best with the few we have but it is still there 20 years later with 40 dogs, dozens of cats and any other animal that need help. When I moved her for work, I couldn't believe all the generosity and all the resources that can help solve pet homelessness. I started volunteer since 2010 and nonstoping as I feel we can achieve this goal in the US if we just push the needle a little more. We can do this! 

Laine Neisen inspired me to begin my fostering/volunteering journey in animal welfare, which then resulted in an animal welfare career.  She was the foster coordinator for the group I chose to look at volunteering with.  She encouraged me to sign up and be a part of the volunteer board.  She walked me through my first foster losses and wins and was always available, even in the middle of the night.  She was patiently there and encouraging through the whole process and said that she saw leadership qualities in me,  and encouraged me to step up and lead.  Which I did, and have now been in this crazy field for over 25 years.  Laine has since retired from fostering, but is still a great friend and always there when I need encouragement.   

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Tracy Arvidson
Sand Springs Animal Welfare
Sand Springs OK
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I helped establish a cage-free, no-kill shelter for cats in Southwest Missouri. I was inspired first by a similar cat rescue in my home state of Minnesota, Feline Rescue. I volunteered there a bit and adopted a cat from them. Then, on a trip to Utah, I visited Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and saw a similar setup in their Cat World.  So these were not particular individuals, but organizations that inspired my involvement with Eden Animal Haven.

All the people of National Great Pyrenees Rescue are an amazing inspiration as they relentlessly work to save as many of these gentle giants as possible.  The last few years have been ridiculously challenging with breeders not getting the message to stop breeding because adoptions have plummeted since the end of COVID.   NGPR volunteers have never given up.  It's inspiring (and yet exhausting) to see.

My coworkers! I have seen them push every single day to save lives and the toll it has taken on them. In an industry where we are all consistently in crisis mode it is amazing to see the dedication that comes from animal welfare workers. Whether it's giving up their weekend for an adoption event or rushing to the shelter to take in an orphaned kitten they understand the mission more than anyone else. That's what keeps me on track and what motivates me everyday. It is very easy to say that this is too much and wipe your hands clean but I have never seen my coworkers back down from a challenge. They understand the weak and tired dogs, the "aggressive" and scared ones and commit their time to their success and that is why I commit to the field.

My experience with a phenomenal Rescuer when adopting 2 Great Dane pups started the involvement.  Transport, fostering, events with Dawn Post's Great Dane Rescue of El Paso was an fulfilling eye opening time, seeing her struggles and commitment, her resituating to survive, her disheartening loss of respect for people. I see it now when following those Rescues I support. On the other side of the coin, my position at our County Humane Society as Dog Trainer for our Ruff to Ready Program, started in 2012,  for newly adopted dogs who present with issues that may cause a return. Entering with a steep learning curve into behavior, thankfully into a growing Positive Training world. The rewards being the whole hearted commitment of my clients for their new family members! My newest Hero is a Volunteer at our Shelter, she was the drive to get our Program into the facility. Monica is The Person who has set our Shelter on an enrichment, training track, she gets those dogs moving out to Rescues and other partners ( helping Staff), getting other volunteers to the various activities now increasing in many avenues (helping Staff). Monica is a glorious person in the lives of our Shelter dogs and those around her!

The person who inspired me the most I actually did not meet until I was already volunteering in shelters and rescues for 7 years. I went to work for a Humane Society in Ross County Ohio thinking I was just going to help dogs with behavior issues in the shelter hopefully get adopted. What I ended up doing was so much more than that. Jenn, the Executive Director at Ross County Humane Society, hired me to specifically work with the dogs in the shelter to spend time with them and help them handle their stay in the shelter better. She was the first in the rural area shelters to do such a bold move. Most of the shelters, Ross included, can barely find enough time and money to focus on the day-to-day needs of the dog's physical health, let alone look past that to help the dogs even more with their emotional and mental health. Jenn knew that providing for their mental and emotional health was very much needed and just as important as their physical health. During my time there of 4 years I was not only able to do much more than I ever thought but I also learned so much from working with her. Her compassion for the animals and the people who were in bad situations was and still is amazing. By the time I had met her she was already in this business for at least 6 years, long enough to turn anyone severely cynical of people and run out of real compassion for the dogs, but she hadn't. To see her care for these dogs like they were one of her own, crying over their condition or in happiness over their adoption, crying with people who came in devastated that they had to give up their pets or their pets needing vet care they can't afford. I was amazed that she could keep up that kind of compassion and empathy for others year after year always pushing to find a better way to do things or ways she could help.  Jenn also instilled in me that rescues and shelters should not be in competition with each other but working together as we all have a similar goal, and we are all needed to be able to help the animals. She forged relationships with other shelters to work with, not compete with. This was new to me but made so much sense, and I have taken this philosophy with me to my current shelter. To this day she is still in the field and I'm so glad to be able to call her my friend and be able to still go to her when I have questions or am struggling to keep going myself. 

Without any doubt, all my inspiration has come from the Best Friends Animal Society and all the time my husband and I have volunteered at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. We see our volunteer time as a selfish act because we leave with so much more and we could possibly give.

During our time at the Sanctuary, we have had many discussions with Jana de Peyer, one of the Founders of Best Friends, and, since then, participated in the Best Friends Action Team monthly webinars. We were always encouraged to participate in advancing animal welfare in our own community in Summit County, Colorado.

This past year, I finally took their advice and had a discussion with our Summit County Animal Shelter Manager. Although the Shelter is doing extremely well, free food distribution to those in need was expressed as a challenge. This challenge has turned into the creation of the Summit County Pet Food Pantry. In the beginning, we had no idea what a difference we could make, but this project has blossomed into a very successful source of pet food that can be distributed equitably through our already existing people food pantries to pets and their families presently in need and help to keep these pets at home with their families and out of the shelter.

Much love and gratitude to Best Friends Animal Society for the work you do and your inspiration.

I can appreciate your post.  I LOVE BFAS.  I've been able to volunteer there for a few years now.  They too are my inspiration.  I call BFAS "my happy place"!

I have always had a love for animals and a want to help those in need. But the one who most inspired me to join in animal welfare is my late Heeler, Rey Rey. She came into our lives after being found by a friend of a friend abandoned in a mobile home he was sent to pick up and move. He took her and kept her in his mechanic shop for two years, while he tried to find her a new home. When I heard her story, I couldn't say no. She became a very important part of our family. She was protective of my children, and myself. When my ex-husband started drinking too much, she would put herself between him and I. She came with us when my children and I fled back to Utah from Texas and stayed with us until her passing last year. I've had many dogs over the years, but Rey Rey was my soulmate. Letting her go was necessary, but the most difficult decision I've had to make. I can't think of a better way to honor her memory than to continue helping dogs with stories like hers find their forever homes. To get to experience love and compassion for the rest of their lives, regardless of how long or short that might be. I do my work with the thought of her in the forefront of my mind every day. 

First ... Happy 30th Anniversary ... and thank you for having this pet forum for all of us to share and learn. This group allows us access to a wealth of knowledge that I would have a hard time finding elsewhere. The foster home based rescue I volunteer with is always looking for ways to improve and expand and just searching the internet can quickly become confusing and overwhelming. This forum has allowed me to more easily focus my searches and provided me with comments from people who have already done what we're looking to do or provide feedback on things I'm considering doing. Thank you!

We have a volunteer who goes out every single morning and afternoon to feed a colony that we are working on rescuing and TNRing. There are over 25+ cats and kittens in that colony. All are malnourished, sick, etc. She goes out every single day to make sure they are fed and taken care of. She goes to add ice to their water during the112+ degree summer. They love her so much that she's able to pick a lot of them up so we can get them fixed instead of having to trap them. She constantly dedicates her limited time to caring for these cats and loves them deeply. We would not be able to do what we do without all of her help. It is truly inspiring to see someone care so deeply about so many cats to make sure they get a better life. 

For me it was seeing the difference that my cat Scraggles made to both myself and my mother during her decline. When my mom went into hospice they commented how good Scraggles was with all the activity. Since my mom loved cats and bonded with Scraggles (my ESA) I asked whether there were any animals available to visit. Unfortunately that didn't happen through hospice but a good friend of mi e that lived near mom offered to take her dog over and do video calls where my mom could see Scraggles (I worked on the opposite side of the country from my mom). The bonds both of us had with animals inspired me to work at the intersection of human and animal welfare.