January 15, 2025 • 34 mins
For more than 80 years, Animal Friends has been saving, impacting, engaging, enriching and affecting the lives of the pets and people of our region. Since our humble beginnings in 1943, we have grown into a full-service companion animal welfare organization serving the pets and people of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. With our progressive programs, Animal Friends is leading the way toward making our community a safer and more humane place. Simply put, we’re thinking outside the cage!
https://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/
https://www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Kathleen
Beaver of Animal Friends. Good to see you. Thank you
for coming in.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to see you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
So tell us everything we need to know about Animal Friends.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Boy, how many hours do you have?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I've got nothing to do on all day to do
it great?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, you know, Animal Friends is A is a fantastic
place for the community. But let's you know, it's about animals.
You know, animals are part of our lives. Animal Friends
is A is a full service community. We call it
a community resource campus. We're not just one building, We're
a full campus up in Ohio township. And you know,
(00:42):
our goal here is to help animals, but help people.
I think one of the things that's really important is
to think about our vision statement, which is we ensure
humane and compassionate future for every Animal Friend. And I
think it's important to think of Animal Friends not just
as pets and the animals, but as the people who
care for them as well. So at Animal Friends were
(01:04):
really focused on making sure those animals are safe and
healthy and getting the care they need. But we're also
looking at the people, because if the people can't take
care of the animals that they have, then they're going
to end up in the shelter, and then we have
a bigger problem in our community. So it's all about
relationships with our pets in the community and making this
a better place to live for all of us.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It seems like Animal Friends has always been there for
as long as I can remember. You've been around for
over eighty years.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's right. We were founded in nineteen forty three, and
it's kind of a unique founding, if you will. Some
people just kind of came together in World War Two.
They saw people going off to war and they were
leaving their pets behind, and people thought, well, you know
this can't happen. We need to do something for these guys.
(01:51):
So they didn't have a shelter, but they rented an
office space down at the William Penn downtown and they
had kind of a file drawer of people who wanted
pets and a file drawer of pets that were in
need of homes, and it was a matchmaking service. So
they started there and they just continued to grow. They
had a shelter in Lawrenceville and in Bloomfield and finally
(02:14):
got their first facility, large shelter facility in the Strip district.
So most people know Animal Friends is the shelter in
the Strip and we were there for a number of decades.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And so what's your relationship with Animal Friends? When did
you start with the organization?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Not in nineteen forty three, but sometimes you look great,
thank you. It may feel like that some days. But
I started in the late nineties. I started in nineteen
ninety seven, and you know, went there because I loved
the mission. I loved the fact that they were committed
to every animal that came through their doors, and saw
(02:49):
a ton of potential with the organization, and we have
We've grown in just huge ways since nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Did you move your move up?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I did start. I didn't start walking dogs, but
I did start as our marketing and development position and
also ran the volunteer program. At the time, we only
had about I think we'd like between thirty and forty employees.
Most of them were part time, and most of them
were caring for the animals, and so many of us
(03:20):
had jobs that had today are multiple jobs. But that
was what I did, was development, marketing, and the volunteer program,
and you know, it just it all. I've worked for
other nonprofits and the arts and with organizations working with children,
and they're all wonderful with great missions, but there's there
(03:42):
was something so different about Animal Friends, very grassroots people
coming together for a common goal to really save lives.
And you know, things came together all at the same
time where we were looking at a facility that was
truly crumbling. You know, we had a place in the Strip.
We were growing so much that we were leasing other
(04:06):
buildings next door to us, down the street from us.
We were having behavior training classes in the parking lot
and stepping over puddles, and we realized we really needed
to do something different for the demand that was happening
in the community. So in just a few years later,
we had a great group of people come together and say,
(04:27):
we can do better, we can do more. The demand
is here, the volunteers are here, the community is behind us.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So and that's when you opened up the new shelter.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That's when you know, the plans started to do more
than just a shelter. You know, we we wanted to
stay in the city. That's that was our roots was
to be there focused on you know, we started focused
on veterans really, which I'll tell you a little bit
more about a little later. But you know, you know
(04:57):
when when you're looking around you and what you have
is facilities that are falling down. I mean literally, we
would see the building kind of kind of edging off
a little bit, and we thought, we've got to find
something that's safer for these animals, and we have to
also find something safer for our community and for our staff,
(05:17):
and we really need to grow these programs. So we
wanted to stay in the city, but when you looked
at the rent and the property costs in the city,
we were able to get you know, we looked at
a piece of property that was an acre for a
million dollars, and we're like, well, we're going to have
the same problem if we don't think kind of outside
(05:38):
of the box. And so we started looking outside of
the city and found a really beautiful piece of property
in Ohio Township, which was just up the road, ten
minutes from the city.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And yeah, it's not far from down.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Not at all. So for about four hundred thousand dollars,
you know, we got thirteen and a half acres.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And it's a beautiful and beautiful place.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Exactly, and it's a beautiful piece of property. And you know,
the other thing that we really looked at was we
could build a shelter full of cages and you know,
every animal that came in, put them in and help
them out and get them back up. But that's not
solving the root of the problem. And we knew that,
(06:19):
you know, thirty forty fifty sixty employees were not going
to solve the problem here in Pittsburgh. So we really
looked at how can we involve the community in our
in our challenges and help through education, through volunteering, through
just involvement. So what we built, which was very state
of the art at the time, was not a shelter,
(06:40):
but was a community resource center. So if you were
to come into our building and it was very new
at the time and people were scratching their head, going
how is this a shelter? Was We have a lot
of program spaces, we have a lot of education spaces.
It's not all just cage after cage after cage. It's
really focused on how do we inspire people to come
(07:01):
and to learn to be better pet guardians too, to
know more about the care of our pets, the health
of our pets, so we create a more humane and
compassionate community, not just helping animals.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Do me a favor, let's let's let's when you're talking
about your your building, kind of give us a a
a radio tour of the Animal Friends because it really
is worthwhile. You walk in and you're right, it doesn't
look like your standard shelter because you you know, it's
it's it's it's very it's very nice, and you you
(07:35):
have this huge cat area that is you know, full
of go ahead, so I'll let you do it and
give us a little tour.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Give an audio tour here of Animal Friends. Well, you
know when you when you we you get to come
across a beautiful bridge with a little a little stream
underneath it, which really sets the tone. And I know
that it.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And one thing that you you'll see even before you
get in the building, you'll see a lot of your
volunteers walking the dogs. You always see a volunteer. You
have so many, so you really rely on these volunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Too, absolutely absolutely, And that's well get back to volunteers
as well. But that's the beauty of it is when
you walk, when you come up our driveway, you're seeing
the whole campus. You get to see what's happening there.
We have play so when you come up the campus,
if you look off to your to your left, you're
going to see we have some off leash areas that
(08:26):
people can rent. If you don't want to go to
those big public play areas when there's a lot of
dogs there, you can rent one and bring your own dog.
You can bring a couple of dogs, so we have
two of those right down over the side, and then
you come up the driveway to the main building and
when you enter, first of all, we have a see
this is going to be a long tour. The other
(08:50):
unique thing is we have when you talk about volunteers,
we have volunteers who do everything. So again you're going
to see those those dog walkers out there caring for
our animals and socializing them and exercising them. But our
grounds are beautiful too because we have a garden club
there as well, which you think is funny for a shelter,
but think about the number of dogs that are being
(09:11):
walked on our property and think of what they do
when they go outside, which was very difficult to keep
shrubs and bushes and flowers and plants well, right, but
the problem was they're also killing everything. So we have
a group of animal loving Garden Club volunteers and some
(09:31):
of them are master gardeners, and they see it as
a challenge to say, oh, hey, what kind of plants
can we plant here that will survive this the harsh
conditions of having hundreds of dogs peeing on them. So
it's been a lot of fun to have these people.
So when we talk about volunteers, there's lots of unique
ways to get involved. And it helps you know, it
(09:53):
sounds funny that, oh, why are you worried about how
beautiful your campus is? Well, it helps people that come
in to go, oh, oh gosh, I didn't realize that
kind of plant could withstand this. So it's really been
a lot of fun for that. But anyway, so you
walk in and it's gorgeous there, walk into a big lobby.
We have a welcome center right when you walk in,
and that's just to get acclimated. We know that when
(10:15):
you walk in, we have very high ceilings and you
kind of are going, oh, my gosh, where are the animals.
Because we really pride ourselves on we don't want you
to walk in and go, yep, it's a shelter because
I can smell it. We have the building was built
to have an HVAC system that really turns the air
to make sure that it not only does it smell great,
(10:36):
but that it's healthy for the animals, because there's disease
and there's illness, and we want to make sure that
that air is turning over all the time. But when
you come in, if you go down to the right,
do you hang a right. We have a classroom which
can be used for trainings. We have scout troops in there.
We can do bunny yoga in there, which is always fall.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
On, so you do yoga, bring in the bunnies to
kind of jump around with it.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, we know people don't like to exercise, but if
you add a little bunny, we do bunny and sometimes
we do kitten yoga, which you can come in with
your matt and we have a yoga instructor that comes
in and then we bring the bunnies. But it's also
a place where we can do meet and greets for
our dogs. If you have a dog and you want
(11:24):
to make sure that's a great pet. So there's spaces
there we have a kitchenette, so sometimes we have Scout
troops come in and they want to bake biscuits for
the animals. We have staff like over the holidays, and
again our staff are incredibly compassionate and creative, and they
were baking biscuits for the dogs to make sure that
they got something special and healthy for the animals during
(11:47):
the holidays. So that's up on the I told you
this is going to be a three hour interview. But
on the that's on the right. But if you go
and hang a left and you start walking down the
main hallway, we have a we call it our HEAT
which is our Humane Education and Enrichment Center, and that's
for our little kids. So you know, we have a
(12:08):
lot of families that come into Animal Friends and you know,
as a parent, my kids are grown, but you brought
them into the shelter and they were so excited to
see the animals that they'd kind of buzz through that
door and want to just run up to those enclosures
of the animals, and we know that can be scary
for the animals. So the idea was to put in
this humane education center that kind of slow down the
(12:30):
kids pop in here. First, it's a hands on experience
for them with kind of a changing exhibit where you
can come in and learn a little bit about the
animals that you're about to see, about their care, about
the jobs that we do there. It's always changing, but
it slows everybody down a little bit, lets them get
some of that excitement out, and then they get to
(12:53):
go and look with a better you know, state of mind,
a little bit better presence for the animals. Right across
and you know, also with the Human Education Center, we
also do story time with kids. We have summer camping
program which is always sold out, so if you want
to do that, that's critical for the young people to
(13:14):
learn about becoming the next generation of animal lovers and
pet owners as well. Across from the Humane Education Center,
we have a large outreach center and it can be
divided into and there's always something going on in there.
We do bun runs, which I'll ask you if you
know what a bun run.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Is, I assume have something to do with bunnies.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
There you go. You know, we have three species and
animal Friends. We support dogs, cats, and rabbits. Rabbits are
the third most adopted animal in the region and across
the United States, we don't have as many, but we
do have anywhere between aid and twelve bunnies at any
given time on site. And the bunnies need to get out,
(13:55):
they need to you know, so they need a bun run.
And also, so many people don't know about bunnies. They
see them, they may think, oh, it's a pet to
keep in a cage, but they're not. They can be
litter trained, they can live in your house similar to
a cat. Although I will warn all.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
My friends with bunnies they have like amazing personalities. Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, they're really unique animals and they bond and they
have their own little unique personality. It's really great. We
have wonderful volunteers that on Saturdays we do a public
bun run where if you just want to come, you
want to go into the bun run, sit down, let
the bunnies hop up to you, and our volunteers will
tell you all about bunnies. Doesn't matter if you're not
(14:37):
interested in adopting, just just come get to know the species.
It's a really great time, especially with kids in a family.
We also do dog play groups in our outreach center,
so our dogs need time to socialize, so often on
one side you'll see a couple of dogs in there
having fun, running around, playing and jumping. It's also a
great way that we can get to know our dogs
(14:59):
and underst stand how they might be in a home.
Will they be better going home with another animal? Are
they better going home with no other pets in the
home as well? But a lot of work happens that
in that space. Then you get to the animals. You know,
often you hit our cats first. And we have a
large condo area and I didn't.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Know what to call it, because that's exactly what it is.
I called it has different you know, ladders in places
where they can they can play, and I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, we have a couple of ways that we care
for our animals at Animal Friends. We have the the
condo rooms, which are somewhat traditional. We don't have the cages.
You know, there are glass glass fronts so people aren't
kind of sticking their fingers all the time in each
of the cats. But it's a safe space for them,
(15:50):
but they can be seen. They are smaller enclosures with
portals so they can we can expand the portals and
depending on the size of the cat or maybe they're
there's two bonded cats that need to be together, or
a litter of kittens. We also have socialization rooms for
the cats to get out of their spaces, to stretch,
to play, to socialize, and then we have two free
(16:14):
roam rooms, and our free room rooms are for cats
that we know get along and may need some extra space,
and up to ten cats can be in each one
of those rooms, and that's what you're talking about. We
have the ladders and the cubbies and all kinds of
spaces and often you know, we've been getting a number
(16:35):
of hoarding case cats coming in. Yeah, we've seen that
since the pandemic. We had a few before, but it's
really been a challenge for a lot of the shelters,
but definitely for Animal Friends where we're getting twenty thirty
sixty cats at a time that have been in a
house and some of the cats have been socialized, some
of the cats not so much. So those free room
(16:56):
rooms are great opportunities for the cats to be together
because as they were comfortable that way, and to help
have the more social cats help the less social cats
get to the point where they're ready for adoption, and
then they're being seen people can come. They're used to
seeing people pass by, but those are really important spaces
as well. We also have a couple other little unique spaces.
(17:18):
We have a new kitten room that we just open,
so definitely from about May until October, we're full of kittens.
So we have kittens in that space where people can
go in and meet and greet with some of the kittens.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Is there a time of the year where your senses
of cats and kittens kind of explode? Is it? What
time of year is that?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, it's usually it's been usually spring through summer. We
call it kitten season, and kitten season has expanded, especially
now this year it's a little cooler, but last year
we had a really mild winter, and when we have
mild winter, we end up with a longer kitten season. Yeah,
so usually we see kittens starting sometime April and then
(18:01):
running sometimes through November. It really depends on how the
weather was. It goes back to Spain Nooter and we
can talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That sure all right now the dogs.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, and then well we put the cats. You know,
when we built this building, we said at the time
back in two thousand and two thousand and five, we
most people were coming to look at dogs, and the
cats were not as popular, but we had a lot
more cats that needed to find homes. So we described
it as we're going to put the milk in the
back of the supermarket, so we put the dogs in
(18:35):
the back. So you have to walk by the cats
and sometimes you go, you know what, maybe a cat
would be better for us, Right, yeahs.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Sense and so all right, so let's get to the dogs. Yes,
you have the you know, the cattle beyond the cats.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, we have. When you walk down, we kind of
get you primed for the for the dog adoption floor
is we have some multidg rooms, so they are little
rooms you and look into them with the glass and
sometimes those are dogs that you know, would just do
better in a more quiet space. Sometimes there's two dogs
in there that they bond they're bonded so they're better together,
and sometimes it's puppies. So you can kind of look
(19:15):
at the dogs going down, and then our adoption you
kind of hang a little right and go into our
adoption floor where we house about twenty five dogs there.
Now I will say that right now we still have
our adoption floor closed to the public. That was something
that came out of COVID. We were it wasn't just us,
it was many of the shelters found that during COVID,
(19:35):
when we didn't have people in the shelter, all of
a sudden, the animals on the adoption floor and they
were just calmer and we had less behavioral challenges within
the shelter. And we were finding it was because people
weren't on the adoption floor going cage to cage and
getting the dogs excited, right, and so they could just
be calmer.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So what do you how do you do that? Do
you have pictures of dogs and then you say, oh, okay,
there's that German shepherd, we'd like to see that when
you bring it into a little place where you can
socialize with the dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, exactly. We have videos up of them, so our
volunteers and our staff will take videos outside so you
can really get to know the personality of it. And
if there is a particular dog that you want to see,
we will certainly. I mean, obviously the dog comes out,
we take it into our meat and greet room, and
you get to spend time with it with the animal.
But we're finding that one or two dogs that would
(20:30):
get it we're excitable with people on the adoption floor,
would then teach the other dogs to get excited, and
it made everybody, made it harder for everybody to get
a dog.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Well, the adoptions of the bunnies and the cats and
the kittens and the dogs and the puppies is just
a portion of what Animal Friends does tell us about
some of your wellness kind of programs and things that
you do.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, that's kind of the other side of it. I
like to think of Animal Friends as kind of kind
of too pronged. You know. We have the pillar of
rescue and rehabilitate of the animals, the shelter work where
the animals are coming in, but prior to that, what
we really are working on is trying to keep those
animals in their homes. If we can keep them where
(21:11):
they belong, in their homes safely, then hopefully they don't
have to cycle into the shelter, because shelters are hard.
You know, I'm really proud of Animal Friends. It's a
beautiful facility. We have amazing staff. We have enrichment coordinator,
we have dog walkers. We have so much for them,
but it's hard. You know, whether it's a cat, a
dog or a bunny. They're best in a home, so
(21:33):
when they come in, we do the best we can.
But if we can keep them where they where they
are best loved and best care for, we want to
do that. Sometimes we find that animals are coming into
shelters because of you know, they're moving, they've had a
family situation that has changed, they have some behavioral challenges,
some medical challenges, but often it's just financial and they're
(21:55):
struggling with paying for food, they're struggling with the behavior challenge,
they're struggling with vet care. So what we're trying to
do is if that's the reason they don't need to
be in a shelter, we can help you with that.
If you love your pet and the only reason you
can't keep that pet is because you don't have enough money,
that's not right. You know, we need to keep that
(22:17):
animal with you because we know how much animals improve
our lives. And if you're going through a challenge in
your life, you've lost a job, you've lost a spouse,
you know, to lose a pet, I mean that's devastating.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So you have different programs like that, like the food bank.
Yes you have a food bank, just for pets.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
We do. We have our chow Wagon Food Bank. We
rely on donations from the community to stock our shelves.
We have a relationship with about thirty five people people
food pantries because we figure if people are hungry for
you know, we need people food, they're going to need
pet food as well.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, it makes perfect sense, yep.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And that was the premise that our food bank was founded.
So our chow Wagon was really founded on the premise of,
you know, people that were feeding their pets their own foods.
They were getting their meals on wheels meal and then
they were splitting it with their pet, and we thought
that's not healthy for either the pet or the person.
So we started our chow Wagon program. Today we're working
(23:17):
with thirty five pantries throughout you know, the multi county
area and last year we donated over two hundred and
five thousand pounds of food out into the community. So
the need is there, we know it is. The need
is there for people. We know it's there for their
pets as well.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What about your SPAE and Neoter program.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, we to our campus. I talked about the thirteen
and a half acre campus we've expanded in twenty fourteen,
we expanded. We're now a seventy five acre campus. We
grew quite a bit and we added another building in
twenty seventeen and that's our Animal wellness center. So we've
always had a Spain neuter program, at least it started
(23:54):
when I was there back in the nineties and it's
just grown. We know that over popular has been a
big problem in the region and across the country, so
one of our focuses has been to end that overpopulation challenge.
So we've done boy over one hundred thousand spas and
neoters since I've been there. High quality, low cost shelter
(24:19):
for the shelter animals as well as for the public.
So the other thing is, if you're a City of
Pittsburgh resident, the city has a wonderfully compassionate program. You
get free spay neoter up to five animals each year
if you're a City of Pittsburgh residence. So it's a
really great thing. Pittsburgh is a really great city for
the animals, so please take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
What other VET services do you provide?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
We do vaccines, we do wellness appointments, we do basic
GP appointments, the general care and routine of the animals,
but we also do some surgeries as well. Sometimes people
go and find that their animal needs something a little
bit more expensive, they go to their vet, they can't
afford it, and then sometimes they get to the point
(25:03):
where they have a decision to make. They can't afford
that three, four or five thousand dollars surgery, and they
have to either decide am I going to find the
money or am I going to have to just say
goodbye to this animal whether it goes to a shelter,
or they have to make the hard choice to euthanize.
So we do have a program, a Save my Pet program,
where people can come and we'll take a look at
the situation. Either we'll do the surgery or we'll underwrite
(25:26):
the cost at a vet clinic to have that done.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So, if somebody needs the either the chuck wagging services
or the vet services, what's the best way to contact you, Yeah,
just give us a.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Call or go to our website. We're happy to help.
And that's the other thing we're working on is we
know usually it's not just one problem. If you need food,
you probably need affordable vet care as well. If you
need affordable veat care. You may have some behavioral questions
as well. So we're putting together kind of a hub
of services. So we want you to give us a call.
You can call our clinic, you can go on our website,
(25:59):
and we'll go get you hooked up with all of
those services. So it's not just one and done. We
want to stay and keep that relationship with you.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Tell me about your staff, your organization.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, we have an incredible staff. We have about one
hundred and twenty staff members at Animal Friends. You know,
obviously we have the administrative staff that kind of keep
things running, but I can't say enough for the staff
that work at the clinic that are out in the
community doing the work, and then the ones that are
helping our animals. We have obviously high level veterinarians that
(26:33):
are working to make sure the animals are healthy. But
the other side of it is, you know, the physical
health is really important, but that emotional health is just
as important. And we have some really highly credentialed behavior
staff on our on our team that you know, look
at these animals as individuals and really take a look
(26:56):
at Okay, where did they come from, what are they
dealing with, and how can we help them get back
on track, spend many, many hours working with these animals
to identify what the issue is, what that trigger might be,
and then get them back to where they need to go.
So it's not just they come in, they get a shot,
they get in a cage, and back out the door.
(27:16):
They're with us, We're understanding who they are, where they
came from, making sure that we make a good match
when they go back out into the community.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
I know you really rely on your volunteers. Yeah, so
if somebody tell us a little bit about the volunteers,
what they do, and if somebody is interested in helping out,
what can they how can how can they participate?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Our volunteers do absolutely everything. I mean, there isn't a
project that Animal Friends that volunteers cannot get involved and
if they want to. I mean sometimes people say, oh,
volunteers aren't allowed behind that door. That's not the way
it is at Animal Friends. We're wide open, fully transparent.
If you want to do laundry at Animal Friends, you
can do laundry. If you want to help up in
surgery with getting the instruments cleaned, you can do that.
(27:58):
If you want to walk the dogs, you can sart
do that. It's all about training. So if you have
an interest, we have an orientation program that you can
go through and then special training depending on what you
want to do. But you know, it sounds crazy, but
we have about sixteen hundred active volunteers. Some of them
do one thing, you know, throughout the year, and some
(28:19):
are there honestly more than I am. I know of
a couple volunteers and I'm like, do you ever go home?
And they're just the backbone of the organization for sure.
The other big piece of volunteering is fostering. So a
lot of people say, oh my gosh, I couldn't go
into the shelter, that's too hard for me, But you
(28:39):
can foster if you have an extra room. We rely
on fosters to get our animals out of the shelter environment,
and we do foster in a lot of different ways.
Maybe it's just that little neonate kitten that really needs
to get out of the shelter where it's not as
healthy for them to be. We have bottle feeders for those.
But then at the other end, we're really proud of
our hospital program. You know, not every animal is ready
(29:03):
to go still has some quality of life. But it
would be a really hard placement to put a sixteen, seventeen,
eighteen year old cat into a home, or a cat
that may have a chronic issue but still has a
really good quality of life. So our foster volunteers will
take them into their homes and they get to they
get to spend their final days, you know, on a sweet,
nice soft bed and patch of sunshine with a loving family.
(29:27):
And that's the way it should be.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
As CEO, I can imagine the logistics of all that
is under your preview, So I have to imagine that
fundraising has to be paramount. You have to fundraise. What
are some of your major fundraisers and when are they
coming up this year?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, our biggest fundraiser is black Tie and Tails, and
it's not all black tie. You can wear whatever you want.
But that's the September September twenty seventh and twenty twenty
five and it's a really fun event. We transform the
campus so you are there, you get to to not
only party and have a great time and be entertained
with great music and dancing, but you get to learn
(30:06):
a little bit about animal friends, or I'll say a
lot about animal friends. Our staffer. They're giving tours. You
get behind the scene tours, you get to follow the
path of an animal, the way they came to us.
So it's a great educational event, but have a little
fun as well. And that's a significant event for us,
so I encourage anybody to come join us for that event.
(30:26):
We have a couple other events coming up. We have
an event in February and February second which Chris Winter,
who you may know has his a board number of
Animal Friends, has been doing for twenty years. It's a
bowling event called Alley Up and it's at Legacy Lanes.
A lot of fun and brings in some nice funds
for Animal Friends. And then a couple others. We do
(30:46):
bowel bingo, which is kind of a twist on your
traditional bingo, which is a lot of fun in March,
and then we have a golf outing in June.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And so that's all the fundraisers. But you really rely
on the donations of the community, don't you.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, I mean those are the fundraisers. Those are
I call those the fun with an fun because those
are a lot of fun. You get to meet people, people,
get to get to get to know a little bit
more about Animal Friends and what we do. But you know,
every day we're out there making friends, you know, making
sure people and corporations and organizations understand what we're doing
and why it's so meaningful to our community and their
(31:24):
employees and and you know, everything we do in the
community is tied to we can be a little bit
more compassionate, we can be a little bit more humane.
It's it's a tough world out there. We're all struggling
a little bit, and the animals bring us a lot
of a lot of compassion, a lot of care to
our lives. So you know, we're looking for that, but
we look for corporate sponsorships, We are looking for grants
(31:48):
from foundations, but those individuals are really what we what
we look to to funder our operations. It's also important
to know that bequests are really important. And I know
it sounds a little odd, but you know, animals bring
so much to our lives. It's really important to think
about them when at the end as well. And we
(32:09):
have a great program that's kind of twofold. Obviously, you know,
we would ask that you'd consider Animal Friends, you know,
in your will and in your state plans. But we
have another program called the Life Saver Society, and that's
for people that may not have the family around and
they have some pets and they're concerned that, boy, if
(32:29):
something were to happen to me, what's going to happen
to my pets? Where are they going to go? And
the last thing they want to have happen is their
pets end up in a shelter or scared or in
an environment where they're not sure what's going to happen.
And some people don't get pets when they're older because
of that reason. Our Life Saver Society is to make
sure people understand that if something were to happen, we
(32:50):
would take in their pets. There's a donation that goes
along with it that we ask for, and then your
pet comes into Animal Friends and we make sure through
our policies and ours that those animals either go into
foster care or go into another home that would be
a good match for that pet.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Or right if somebody wants to make a donation, or
they would like to be a volunteer, or if they
would just like to see the facility, I'll what's your website.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's thinking outside the cage dot org.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That is thinking outside thecage dot org. This is Animal
Friends has been, you know, part of Pittsburgh for generations
and you've done so much for the community on behalf
of Pittsburgh and the community and everybody that you have
helped and all the animals. Thank you for everything that
you guys do.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
We thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Kathleen Beaver, CEO of Animal Friends and definitely a CEO
you should know. Kathleen, Thank you, thank you. This has
been the CEOs you Should Know podcast showcasing businesses that
are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to
the communities we serve. Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much
for listening.
And welcome in. This is the CEOs You Should Know podcast.
I'm your host, Johnny Hartwell, let's say hello to Kathleen
Beaver of Animal Friends. Good to see you. Thank you
for coming in.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to see you, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
So tell us everything we need to know about Animal Friends.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Boy, how many hours do you have?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I've got nothing to do on all day to do
it great?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, you know, Animal Friends is A is a fantastic
place for the community. But let's you know, it's about animals.
You know, animals are part of our lives. Animal Friends
is A is a full service community. We call it
a community resource campus. We're not just one building, We're
a full campus up in Ohio township. And you know,
(00:42):
our goal here is to help animals, but help people.
I think one of the things that's really important is
to think about our vision statement, which is we ensure
humane and compassionate future for every Animal Friend. And I
think it's important to think of Animal Friends not just
as pets and the animals, but as the people who
care for them as well. So at Animal Friends were
(01:04):
really focused on making sure those animals are safe and
healthy and getting the care they need. But we're also
looking at the people, because if the people can't take
care of the animals that they have, then they're going
to end up in the shelter, and then we have
a bigger problem in our community. So it's all about
relationships with our pets in the community and making this
a better place to live for all of us.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
It seems like Animal Friends has always been there for
as long as I can remember. You've been around for
over eighty years.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's right. We were founded in nineteen forty three, and
it's kind of a unique founding, if you will. Some
people just kind of came together in World War Two.
They saw people going off to war and they were
leaving their pets behind, and people thought, well, you know
this can't happen. We need to do something for these guys.
(01:51):
So they didn't have a shelter, but they rented an
office space down at the William Penn downtown and they
had kind of a file drawer of people who wanted
pets and a file drawer of pets that were in
need of homes, and it was a matchmaking service. So
they started there and they just continued to grow. They
had a shelter in Lawrenceville and in Bloomfield and finally
(02:14):
got their first facility, large shelter facility in the Strip district.
So most people know Animal Friends is the shelter in
the Strip and we were there for a number of decades.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
And so what's your relationship with Animal Friends? When did
you start with the organization?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Not in nineteen forty three, but sometimes you look great,
thank you. It may feel like that some days. But
I started in the late nineties. I started in nineteen
ninety seven, and you know, went there because I loved
the mission. I loved the fact that they were committed
to every animal that came through their doors, and saw
(02:49):
a ton of potential with the organization, and we have
We've grown in just huge ways since nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Did you move your move up?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I did start. I didn't start walking dogs, but
I did start as our marketing and development position and
also ran the volunteer program. At the time, we only
had about I think we'd like between thirty and forty employees.
Most of them were part time, and most of them
were caring for the animals, and so many of us
(03:20):
had jobs that had today are multiple jobs. But that
was what I did, was development, marketing, and the volunteer program,
and you know, it just it all. I've worked for
other nonprofits and the arts and with organizations working with children,
and they're all wonderful with great missions, but there's there
(03:42):
was something so different about Animal Friends, very grassroots people
coming together for a common goal to really save lives.
And you know, things came together all at the same
time where we were looking at a facility that was
truly crumbling. You know, we had a place in the Strip.
We were growing so much that we were leasing other
(04:06):
buildings next door to us, down the street from us.
We were having behavior training classes in the parking lot
and stepping over puddles, and we realized we really needed
to do something different for the demand that was happening
in the community. So in just a few years later,
we had a great group of people come together and say,
(04:27):
we can do better, we can do more. The demand
is here, the volunteers are here, the community is behind us.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So and that's when you opened up the new shelter.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That's when you know, the plans started to do more
than just a shelter. You know, we we wanted to
stay in the city. That's that was our roots was
to be there focused on you know, we started focused
on veterans really, which I'll tell you a little bit
more about a little later. But you know, you know
(04:57):
when when you're looking around you and what you have
is facilities that are falling down. I mean literally, we
would see the building kind of kind of edging off
a little bit, and we thought, we've got to find
something that's safer for these animals, and we have to
also find something safer for our community and for our staff,
(05:17):
and we really need to grow these programs. So we
wanted to stay in the city, but when you looked
at the rent and the property costs in the city,
we were able to get you know, we looked at
a piece of property that was an acre for a
million dollars, and we're like, well, we're going to have
the same problem if we don't think kind of outside
(05:38):
of the box. And so we started looking outside of
the city and found a really beautiful piece of property
in Ohio Township, which was just up the road, ten
minutes from the city.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And yeah, it's not far from down.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Not at all. So for about four hundred thousand dollars,
you know, we got thirteen and a half acres.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And it's a beautiful and beautiful place.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Exactly, and it's a beautiful piece of property. And you know,
the other thing that we really looked at was we
could build a shelter full of cages and you know,
every animal that came in, put them in and help
them out and get them back up. But that's not
solving the root of the problem. And we knew that,
(06:19):
you know, thirty forty fifty sixty employees were not going
to solve the problem here in Pittsburgh. So we really
looked at how can we involve the community in our
in our challenges and help through education, through volunteering, through
just involvement. So what we built, which was very state
of the art at the time, was not a shelter,
(06:40):
but was a community resource center. So if you were
to come into our building and it was very new
at the time and people were scratching their head, going
how is this a shelter? Was We have a lot
of program spaces, we have a lot of education spaces.
It's not all just cage after cage after cage. It's
really focused on how do we inspire people to come
(07:01):
and to learn to be better pet guardians too, to
know more about the care of our pets, the health
of our pets, so we create a more humane and
compassionate community, not just helping animals.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Do me a favor, let's let's let's when you're talking
about your your building, kind of give us a a
a radio tour of the Animal Friends because it really
is worthwhile. You walk in and you're right, it doesn't
look like your standard shelter because you you know, it's
it's it's it's very it's very nice, and you you
(07:35):
have this huge cat area that is you know, full
of go ahead, so I'll let you do it and
give us a little tour.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Give an audio tour here of Animal Friends. Well, you
know when you when you we you get to come
across a beautiful bridge with a little a little stream
underneath it, which really sets the tone. And I know
that it.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And one thing that you you'll see even before you
get in the building, you'll see a lot of your
volunteers walking the dogs. You always see a volunteer. You
have so many, so you really rely on these volunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Too, absolutely absolutely, And that's well get back to volunteers
as well. But that's the beauty of it is when
you walk, when you come up our driveway, you're seeing
the whole campus. You get to see what's happening there.
We have play so when you come up the campus,
if you look off to your to your left, you're
going to see we have some off leash areas that
(08:26):
people can rent. If you don't want to go to
those big public play areas when there's a lot of
dogs there, you can rent one and bring your own dog.
You can bring a couple of dogs, so we have
two of those right down over the side, and then
you come up the driveway to the main building and
when you enter, first of all, we have a see
this is going to be a long tour. The other
(08:50):
unique thing is we have when you talk about volunteers,
we have volunteers who do everything. So again you're going
to see those those dog walkers out there caring for
our animals and socializing them and exercising them. But our
grounds are beautiful too because we have a garden club
there as well, which you think is funny for a shelter,
but think about the number of dogs that are being
(09:11):
walked on our property and think of what they do
when they go outside, which was very difficult to keep
shrubs and bushes and flowers and plants well, right, but
the problem was they're also killing everything. So we have
a group of animal loving Garden Club volunteers and some
(09:31):
of them are master gardeners, and they see it as
a challenge to say, oh, hey, what kind of plants
can we plant here that will survive this the harsh
conditions of having hundreds of dogs peeing on them. So
it's been a lot of fun to have these people.
So when we talk about volunteers, there's lots of unique
ways to get involved. And it helps you know, it
(09:53):
sounds funny that, oh, why are you worried about how
beautiful your campus is? Well, it helps people that come
in to go, oh, oh gosh, I didn't realize that
kind of plant could withstand this. So it's really been
a lot of fun for that. But anyway, so you
walk in and it's gorgeous there, walk into a big lobby.
We have a welcome center right when you walk in,
and that's just to get acclimated. We know that when
(10:15):
you walk in, we have very high ceilings and you
kind of are going, oh, my gosh, where are the animals.
Because we really pride ourselves on we don't want you
to walk in and go, yep, it's a shelter because
I can smell it. We have the building was built
to have an HVAC system that really turns the air
to make sure that it not only does it smell great,
(10:36):
but that it's healthy for the animals, because there's disease
and there's illness, and we want to make sure that
that air is turning over all the time. But when
you come in, if you go down to the right,
do you hang a right. We have a classroom which
can be used for trainings. We have scout troops in there.
We can do bunny yoga in there, which is always fall.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
On, so you do yoga, bring in the bunnies to
kind of jump around with it.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, we know people don't like to exercise, but if
you add a little bunny, we do bunny and sometimes
we do kitten yoga, which you can come in with
your matt and we have a yoga instructor that comes
in and then we bring the bunnies. But it's also
a place where we can do meet and greets for
our dogs. If you have a dog and you want
(11:24):
to make sure that's a great pet. So there's spaces
there we have a kitchenette, so sometimes we have Scout
troops come in and they want to bake biscuits for
the animals. We have staff like over the holidays, and
again our staff are incredibly compassionate and creative, and they
were baking biscuits for the dogs to make sure that
they got something special and healthy for the animals during
(11:47):
the holidays. So that's up on the I told you
this is going to be a three hour interview. But
on the that's on the right. But if you go
and hang a left and you start walking down the
main hallway, we have a we call it our HEAT
which is our Humane Education and Enrichment Center, and that's
for our little kids. So you know, we have a
(12:08):
lot of families that come into Animal Friends and you know,
as a parent, my kids are grown, but you brought
them into the shelter and they were so excited to
see the animals that they'd kind of buzz through that
door and want to just run up to those enclosures
of the animals, and we know that can be scary
for the animals. So the idea was to put in
this humane education center that kind of slow down the
(12:30):
kids pop in here. First, it's a hands on experience
for them with kind of a changing exhibit where you
can come in and learn a little bit about the
animals that you're about to see, about their care, about
the jobs that we do there. It's always changing, but
it slows everybody down a little bit, lets them get
some of that excitement out, and then they get to
(12:53):
go and look with a better you know, state of mind,
a little bit better presence for the animals. Right across
and you know, also with the Human Education Center, we
also do story time with kids. We have summer camping
program which is always sold out, so if you want
to do that, that's critical for the young people to
(13:14):
learn about becoming the next generation of animal lovers and
pet owners as well. Across from the Humane Education Center,
we have a large outreach center and it can be
divided into and there's always something going on in there.
We do bun runs, which I'll ask you if you
know what a bun run.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Is, I assume have something to do with bunnies.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
There you go. You know, we have three species and
animal Friends. We support dogs, cats, and rabbits. Rabbits are
the third most adopted animal in the region and across
the United States, we don't have as many, but we
do have anywhere between aid and twelve bunnies at any
given time on site. And the bunnies need to get out,
(13:55):
they need to you know, so they need a bun run.
And also, so many people don't know about bunnies. They
see them, they may think, oh, it's a pet to
keep in a cage, but they're not. They can be
litter trained, they can live in your house similar to
a cat. Although I will warn all.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
My friends with bunnies they have like amazing personalities. Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, they're really unique animals and they bond and they
have their own little unique personality. It's really great. We
have wonderful volunteers that on Saturdays we do a public
bun run where if you just want to come, you
want to go into the bun run, sit down, let
the bunnies hop up to you, and our volunteers will
tell you all about bunnies. Doesn't matter if you're not
(14:37):
interested in adopting, just just come get to know the species.
It's a really great time, especially with kids in a family.
We also do dog play groups in our outreach center,
so our dogs need time to socialize, so often on
one side you'll see a couple of dogs in there
having fun, running around, playing and jumping. It's also a
great way that we can get to know our dogs
(14:59):
and underst stand how they might be in a home.
Will they be better going home with another animal? Are
they better going home with no other pets in the
home as well? But a lot of work happens that
in that space. Then you get to the animals. You know,
often you hit our cats first. And we have a
large condo area and I didn't.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Know what to call it, because that's exactly what it is.
I called it has different you know, ladders in places
where they can they can play, and I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, we have a couple of ways that we care
for our animals at Animal Friends. We have the the
condo rooms, which are somewhat traditional. We don't have the cages.
You know, there are glass glass fronts so people aren't
kind of sticking their fingers all the time in each
of the cats. But it's a safe space for them,
(15:50):
but they can be seen. They are smaller enclosures with
portals so they can we can expand the portals and
depending on the size of the cat or maybe they're
there's two bonded cats that need to be together, or
a litter of kittens. We also have socialization rooms for
the cats to get out of their spaces, to stretch,
to play, to socialize, and then we have two free
(16:14):
roam rooms, and our free room rooms are for cats
that we know get along and may need some extra space,
and up to ten cats can be in each one
of those rooms, and that's what you're talking about. We
have the ladders and the cubbies and all kinds of
spaces and often you know, we've been getting a number
(16:35):
of hoarding case cats coming in. Yeah, we've seen that
since the pandemic. We had a few before, but it's
really been a challenge for a lot of the shelters,
but definitely for Animal Friends where we're getting twenty thirty
sixty cats at a time that have been in a
house and some of the cats have been socialized, some
of the cats not so much. So those free room
(16:56):
rooms are great opportunities for the cats to be together
because as they were comfortable that way, and to help
have the more social cats help the less social cats
get to the point where they're ready for adoption, and
then they're being seen people can come. They're used to
seeing people pass by, but those are really important spaces
as well. We also have a couple other little unique spaces.
(17:18):
We have a new kitten room that we just open,
so definitely from about May until October, we're full of kittens.
So we have kittens in that space where people can
go in and meet and greet with some of the kittens.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Is there a time of the year where your senses
of cats and kittens kind of explode? Is it? What
time of year is that?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, it's usually it's been usually spring through summer. We
call it kitten season, and kitten season has expanded, especially
now this year it's a little cooler, but last year
we had a really mild winter, and when we have
mild winter, we end up with a longer kitten season. Yeah,
so usually we see kittens starting sometime April and then
(18:01):
running sometimes through November. It really depends on how the
weather was. It goes back to Spain Nooter and we
can talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That sure all right now the dogs.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yeah, and then well we put the cats. You know,
when we built this building, we said at the time
back in two thousand and two thousand and five, we
most people were coming to look at dogs, and the
cats were not as popular, but we had a lot
more cats that needed to find homes. So we described
it as we're going to put the milk in the
back of the supermarket, so we put the dogs in
(18:35):
the back. So you have to walk by the cats
and sometimes you go, you know what, maybe a cat
would be better for us, Right, yeahs.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Sense and so all right, so let's get to the dogs. Yes,
you have the you know, the cattle beyond the cats.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, we have. When you walk down, we kind of
get you primed for the for the dog adoption floor
is we have some multidg rooms, so they are little
rooms you and look into them with the glass and
sometimes those are dogs that you know, would just do
better in a more quiet space. Sometimes there's two dogs
in there that they bond they're bonded so they're better together,
and sometimes it's puppies. So you can kind of look
(19:15):
at the dogs going down, and then our adoption you
kind of hang a little right and go into our
adoption floor where we house about twenty five dogs there.
Now I will say that right now we still have
our adoption floor closed to the public. That was something
that came out of COVID. We were it wasn't just us,
it was many of the shelters found that during COVID,
(19:35):
when we didn't have people in the shelter, all of
a sudden, the animals on the adoption floor and they
were just calmer and we had less behavioral challenges within
the shelter. And we were finding it was because people
weren't on the adoption floor going cage to cage and
getting the dogs excited, right, and so they could just
be calmer.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So what do you how do you do that? Do
you have pictures of dogs and then you say, oh, okay,
there's that German shepherd, we'd like to see that when
you bring it into a little place where you can
socialize with the dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, exactly. We have videos up of them, so our
volunteers and our staff will take videos outside so you
can really get to know the personality of it. And
if there is a particular dog that you want to see,
we will certainly. I mean, obviously the dog comes out,
we take it into our meat and greet room, and
you get to spend time with it with the animal.
But we're finding that one or two dogs that would
(20:30):
get it we're excitable with people on the adoption floor,
would then teach the other dogs to get excited, and
it made everybody, made it harder for everybody to get
a dog.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Well, the adoptions of the bunnies and the cats and
the kittens and the dogs and the puppies is just
a portion of what Animal Friends does tell us about
some of your wellness kind of programs and things that
you do.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, that's kind of the other side of it. I
like to think of Animal Friends as kind of kind
of too pronged. You know. We have the pillar of
rescue and rehabilitate of the animals, the shelter work where
the animals are coming in, but prior to that, what
we really are working on is trying to keep those
animals in their homes. If we can keep them where
(21:11):
they belong, in their homes safely, then hopefully they don't
have to cycle into the shelter, because shelters are hard.
You know, I'm really proud of Animal Friends. It's a
beautiful facility. We have amazing staff. We have enrichment coordinator,
we have dog walkers. We have so much for them,
but it's hard. You know, whether it's a cat, a
dog or a bunny. They're best in a home, so
(21:33):
when they come in, we do the best we can.
But if we can keep them where they where they
are best loved and best care for, we want to
do that. Sometimes we find that animals are coming into
shelters because of you know, they're moving, they've had a
family situation that has changed, they have some behavioral challenges,
some medical challenges, but often it's just financial and they're
(21:55):
struggling with paying for food, they're struggling with the behavior challenge,
they're struggling with vet care. So what we're trying to
do is if that's the reason they don't need to
be in a shelter, we can help you with that.
If you love your pet and the only reason you
can't keep that pet is because you don't have enough money,
that's not right. You know, we need to keep that
(22:17):
animal with you because we know how much animals improve
our lives. And if you're going through a challenge in
your life, you've lost a job, you've lost a spouse,
you know, to lose a pet, I mean that's devastating.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
So you have different programs like that, like the food bank.
Yes you have a food bank, just for pets.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
We do. We have our chow Wagon Food Bank. We
rely on donations from the community to stock our shelves.
We have a relationship with about thirty five people people
food pantries because we figure if people are hungry for
you know, we need people food, they're going to need
pet food as well.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah, it makes perfect sense, yep.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And that was the premise that our food bank was founded.
So our chow Wagon was really founded on the premise of,
you know, people that were feeding their pets their own foods.
They were getting their meals on wheels meal and then
they were splitting it with their pet, and we thought
that's not healthy for either the pet or the person.
So we started our chow Wagon program. Today we're working
(23:17):
with thirty five pantries throughout you know, the multi county
area and last year we donated over two hundred and
five thousand pounds of food out into the community. So
the need is there, we know it is. The need
is there for people. We know it's there for their
pets as well.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What about your SPAE and Neoter program.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, we to our campus. I talked about the thirteen
and a half acre campus we've expanded in twenty fourteen,
we expanded. We're now a seventy five acre campus. We
grew quite a bit and we added another building in
twenty seventeen and that's our Animal wellness center. So we've
always had a Spain neuter program, at least it started
(23:54):
when I was there back in the nineties and it's
just grown. We know that over popular has been a
big problem in the region and across the country, so
one of our focuses has been to end that overpopulation challenge.
So we've done boy over one hundred thousand spas and
neoters since I've been there. High quality, low cost shelter
(24:19):
for the shelter animals as well as for the public.
So the other thing is, if you're a City of
Pittsburgh resident, the city has a wonderfully compassionate program. You
get free spay neoter up to five animals each year
if you're a City of Pittsburgh residence. So it's a
really great thing. Pittsburgh is a really great city for
the animals, so please take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
What other VET services do you provide?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
We do vaccines, we do wellness appointments, we do basic
GP appointments, the general care and routine of the animals,
but we also do some surgeries as well. Sometimes people
go and find that their animal needs something a little
bit more expensive, they go to their vet, they can't
afford it, and then sometimes they get to the point
(25:03):
where they have a decision to make. They can't afford
that three, four or five thousand dollars surgery, and they
have to either decide am I going to find the
money or am I going to have to just say
goodbye to this animal whether it goes to a shelter,
or they have to make the hard choice to euthanize.
So we do have a program, a Save my Pet program,
where people can come and we'll take a look at
the situation. Either we'll do the surgery or we'll underwrite
(25:26):
the cost at a vet clinic to have that done.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So, if somebody needs the either the chuck wagging services
or the vet services, what's the best way to contact you, Yeah,
just give us a.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Call or go to our website. We're happy to help.
And that's the other thing we're working on is we
know usually it's not just one problem. If you need food,
you probably need affordable vet care as well. If you
need affordable veat care. You may have some behavioral questions
as well. So we're putting together kind of a hub
of services. So we want you to give us a call.
You can call our clinic, you can go on our website,
(25:59):
and we'll go get you hooked up with all of
those services. So it's not just one and done. We
want to stay and keep that relationship with you.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Tell me about your staff, your organization.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, we have an incredible staff. We have about one
hundred and twenty staff members at Animal Friends. You know,
obviously we have the administrative staff that kind of keep
things running, but I can't say enough for the staff
that work at the clinic that are out in the
community doing the work, and then the ones that are
helping our animals. We have obviously high level veterinarians that
(26:33):
are working to make sure the animals are healthy. But
the other side of it is, you know, the physical
health is really important, but that emotional health is just
as important. And we have some really highly credentialed behavior
staff on our on our team that you know, look
at these animals as individuals and really take a look
(26:56):
at Okay, where did they come from, what are they
dealing with, and how can we help them get back
on track, spend many, many hours working with these animals
to identify what the issue is, what that trigger might be,
and then get them back to where they need to go.
So it's not just they come in, they get a shot,
they get in a cage, and back out the door.
(27:16):
They're with us, We're understanding who they are, where they
came from, making sure that we make a good match
when they go back out into the community.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
I know you really rely on your volunteers. Yeah, so
if somebody tell us a little bit about the volunteers,
what they do, and if somebody is interested in helping out,
what can they how can how can they participate?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Our volunteers do absolutely everything. I mean, there isn't a
project that Animal Friends that volunteers cannot get involved and
if they want to. I mean sometimes people say, oh,
volunteers aren't allowed behind that door. That's not the way
it is at Animal Friends. We're wide open, fully transparent.
If you want to do laundry at Animal Friends, you
can do laundry. If you want to help up in
surgery with getting the instruments cleaned, you can do that.
(27:58):
If you want to walk the dogs, you can sart
do that. It's all about training. So if you have
an interest, we have an orientation program that you can
go through and then special training depending on what you
want to do. But you know, it sounds crazy, but
we have about sixteen hundred active volunteers. Some of them
do one thing, you know, throughout the year, and some
(28:19):
are there honestly more than I am. I know of
a couple volunteers and I'm like, do you ever go home?
And they're just the backbone of the organization for sure.
The other big piece of volunteering is fostering. So a
lot of people say, oh my gosh, I couldn't go
into the shelter, that's too hard for me, But you
(28:39):
can foster if you have an extra room. We rely
on fosters to get our animals out of the shelter environment,
and we do foster in a lot of different ways.
Maybe it's just that little neonate kitten that really needs
to get out of the shelter where it's not as
healthy for them to be. We have bottle feeders for those.
But then at the other end, we're really proud of
our hospital program. You know, not every animal is ready
(29:03):
to go still has some quality of life. But it
would be a really hard placement to put a sixteen, seventeen,
eighteen year old cat into a home, or a cat
that may have a chronic issue but still has a
really good quality of life. So our foster volunteers will
take them into their homes and they get to they
get to spend their final days, you know, on a sweet,
nice soft bed and patch of sunshine with a loving family.
(29:27):
And that's the way it should be.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
As CEO, I can imagine the logistics of all that
is under your preview, So I have to imagine that
fundraising has to be paramount. You have to fundraise. What
are some of your major fundraisers and when are they
coming up this year?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, our biggest fundraiser is black Tie and Tails, and
it's not all black tie. You can wear whatever you want.
But that's the September September twenty seventh and twenty twenty
five and it's a really fun event. We transform the
campus so you are there, you get to to not
only party and have a great time and be entertained
with great music and dancing, but you get to learn
(30:06):
a little bit about animal friends, or I'll say a
lot about animal friends. Our staffer. They're giving tours. You
get behind the scene tours, you get to follow the
path of an animal, the way they came to us.
So it's a great educational event, but have a little
fun as well. And that's a significant event for us,
so I encourage anybody to come join us for that event.
(30:26):
We have a couple other events coming up. We have
an event in February and February second which Chris Winter,
who you may know has his a board number of
Animal Friends, has been doing for twenty years. It's a
bowling event called Alley Up and it's at Legacy Lanes.
A lot of fun and brings in some nice funds
for Animal Friends. And then a couple others. We do
(30:46):
bowel bingo, which is kind of a twist on your
traditional bingo, which is a lot of fun in March,
and then we have a golf outing in June.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And so that's all the fundraisers. But you really rely
on the donations of the community, don't you.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, I mean those are the fundraisers. Those are
I call those the fun with an fun because those
are a lot of fun. You get to meet people, people,
get to get to get to know a little bit
more about Animal Friends and what we do. But you know,
every day we're out there making friends, you know, making
sure people and corporations and organizations understand what we're doing
and why it's so meaningful to our community and their
(31:24):
employees and and you know, everything we do in the
community is tied to we can be a little bit
more compassionate, we can be a little bit more humane.
It's it's a tough world out there. We're all struggling
a little bit, and the animals bring us a lot
of a lot of compassion, a lot of care to
our lives. So you know, we're looking for that, but
we look for corporate sponsorships, We are looking for grants
(31:48):
from foundations, but those individuals are really what we what
we look to to funder our operations. It's also important
to know that bequests are really important. And I know
it sounds a little odd, but you know, animals bring
so much to our lives. It's really important to think
about them when at the end as well. And we
(32:09):
have a great program that's kind of twofold. Obviously, you know,
we would ask that you'd consider Animal Friends, you know,
in your will and in your state plans. But we
have another program called the Life Saver Society, and that's
for people that may not have the family around and
they have some pets and they're concerned that, boy, if
(32:29):
something were to happen to me, what's going to happen
to my pets? Where are they going to go? And
the last thing they want to have happen is their
pets end up in a shelter or scared or in
an environment where they're not sure what's going to happen.
And some people don't get pets when they're older because
of that reason. Our Life Saver Society is to make
sure people understand that if something were to happen, we
(32:50):
would take in their pets. There's a donation that goes
along with it that we ask for, and then your
pet comes into Animal Friends and we make sure through
our policies and ours that those animals either go into
foster care or go into another home that would be
a good match for that pet.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Or right if somebody wants to make a donation, or
they would like to be a volunteer, or if they
would just like to see the facility, I'll what's your website.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
It's thinking outside the cage dot org.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That is thinking outside thecage dot org. This is Animal
Friends has been, you know, part of Pittsburgh for generations
and you've done so much for the community on behalf
of Pittsburgh and the community and everybody that you have
helped and all the animals. Thank you for everything that
you guys do.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
We thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Kathleen Beaver, CEO of Animal Friends and definitely a CEO
you should know. Kathleen, Thank you, thank you. This has
been the CEOs you Should Know podcast showcasing businesses that
are driving our regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to
the communities we serve. Johnny Heartwell, thank you so much
for listening.
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