Hello Fellow Lost and Founders!!! I am super jazzed to announce that I will be your LF (lost/found) specialist for the next three months. As someone who is strictly focused on preventing pet loss and increasing lost pet reunification, this opportunity with Maddie's to work as your personal L/F assistant is super exciting!! I will be available to you should you have any specific questions or topics you'd like this forum to discuss. My commitment is to answer any questions within 24 hours, hopefully quicker! I hope to share with you not only the basics of improving your Return to Home (RTH) rates, but also dig a little deeper than ever before. There is so much unchartered territory here. I do believe that increasing RTH percentages might just be the easiest and least expensive thing we can all be doing to increase lifesaving. And most of all, it's the best thing for that animal and their people. Also, I do hope that all of you will share any new and exciting strategies you may be implementing relative to RTH. As some of you know, I teach courses all over the country and love to share real life success stories about people just like you! Here are some preliminary topics you can expect us to discuss:
- RTH culture change – getting everyone on your team excited about RTH
- Website Health – making sure our lost and found pages serve the best purpose (I am happy to take a peek at your respective sites and offer feedback if you would like it)
- Influencing beyond the shelter – ideas and messaging to make pet identification synonymous with wearing a seat belt (this is a heavy lift, but if anyone can do it, we can)
- Incorporating volunteers in the search for missing people
- Finding missing people - tips and tricks anyone can do
Each week I will introduce four new topics or share articles, videos, etc., that are guaranteed to get your RTH juices flowing!! So, let's get this party started. I can't wait to virtually meet you all and see what we can accomplish in our time together.
Here's a little information about me:
Gina Knepp is the National Shelter Engagement Director for the Michelson Found Animals Foundation and a leading expert in keeping people and their furry families together. Her primary focus is increasing the return to home rate by engaging animal sheltering organizations in finding innovative ways of locating missing pet people and more importantly, helping people not lose their pets to begin with. Gina's background includes managing the Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento, California. Her experience leading a municipal, open intake, high volume shelter adds to her passion for helping lost animals get back home where they belong. Gina is currently on the Board of Directors of the California Animal Welfare Association and on the Executive Committee of Human Animal Support Services (HASS) with American Pets Alive, launching national animal shelter reform.
I'd love to learn more about you, too! So please introduce yourselves and let's create the most amazing team of RTH experts in the country. To get us started, here is a podcast I did that is intended for the general public. Hopefully it will inspire some ideas that you can incorporate in messaging to your community. Dogish Podcast: Gina Knepp of Michelson Found Animals Foundation 02/09/21 by Dogish Podcast • A podcast on Anchor
#ReturntoHome(LostPetReunification)------------------------------
Gina Knepp
National Shelter Engagement Director
Michelson Found Animals Foundation
Los Angeles, California
916-230-4533
Return to Home Specialist
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