October 10, 2025 • 32 mins
In this special episode, we sit down with Krisie Sullens and Jeremy Parks, the dedicated leaders and driving forces behind Save-An-Angel, a 501(c)(3) animal welfare organization committed to lifesaving work.
We dive deep into the powerful philosophy that guides their mission. They share how their focus on Pets—ending overpopulation and providing rescue and resources—is inextricably linked to empowering the People Finally, they discuss the larger Purpose of their work: creating a meaningful, positive change that uplifts entire communities through responsibility and connection.
Listen in to learn how Save-An-Angel is changing the lives of thousands of animals across Central Texas and discover how you can find your own purpose by helping those who cannot speak for themselves.
#AnimalWelfare #AnimalRescue #Nonprofit #CommunityImpact #EndPetOverpopulation
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
today I am speaking with Kristieand Jeremy from Sav-an-Angel
before we get started, if I could geteach of you to introduce yourselves and
tell me what you do for Sav-an-Angel.
Kristie, I'll let you go first.
(00:24):
Hello, I'm Kristie Sullens.
I am the co-founder ofSav-an-Angel, and for.
10 years or so or more.
I did Sav-an-Angel full time and thenwhen I had my second child and moved
from New Orleans Sav-an-Angel, mergedwith another organization that was
(00:46):
run by Jeremy Parks, who was also ourvery first volunteer at Sav-an-Angel
when he was 12 or 13, I think.
13, 13.
13 years old.
Yeah.
And then he went off to collegeand did everything and then he came
back and now he is our director.
We merged our organizations and thenhe took over as director and he's
been in that position ever since.
(01:07):
Go ahead Jeremy.
Yeah, absolutely.
So my name is Jeremy Parks andKristie said, I'm the executive
Director of Sav-an-Angel.
We're a 5 0 1 C3 organization based outof Bastrop, Texas now, and I've been
with the organization since I was 13,about 15 years ago, and I transitioned
into a staff member on the leadershipteam in 2018, and then I transitioned
(01:29):
into the executive director role in 2019.
That's pretty cool.
And I love to hear that you startedwhen you were that young because I'm
noticing that a new trend is that it'svery difficult to get young people
involved with animal rescue now.
It is.
Absolutely.
(01:49):
I know Sav-an-Angel has aninteresting origin story, so can you
share that origin story, Kristie?
Yes.
So when Angel was five years old, wefound a lump in her abdomen when we
were just petting her belly and wenoticed that she was acting funny.
(02:10):
And so we took her to the doctorand the doctor told us that she
had lymphoma, and that when dogshave lymphoma, that they can't.
Cure them.
They can only treat the symptoms that theycan't give them chemotherapy like a human
because they take an oath to do no harm.
And that the only options we hadwere chemotherapy and radiation.
(02:33):
And then, my husband wasJohnny, , the co-founder said
we can cure humans of lymphoma.
Why can't we cure dogs?
And our vet . Dr.
Garra went down the rabbit hole andshe ended up finding a vet in North
Carolina, but they were doing bonemarrow transplants with machines that
had been donated by the Mayo Clinic.
And then we found out that a hundredpercent of transplants performed on
(02:55):
humans were tested on dogs first.
And so we were like, okay,how much does it cost?
We said it's $16,000.
And back then that was.
It's like just an unrealamount of money for us.
'cause we didn't have any money really.
We were very young and so wewent out, we set out to raise the
money, and along the way we met allkinds of people in the community.
(03:17):
And then we started to see the needand we were just so grateful that
everyone was helping us to save Angeland we just wanted to give back.
And then that kind of led intorescue and everything else.
But ultimately angel was, Ibelieve maybe like the 23rd dog
to get a bone marrow transplant atNorth Carolina State University.
And she was cured of her lymphomaand she lived to be very old lady.
(03:42):
She was about 13 when she passed away.
Old lady warm in her bed.
Now Sav-an-Angels living on throughJeremy and hopefully will live on past us.
And that was ultimately the goal wasthat I would just continue to serve the
community that had given back to us.
What is the group, Jeremy, that youhave, that you merged with sav-an-Angel.
(04:03):
Yeah, so I co-founded Bastrop AnimalRescue, which was a foster based animal
rescue organization here in Texas.
And the stars aligned at theright time for both Kristie and I.
And everything just fell intoplace for us to really be able
to consolidate the resources forboth entities to create and even.
More impactful and powerful entity.
And by consolidating all of that underSav-an-Angel and that the victory
(04:27):
of Sav-an-Angel really sparked themovement that introduced all of us to
the wider animal welfare community.
And that kind of became the foundationof Sav-an-Angel and who we are.
In our early years, weoperated as a rescue.
We pulled animals from shelters,we placed them into foster homes.
Rehabilitated them medicallyif they needed that.
And we found them loving forever homes.
But no matter how many lives we saved,the kennels just filled up again at
(04:49):
the local shelter the very next day.
And so we realized that while rescuewas essential, it was still reactive.
And to create real lastingchange, we had to shift upstream
and address the root causes.
And so today we operate as aproactive, community centered
nonprofit, really focused on preventionand affordable access to care.
Programs that we build hand inhand with the people we serve.
(05:12):
Our mission has evolved a lot overthe years and, we went from saving one
dog angel to building a sustainablesolution that really keeps pets
healthy and families together andmakes our entire community stronger.
I would like to hear more about theproactive measures that you're taking
because I'm noticing the same thing.
It just seems that people.
(05:34):
Who don't necessarily need what wewould consider rescue, try to always
get rescues to take their animals.
And it always seems tooverload the system.
Because people don't wanna say no.
So what are some of these measures thatyou are doing to combat that problem?
Yeah, absolutely.
Really for us it's helpingpets, means helping people too.
(05:55):
That's really at the core of our mission.
And when we talk about solving animalwelfare at its root, we have to
start with access to care and cost.
And that's really the number oneissues that we see that families face.
And the market sector of the veterinaryworld is able to service, greater than
about 50, maybe 60% of the community.
But that other 40, maybe 50% ofpeople truly with the economy, the
(06:17):
way that it is creates a struggle.
And a lot of folks have tochoose between, providing food
on the table for their children.
Or getting access to care andveterinary care for their pet.
And for us, we really wanted to bridgethat gap and access to not just spay and
neuter, which reduces pet overpopulationand ends that cycle of breeding.
But just the most basic ofvaccinations and dewormer.
(06:39):
Heartworm testing and preventativecare and things like that.
And what we see a lot of is verybasic health issues that could be
addressed early on, like an earinfection or a skin condition.
They're left untreated and it becomesa chronic, painful, expensive case
that turns into an emergency sometimes.
And at that point it becomes a lifeor death decision for the pet parent
(07:00):
because they don't have the means to.
Treat the issue the chroniccondition that's developed.
And so for us, we want to be a partof that pet's life, its entire life.
We want to be available as a resource forits annual visits, it's vaccinations, it's
dewormer, it's prevention every month.
And we're able to helpfamilies along the way.
Currently we don't offer emergency care.
(07:22):
But it is something that we're ableto connect with folks on a case by
case basis and really give them theresources that we might not necessarily
have available but connecting them withanother entity or an organization that
has those resources available to preventthem from having to either euthanize the
pet or surrender it to a local shelter.
And what qualifications do you havefor people to use your program?
(07:45):
So we actually, we don't qualify anyoneultimately if a pet parent feels that
they need that resource we're availableto anyone and everyone who might need us.
And so we currently do about 4,000spay neuter surgeries a year.
And we do about 9,000 wellnessappointments a year out of our clinic.
We have one clinic location here inBastrop, Texas, and then we run a mobile
program which brings access to care andfree vaccines and veterinary care out
(08:09):
into the communities who need it most.
And so we really do try to target thecommunities that we know whether it's
the highest intake stray numbers throughdata from the local animal shelter.
Or it's just case by case that we justare aware of situations in the community
that might need us more than others.
We try to target those individualsand those communities the most
to really empower them with thetools and resources that they need.
(08:30):
But at the end of the day if youhave a pet and you need, access
to care, we're here for you.
Can you walk us through how youactually got this clinic up and running?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was a monumental effort.
And it was a very much a situation wherewe had a partnership with the local
animal shelter and they had a situationwhere they had a building that was
(08:54):
destroyed and a storm, and they wereable to leverage the insurance money
that they received from that building tocreate and build a brand new building.
Part of that building was a medicalsuite and they knew that they were only
gonna be able to utilize that suiteone or two days a week for shelter
animals, which left the buildingunoccupied five other days of the week.
(09:15):
And so we, with the shelter directorat the time who was very passionate
about, really being progressive andproactive in outreach asked us if we
would be interested in partnering withher to really create that solution.
We had identified it but westruggled to really implement.
And so with those two forcescombined, we were able to just
get this clinic off the ground.
(09:36):
We piloted it in December of2019 and we operated about once
a month, and then in May of 2020.
We open the clinic full time andso today, we now offer operate four
or five days every single week.
That's quite an accomplishment.
How did you go about finding veterinarianswho would work with you with this?
(09:59):
So we started with volunteer veterinariansjust veterinarians that we had
connected with in the local community.
And they volunteered.
Some of them we paid to come inon like a contract or relief basis
just to get the clinic started.
And then by, once we had pilotedthe program, we knew that it worked.
We knew that it was gonna be successful.
We opened a full-time veterinarianposition and we were able to
(10:20):
hire a veterinarian that hasabout 30 years of experience.
And so she's done high volumes spayand neuter for the last 10 years
and we were able to get her on boardand she's now our full-time medical
director and does the vast majorityof the surgeries that we offer.
Can you walk us through all theprograms that you have today?
Sure.
Absolutely.
So we are, the core of what we offeris low cost and free veterinary care.
(10:43):
Addition to that is ourmobile outreach team.
So we go out into the community, weprovide pet parents with anything
that they might need, whether that'seducation, that's tools, that's resource.
We have a pet food pantrycallers, leashes ID tags.
Anything that on a case by case basis,that one individual family may need to
be able to better care for their pet.
(11:04):
We're there and we're available as aresource to, to get them what they need.
And outreach and educationare really one of the.
The core pillars of how we operate.
For us early on doing rescue we foundourselves telling people like, oh, you
need to get your pet spayed and neutered.
You need to get yourpets spayed a neutered.
But then we realized that there was noresource available to connect them with,
(11:24):
to get their pet spayed and neutered.
And so that's what really motivatedus to create our own model and our
own clinic to be able to say, Hey.
You need to get your pet spayedand neutered and we can do it
for you and we can help you.
And costs should never be a factor.
And so we operate with a low cost model.
But really it, it is apay what you can model.
And so we have a base rate ofwhat we charge in an ideal world
(11:47):
to be able to sustain the clinic.
But we know that a lot of pet parentsdon't necessarily have the means
to even afford the low cost fees.
So we are able to work with themon that individual basis and
say, Hey, what can you afford?
And if that's 30 bucks, we'llwork with them, we'll get them
subsidized to a voucher program.
And then we get their pet spayed anyway
so if they feel that they couldn't affordanything, then you would just go ahead and
(12:09):
offer them the free care at that point.
Yep, absolutely.
So about 65 to 70% ofour costs to operate.
Our clinic is covered by thefees that we are able to collect.
The other 30 to 35% is what wesubsidize through fundraising
and donations and grants.
And so we're very active in goingout and not just outreach to
(12:30):
the community who needs us, butreaching out to the community to.
Garner larger amounts of supportto be able to never say no.
That's always our goal is we don'tever want to turn a pet parent
away because we don't have themeans or the resources to do it.
We'll go above and beyond everysingle time to try and really
gather the resources that we needto be able to always say yes.
That's amazing.
(12:52):
With your spay and neuter clinicwhy was that a crucial addition
to the central Texas area?
Spay and neuter.
At the end of the day, we believe isthe solution to pet overpopulation.
And so it really comes back to thatkind of preaching of we really and
truly believe that is one of the mostpowerful ways to end pet over population.
(13:15):
And encouraging and.
Really advocating for petparents to get their pets fixed.
We needed to be able to connectthem with that resource to know that
they were getting their pets fixed.
And the only way that we found to beable to do that in our community, we're
about 45 miles east of Austin, Texas.
They have a large, not on nonprofitthere that provides access in
(13:35):
three low cost spay and neuter.
And it's an amazingorganization in Austin.
But what we found is there wasn'tenough resources available for the rural
communities on the outskirts of town.
And for us, it, it was just the needand identifying the problem, creating
the solution and we had a clinic.
Do you also do the catswith the TNR program?
(13:57):
We do, we partner with a localorganization called Bastrop Cats.
And we do several hundred surgeriesfor them throughout the year.
They work with a network of severalclinics and we're one of those clinics
that provides them at a subsidized rateto get pets to get cats community and
free roaming cats to come in and getthem fixed in ear tip to vaccinated and
return back to their trapped location.
(14:18):
And has that had any kind of effect onthe pet overpopulation in that area?
It has the organization thatwe work with is Bastrop Cats.
They've been around for many years now.
And we were actually just lookingat some of that data the other day
and we're able to see a noticeabledifference in stray animal intake
from the areas that they have reallyworked hard in t and r and every cat.
(14:40):
Possibly trap and we're able tosee the first few years it was hard
to see in kind of a tangible setof data whether or not there was
gonna be a significant difference.
But now, five, six, seven years later,we're really able to start to see those
lines drop on the chart knowing thatwhat we're doing is making a difference.
And it's reducing intakesat the local shelter.
Even though the communitythat we are in is.
(15:02):
Is rapidly growing.
And as the community grows, the needsgrows and so we have to grow with it.
How does the mobile clinic work?
So we have a mobile veterinary trailer,and we set it up in communities that
we identify who need the most thegreatest need, the most assistance.
And we set the trailer up.
It's essentially a veterinaryexam room on wheels.
It's climate control that has computersand everything that we would need to
(15:24):
be able to provide service and care.
And we work with a veterinarian,whether it's one of our staff
veterinarians or a contract veterinarian.
And we set up in aparking lot and we just.
Do a drive-through model.
And our most recent clinic that we didabout a hundred free rabies vaccines
in about three and a half hours.
Oh, that's awesome.
So your pet resource center focuseson keeping pets with their families.
(15:47):
What essential resources orservices does the center provide
to prevent owner surrenders?
Yeah.
Food's the number one we probablygive out about two to three pallets of
dog and cat food every single month.
In addition to that, sometimes it'sfor pets that live primarily outdoors.
It's dog houses, it'sharnesses, it's dog sweaters.
It's anything that a pet parent mightneed that is preventing them from
(16:12):
providing their pet with the level ofcare that they think that they need.
We're really there to try and help themand connect them with those resources.
The, for example, the other day a petparent came in and they thought that their
pet was really struggling with the heatoutside, but their landlord did not allow
them to bring the pet inside the home.
And so she was looking to see if wehad a little baby pool or a puppy pool.
And we had a little plastic poolavailable and we just got a picture back
(16:34):
today of the dog playing in the pool.
And just little things like thatto where if a pet parent feels
like there's something thatthey're missing that could really.
Provide that pet with the next levelof care to make them comfortable and
happy and prevent them from the ownerhaving a concern that they might not
be able to properly care for the pet.
We're there're
yeah, I love hearing littlestories like that too.
Just that something like that canmake such a difference to an animal.
(16:59):
Absolutely.
Do you do any kind of adoptions as well?
We do, we still operate a rescue program.
We've significantly downsized thatprogram to be able to focus on
outreach and education and really whatwe've defined as being the solution
towards what we're working towards.
But inevitably along the way, petsstill cross our paths that need our
(17:21):
assistance and so we will take them in.
We have a small network of fosterhomes and we're able to get those
pets vetted through our own clinicinternally get them rehabilitated
and then placed up for adoption.
So we have a couple of dogs and a cator two in foster care right now that
are looking for their forever homes.
When you're doing your adoptions, doyou do that like mainly word of mouth
(17:42):
or online, or do you actually have afacility that you would take them to?
So we're all foster basedfor our rescue program.
And so all of our marketingusually takes place online.
We utilize the standard pet finderand adopt a pet and things like that.
And that's where a lot ofour applicants come from.
But we also do events locally.
We'll set up at localcoffee shops or breweries.
And we've met several of ourrecent adoption pet parents through
(18:04):
those types of events as well.
Has the mission changed sinceyou've merged the Bastrop
animal Rescue with Sav-an-Angel?
Or is the overall mission the same?
I think the core of always wanting tobe there , to support pets and really be
just a resource for animals and empoweringpet parents has always been there.
(18:27):
I think the shift in what we usedto do was majority was rescue and.
Of the outreach and theeducation and I think we've just
completely flipped that script.
And I would say 75 to 80% of whatwe do now is really honing in
on access to care and educationand outreach and less rescue.
(18:47):
'cause at the end of the day, rescuingone animal changes the life for
that animal, which is incredible.
And we love being a part of those stories.
It's not going to solve thebigger problem that we face.
And so for us as an organization,it was really sitting down and
identifying what are the barriers?
Why are pets ending up in the shelter?
What causes the spike in intake?
(19:08):
And once we identified those, thenit came to creating the solutions.
And that's how we'vegotten where we are today.
Just on that same note.
Our mission will continue to evolve,and so as we, work with pet parents and
manage cases on a case by case basison an individual family or household
level every single day, our staff andour team is what can we do better?
(19:30):
What can we do to address.
A trending issue that we keep seeing.
And so I think who we areas an organization is always
going to be centered on pets.
I think more recently, we, over thelast four or five years have really
honed in on the people aspect too.
And like I said in the beginning,helping pets means helping people too.
(19:52):
Yeah.
So is your motto pets,people, and purpose?
Yes, it's, so that was somethingthat we adopted at the very beginning
of kind of the consolidating of theresources with the two entities.
And we sat down and identified thebarriers and what were the most
common things that we kept seeing.
And at the end of the day, it was apet parents were the ones struggling,
(20:14):
and pet parents were the ones thatneeded the resources, but they did
not have them available to them.
And for us it was really sitting down andlistening to them and gathering feedback.
And actually, we've adopted whatwe call a feedback to action loop.
And so every day we work with ourclients and in the rooms, the exam
rooms, we hear stories and we see things.
And as we mentally take note of whatwe're seeing or what we're hearing.
(20:35):
We actually gather that data.
We notate what client it wasthat told us that feedback or
what resource they might need.
And then once we've strategized and we'veimplemented a solution to what that common
item is, we then reach back out to them.
To give them the feedbackthat says, Hey, thank you.
This is the action that we're takingand . If you still need that assistance,
we wanna provide you with that assistancefirst to pilot that program to see,
(20:59):
what we can do to make it better.
That's great.
That's wonderful that you listento your clients so you know exactly
what they need because there's somany things that can go on that you
don't know what their situation is.
And when you find that out and if you finda solution, then it's helping everybody.
Now, I know a lot of rescuesright now are struggling because
we are going through what they'recalling an animal welfare crisis.
(21:23):
And then on top of that, we have this,financial crisis going on as well.
So is any of that affecting you?
It certainly is.
We've definitely seen on the fundraisingside of things, we donors that
historically have given us, a largerportion of money this year, they're not
able to necessarily allocate that amountof funds to us to be able to donate.
And they still wanna support us.
(21:44):
They still believe in what we do, but.
And financially, they just don'tnecessarily have the means to
make the commitment that theyhave made in previous years.
And so we've had to really get creativeand go back to more of the grassroots
style fundraising where, we're doingplanning yard sales and bake sales
and fundraisers and things that wehad grown out of for a little while.
But we're right back to it and kind.
(22:04):
Feet on the ground, boots on theground, trying to identify ways
that we can fill that gap andcontinue to be able to say yes.
And that really what motivates our staffand our volunteers every single day is,
what do we have to do to be able to sayyes and continue to help every single
pet parent that walks through our door.
So it's definitely been a strugglefinancially just to be able to
(22:25):
sustain, operations and continueto empower every pet parent.
And not to mention, risingcost of everything as well.
Through our clinic we are seeing thata lot of the cost of medical supplies
and even the cost of insurance and justoverall operating expenses and overhead
it is climbing significantly this year.
Now it seems too for thatvery reason, a lot of people
aren't able to keep their pets.
(22:46):
So they are trying tosurrender their pets.
So are you seeing an uptick in theservices too that you're offering
. We have seen an influx in thedemand for our the programming
and the resources that we offer.
And for us, , we are in a community thatBastrop County is immediately adjacent
to Travis County, which is Austin.
(23:06):
And we have Elon Musk here who has Quar.
Twitter and which is now known as Xand the Boring Company and starlink.
And so we've also seen a tremendous amountof just growth overall for our community.
And so for us it's hard to reallyevaluate whether or not it's just
the population growth and, or isit, the, economic uncertainty.
(23:28):
But there's definitely been a significantincrease in the need for pet food and
access to care and, bridging, whatever gapmay come up along the way for pet parents.
And more recently we've been seeinga lot of folks reaching out asking
about assistance for like pet deposits.
And they're moving and they're tryingto find somewhere cheaper to live.
But in the course of moving and thecost of moving, they don't have the four
(23:51):
or $500 to put down as a pet deposit.
And historically, that's notsomething that we have ever done.
But it is something that hasrecently been a trending need
that we are, we're looking into.
I was just gonna ask you that.
So do you have more people coming uplooking for the medical care or more
people looking actually for the food?
That's actually a veryinteresting question.
There's kind of two sides to thatwhere they either come to us looking
(24:15):
for food and they're not necessarilyaware that we offer medical care,
and so we're able to connect.
Them through that entire routeof programming that we offer.
Or they're coming to us for medical careand in the course of conversation in the
exam room, we find out that they mightbe struggling or they're unable to afford
groceries for themselves this month.
So then we loop them into the factthat we do offer pet food assistance.
(24:37):
Many of our clients are mutualclients of both programs.
Looking ahead, what is the next majorgoal or initiative for Sav-an-Angel?
And are there any new programsor services in the works?
Right now we're really just, honing inon perfecting the model that we have
created here in, in Bastrop County andin the community that we're serving.
(24:57):
And then vision down the road wouldbe ultimately to really be able
to replicate this programming inanother community, another rural
community that needs our assistance.
Right now it's, economicuncertainty and fundraising.
We're really just focused onsustainability for our current
programmings and meeting the needsof the community that we're in.
But here within the next few yearsit's on our map of things to look
(25:19):
at is expanding and sharing theknowledge and the resources that we've
gathered throughout the course ofwhat we've done as an organization.
And moving and introducing ourselvesinto the next community that needs us.
So I do have another question to ask you,Jeremy, since you were so young when you
started volunteering, what do you thinkcan be done to encourage more new, younger
(25:41):
people to start volunteering as well?
Yeah I get this question a lot for me,it was definitely something that I've
always been driven to, to solve problems.
And I was passionate about animals.
I've loved animals my entire life,and just realizing the sheer need of
help that was needed within the animalwelfare community is what motivated
(26:03):
me along the way to just continue totake on more and to do more and to
step up and to take a bigger role.
And , we've started doing someprogramming here locally just to get
feedback from the younger generationsto see what is it that would motivate
them to really step up and into a role.
And , a lot of the feedbackthat we get is they're unable
to identify what help is needed.
(26:25):
They know that.
Animals are suffering.
They know that animals need help.
They know that, there's an issue.
They struggle to identify wherethey fit into that puzzle.
And so a lot of our messagingfor volunteering here locally,
especially trying to target someof the younger generation has
been very specific marketing to,we need you to help with this.
(26:46):
This is what you can do.
And just recently, we had in thelast week we've had 11 volunteer
applications come in all of whichare within that younger generation.
Helping them identify where theyfit into that puzzle seems to be
very successful for us currently.
That's interesting.
I never thought about it like that.
For our listeners who are inspiredby your work and what you do, what is
(27:08):
the best way that they can help you?
Donations.
We always need support financiallyto be able to do what we do.
And we have a fund called the Spay itForward Fund, and that is for folks
that financially are able to providethe care that they need for their pets
without having any form of subsidy.
They're able to make a donationthat is specifically into a fund
(27:30):
that our team is able to utilizeon a daily basis at the clinic.
If a pet parent is unableto afford a rabies vaccine.
or they need a heartworm testfor their pet, but they don't
have the means to do it today.
Our team with that fund has theability to say, Hey, we're gonna
take care of that for you today.
And so the spay it Forwardfund for us is truly essential.
We could not operate without it.
And the donations that come into thatfund to, to make our work possible.
(27:53):
And then we always need volunteers.
And volunteers don't have to be local.
They can live anywherein the United States.
They can help with socialmedia and online newsletters.
There's all sorts of digitalvolunteer opportunities that
we can loop folks into as well.
That's awesome.
Before we end the call, do you haveany final message for our listeners?
Absolutely.
I think for us it's at the end of theday, animal welfare is people welfare.
(28:17):
And when families aresupported, pets are supported.
When pets are healthy,families are healthier.
It's not just about theanimals, it's about compassion.
Equity community resilience andthe future of animal welfare for
us is proactive, progressive.
And I really encourage folks withinthe animal welfare community to
root what they are doing in theunderstanding that pets and people
(28:38):
thrive together and incorporate peopleinto the programming and what they do.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I really appreciatedspeaking with you today.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for the opportunity.
We love to talk about pets and people.
Yep.
It's the best thing to talk about
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
(28:59):
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
Please consider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Paws in
(29:20):
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(29:42):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(30:10):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(30:38):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(31:03):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every caller tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(31:23):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(31:44):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(32:08):
Every caller tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
today I am speaking with Kristieand Jeremy from Sav-an-Angel
before we get started, if I could geteach of you to introduce yourselves and
tell me what you do for Sav-an-Angel.
Kristie, I'll let you go first.
(00:24):
Hello, I'm Kristie Sullens.
I am the co-founder ofSav-an-Angel, and for.
10 years or so or more.
I did Sav-an-Angel full time and thenwhen I had my second child and moved
from New Orleans Sav-an-Angel, mergedwith another organization that was
(00:46):
run by Jeremy Parks, who was also ourvery first volunteer at Sav-an-Angel
when he was 12 or 13, I think.
13, 13.
13 years old.
Yeah.
And then he went off to collegeand did everything and then he came
back and now he is our director.
We merged our organizations and thenhe took over as director and he's
been in that position ever since.
(01:07):
Go ahead Jeremy.
Yeah, absolutely.
So my name is Jeremy Parks andKristie said, I'm the executive
Director of Sav-an-Angel.
We're a 5 0 1 C3 organization based outof Bastrop, Texas now, and I've been
with the organization since I was 13,about 15 years ago, and I transitioned
into a staff member on the leadershipteam in 2018, and then I transitioned
(01:29):
into the executive director role in 2019.
That's pretty cool.
And I love to hear that you startedwhen you were that young because I'm
noticing that a new trend is that it'svery difficult to get young people
involved with animal rescue now.
It is.
Absolutely.
(01:49):
I know Sav-an-Angel has aninteresting origin story, so can you
share that origin story, Kristie?
Yes.
So when Angel was five years old, wefound a lump in her abdomen when we
were just petting her belly and wenoticed that she was acting funny.
(02:10):
And so we took her to the doctorand the doctor told us that she
had lymphoma, and that when dogshave lymphoma, that they can't.
Cure them.
They can only treat the symptoms that theycan't give them chemotherapy like a human
because they take an oath to do no harm.
And that the only options we hadwere chemotherapy and radiation.
(02:33):
And then, my husband wasJohnny, , the co-founder said
we can cure humans of lymphoma.
Why can't we cure dogs?
And our vet . Dr.
Garra went down the rabbit hole andshe ended up finding a vet in North
Carolina, but they were doing bonemarrow transplants with machines that
had been donated by the Mayo Clinic.
And then we found out that a hundredpercent of transplants performed on
(02:55):
humans were tested on dogs first.
And so we were like, okay,how much does it cost?
We said it's $16,000.
And back then that was.
It's like just an unrealamount of money for us.
'cause we didn't have any money really.
We were very young and so wewent out, we set out to raise the
money, and along the way we met allkinds of people in the community.
(03:17):
And then we started to see the needand we were just so grateful that
everyone was helping us to save Angeland we just wanted to give back.
And then that kind of led intorescue and everything else.
But ultimately angel was, Ibelieve maybe like the 23rd dog
to get a bone marrow transplant atNorth Carolina State University.
And she was cured of her lymphomaand she lived to be very old lady.
(03:42):
She was about 13 when she passed away.
Old lady warm in her bed.
Now Sav-an-Angels living on throughJeremy and hopefully will live on past us.
And that was ultimately the goal wasthat I would just continue to serve the
community that had given back to us.
What is the group, Jeremy, that youhave, that you merged with sav-an-Angel.
(04:03):
Yeah, so I co-founded Bastrop AnimalRescue, which was a foster based animal
rescue organization here in Texas.
And the stars aligned at theright time for both Kristie and I.
And everything just fell intoplace for us to really be able
to consolidate the resources forboth entities to create and even.
More impactful and powerful entity.
And by consolidating all of that underSav-an-Angel and that the victory
(04:27):
of Sav-an-Angel really sparked themovement that introduced all of us to
the wider animal welfare community.
And that kind of became the foundationof Sav-an-Angel and who we are.
In our early years, weoperated as a rescue.
We pulled animals from shelters,we placed them into foster homes.
Rehabilitated them medicallyif they needed that.
And we found them loving forever homes.
But no matter how many lives we saved,the kennels just filled up again at
(04:49):
the local shelter the very next day.
And so we realized that while rescuewas essential, it was still reactive.
And to create real lastingchange, we had to shift upstream
and address the root causes.
And so today we operate as aproactive, community centered
nonprofit, really focused on preventionand affordable access to care.
Programs that we build hand inhand with the people we serve.
(05:12):
Our mission has evolved a lot overthe years and, we went from saving one
dog angel to building a sustainablesolution that really keeps pets
healthy and families together andmakes our entire community stronger.
I would like to hear more about theproactive measures that you're taking
because I'm noticing the same thing.
It just seems that people.
(05:34):
Who don't necessarily need what wewould consider rescue, try to always
get rescues to take their animals.
And it always seems tooverload the system.
Because people don't wanna say no.
So what are some of these measures thatyou are doing to combat that problem?
Yeah, absolutely.
Really for us it's helpingpets, means helping people too.
(05:55):
That's really at the core of our mission.
And when we talk about solving animalwelfare at its root, we have to
start with access to care and cost.
And that's really the number oneissues that we see that families face.
And the market sector of the veterinaryworld is able to service, greater than
about 50, maybe 60% of the community.
But that other 40, maybe 50% ofpeople truly with the economy, the
(06:17):
way that it is creates a struggle.
And a lot of folks have tochoose between, providing food
on the table for their children.
Or getting access to care andveterinary care for their pet.
And for us, we really wanted to bridgethat gap and access to not just spay and
neuter, which reduces pet overpopulationand ends that cycle of breeding.
But just the most basic ofvaccinations and dewormer.
(06:39):
Heartworm testing and preventativecare and things like that.
And what we see a lot of is verybasic health issues that could be
addressed early on, like an earinfection or a skin condition.
They're left untreated and it becomesa chronic, painful, expensive case
that turns into an emergency sometimes.
And at that point it becomes a lifeor death decision for the pet parent
(07:00):
because they don't have the means to.
Treat the issue the chroniccondition that's developed.
And so for us, we want to be a partof that pet's life, its entire life.
We want to be available as a resource forits annual visits, it's vaccinations, it's
dewormer, it's prevention every month.
And we're able to helpfamilies along the way.
Currently we don't offer emergency care.
(07:22):
But it is something that we're ableto connect with folks on a case by
case basis and really give them theresources that we might not necessarily
have available but connecting them withanother entity or an organization that
has those resources available to preventthem from having to either euthanize the
pet or surrender it to a local shelter.
And what qualifications do you havefor people to use your program?
(07:45):
So we actually, we don't qualify anyoneultimately if a pet parent feels that
they need that resource we're availableto anyone and everyone who might need us.
And so we currently do about 4,000spay neuter surgeries a year.
And we do about 9,000 wellnessappointments a year out of our clinic.
We have one clinic location here inBastrop, Texas, and then we run a mobile
program which brings access to care andfree vaccines and veterinary care out
(08:09):
into the communities who need it most.
And so we really do try to target thecommunities that we know whether it's
the highest intake stray numbers throughdata from the local animal shelter.
Or it's just case by case that we justare aware of situations in the community
that might need us more than others.
We try to target those individualsand those communities the most
to really empower them with thetools and resources that they need.
(08:30):
But at the end of the day if youhave a pet and you need, access
to care, we're here for you.
Can you walk us through how youactually got this clinic up and running?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was a monumental effort.
And it was a very much a situation wherewe had a partnership with the local
animal shelter and they had a situationwhere they had a building that was
(08:54):
destroyed and a storm, and they wereable to leverage the insurance money
that they received from that building tocreate and build a brand new building.
Part of that building was a medicalsuite and they knew that they were only
gonna be able to utilize that suiteone or two days a week for shelter
animals, which left the buildingunoccupied five other days of the week.
(09:15):
And so we, with the shelter directorat the time who was very passionate
about, really being progressive andproactive in outreach asked us if we
would be interested in partnering withher to really create that solution.
We had identified it but westruggled to really implement.
And so with those two forcescombined, we were able to just
get this clinic off the ground.
(09:36):
We piloted it in December of2019 and we operated about once
a month, and then in May of 2020.
We open the clinic full time andso today, we now offer operate four
or five days every single week.
That's quite an accomplishment.
How did you go about finding veterinarianswho would work with you with this?
(09:59):
So we started with volunteer veterinariansjust veterinarians that we had
connected with in the local community.
And they volunteered.
Some of them we paid to come inon like a contract or relief basis
just to get the clinic started.
And then by, once we had pilotedthe program, we knew that it worked.
We knew that it was gonna be successful.
We opened a full-time veterinarianposition and we were able to
(10:20):
hire a veterinarian that hasabout 30 years of experience.
And so she's done high volumes spayand neuter for the last 10 years
and we were able to get her on boardand she's now our full-time medical
director and does the vast majorityof the surgeries that we offer.
Can you walk us through all theprograms that you have today?
Sure.
Absolutely.
So we are, the core of what we offeris low cost and free veterinary care.
(10:43):
Addition to that is ourmobile outreach team.
So we go out into the community, weprovide pet parents with anything
that they might need, whether that'seducation, that's tools, that's resource.
We have a pet food pantrycallers, leashes ID tags.
Anything that on a case by case basis,that one individual family may need to
be able to better care for their pet.
(11:04):
We're there and we're available as aresource to, to get them what they need.
And outreach and educationare really one of the.
The core pillars of how we operate.
For us early on doing rescue we foundourselves telling people like, oh, you
need to get your pet spayed and neutered.
You need to get yourpets spayed a neutered.
But then we realized that there was noresource available to connect them with,
(11:24):
to get their pet spayed and neutered.
And so that's what really motivatedus to create our own model and our
own clinic to be able to say, Hey.
You need to get your pet spayedand neutered and we can do it
for you and we can help you.
And costs should never be a factor.
And so we operate with a low cost model.
But really it, it is apay what you can model.
And so we have a base rate ofwhat we charge in an ideal world
(11:47):
to be able to sustain the clinic.
But we know that a lot of pet parentsdon't necessarily have the means
to even afford the low cost fees.
So we are able to work with themon that individual basis and
say, Hey, what can you afford?
And if that's 30 bucks, we'llwork with them, we'll get them
subsidized to a voucher program.
And then we get their pet spayed anyway
so if they feel that they couldn't affordanything, then you would just go ahead and
(12:09):
offer them the free care at that point.
Yep, absolutely.
So about 65 to 70% ofour costs to operate.
Our clinic is covered by thefees that we are able to collect.
The other 30 to 35% is what wesubsidize through fundraising
and donations and grants.
And so we're very active in goingout and not just outreach to
(12:30):
the community who needs us, butreaching out to the community to.
Garner larger amounts of supportto be able to never say no.
That's always our goal is we don'tever want to turn a pet parent
away because we don't have themeans or the resources to do it.
We'll go above and beyond everysingle time to try and really
gather the resources that we needto be able to always say yes.
That's amazing.
(12:52):
With your spay and neuter clinicwhy was that a crucial addition
to the central Texas area?
Spay and neuter.
At the end of the day, we believe isthe solution to pet overpopulation.
And so it really comes back to thatkind of preaching of we really and
truly believe that is one of the mostpowerful ways to end pet over population.
(13:15):
And encouraging and.
Really advocating for petparents to get their pets fixed.
We needed to be able to connectthem with that resource to know that
they were getting their pets fixed.
And the only way that we found to beable to do that in our community, we're
about 45 miles east of Austin, Texas.
They have a large, not on nonprofitthere that provides access in
(13:35):
three low cost spay and neuter.
And it's an amazingorganization in Austin.
But what we found is there wasn'tenough resources available for the rural
communities on the outskirts of town.
And for us, it, it was just the needand identifying the problem, creating
the solution and we had a clinic.
Do you also do the catswith the TNR program?
(13:57):
We do, we partner with a localorganization called Bastrop Cats.
And we do several hundred surgeriesfor them throughout the year.
They work with a network of severalclinics and we're one of those clinics
that provides them at a subsidized rateto get pets to get cats community and
free roaming cats to come in and getthem fixed in ear tip to vaccinated and
return back to their trapped location.
(14:18):
And has that had any kind of effect onthe pet overpopulation in that area?
It has the organization thatwe work with is Bastrop Cats.
They've been around for many years now.
And we were actually just lookingat some of that data the other day
and we're able to see a noticeabledifference in stray animal intake
from the areas that they have reallyworked hard in t and r and every cat.
(14:40):
Possibly trap and we're able tosee the first few years it was hard
to see in kind of a tangible setof data whether or not there was
gonna be a significant difference.
But now, five, six, seven years later,we're really able to start to see those
lines drop on the chart knowing thatwhat we're doing is making a difference.
And it's reducing intakesat the local shelter.
Even though the communitythat we are in is.
(15:02):
Is rapidly growing.
And as the community grows, the needsgrows and so we have to grow with it.
How does the mobile clinic work?
So we have a mobile veterinary trailer,and we set it up in communities that
we identify who need the most thegreatest need, the most assistance.
And we set the trailer up.
It's essentially a veterinaryexam room on wheels.
It's climate control that has computersand everything that we would need to
(15:24):
be able to provide service and care.
And we work with a veterinarian,whether it's one of our staff
veterinarians or a contract veterinarian.
And we set up in aparking lot and we just.
Do a drive-through model.
And our most recent clinic that we didabout a hundred free rabies vaccines
in about three and a half hours.
Oh, that's awesome.
So your pet resource center focuseson keeping pets with their families.
(15:47):
What essential resources orservices does the center provide
to prevent owner surrenders?
Yeah.
Food's the number one we probablygive out about two to three pallets of
dog and cat food every single month.
In addition to that, sometimes it'sfor pets that live primarily outdoors.
It's dog houses, it'sharnesses, it's dog sweaters.
It's anything that a pet parent mightneed that is preventing them from
(16:12):
providing their pet with the level ofcare that they think that they need.
We're really there to try and help themand connect them with those resources.
The, for example, the other day a petparent came in and they thought that their
pet was really struggling with the heatoutside, but their landlord did not allow
them to bring the pet inside the home.
And so she was looking to see if wehad a little baby pool or a puppy pool.
And we had a little plastic poolavailable and we just got a picture back
(16:34):
today of the dog playing in the pool.
And just little things like thatto where if a pet parent feels
like there's something thatthey're missing that could really.
Provide that pet with the next levelof care to make them comfortable and
happy and prevent them from the ownerhaving a concern that they might not
be able to properly care for the pet.
We're there're
yeah, I love hearing littlestories like that too.
Just that something like that canmake such a difference to an animal.
(16:59):
Absolutely.
Do you do any kind of adoptions as well?
We do, we still operate a rescue program.
We've significantly downsized thatprogram to be able to focus on
outreach and education and really whatwe've defined as being the solution
towards what we're working towards.
But inevitably along the way, petsstill cross our paths that need our
(17:21):
assistance and so we will take them in.
We have a small network of fosterhomes and we're able to get those
pets vetted through our own clinicinternally get them rehabilitated
and then placed up for adoption.
So we have a couple of dogs and a cator two in foster care right now that
are looking for their forever homes.
When you're doing your adoptions, doyou do that like mainly word of mouth
(17:42):
or online, or do you actually have afacility that you would take them to?
So we're all foster basedfor our rescue program.
And so all of our marketingusually takes place online.
We utilize the standard pet finderand adopt a pet and things like that.
And that's where a lot ofour applicants come from.
But we also do events locally.
We'll set up at localcoffee shops or breweries.
And we've met several of ourrecent adoption pet parents through
(18:04):
those types of events as well.
Has the mission changed sinceyou've merged the Bastrop
animal Rescue with Sav-an-Angel?
Or is the overall mission the same?
I think the core of always wanting tobe there , to support pets and really be
just a resource for animals and empoweringpet parents has always been there.
(18:27):
I think the shift in what we usedto do was majority was rescue and.
Of the outreach and theeducation and I think we've just
completely flipped that script.
And I would say 75 to 80% of whatwe do now is really honing in
on access to care and educationand outreach and less rescue.
(18:47):
'cause at the end of the day, rescuingone animal changes the life for
that animal, which is incredible.
And we love being a part of those stories.
It's not going to solve thebigger problem that we face.
And so for us as an organization,it was really sitting down and
identifying what are the barriers?
Why are pets ending up in the shelter?
What causes the spike in intake?
(19:08):
And once we identified those, thenit came to creating the solutions.
And that's how we'vegotten where we are today.
Just on that same note.
Our mission will continue to evolve,and so as we, work with pet parents and
manage cases on a case by case basison an individual family or household
level every single day, our staff andour team is what can we do better?
(19:30):
What can we do to address.
A trending issue that we keep seeing.
And so I think who we areas an organization is always
going to be centered on pets.
I think more recently, we, over thelast four or five years have really
honed in on the people aspect too.
And like I said in the beginning,helping pets means helping people too.
(19:52):
Yeah.
So is your motto pets,people, and purpose?
Yes, it's, so that was somethingthat we adopted at the very beginning
of kind of the consolidating of theresources with the two entities.
And we sat down and identified thebarriers and what were the most
common things that we kept seeing.
And at the end of the day, it was apet parents were the ones struggling,
(20:14):
and pet parents were the ones thatneeded the resources, but they did
not have them available to them.
And for us it was really sitting down andlistening to them and gathering feedback.
And actually, we've adopted whatwe call a feedback to action loop.
And so every day we work with ourclients and in the rooms, the exam
rooms, we hear stories and we see things.
And as we mentally take note of whatwe're seeing or what we're hearing.
(20:35):
We actually gather that data.
We notate what client it wasthat told us that feedback or
what resource they might need.
And then once we've strategized and we'veimplemented a solution to what that common
item is, we then reach back out to them.
To give them the feedbackthat says, Hey, thank you.
This is the action that we're takingand . If you still need that assistance,
we wanna provide you with that assistancefirst to pilot that program to see,
(20:59):
what we can do to make it better.
That's great.
That's wonderful that you listento your clients so you know exactly
what they need because there's somany things that can go on that you
don't know what their situation is.
And when you find that out and if you finda solution, then it's helping everybody.
Now, I know a lot of rescuesright now are struggling because
we are going through what they'recalling an animal welfare crisis.
(21:23):
And then on top of that, we have this,financial crisis going on as well.
So is any of that affecting you?
It certainly is.
We've definitely seen on the fundraisingside of things, we donors that
historically have given us, a largerportion of money this year, they're not
able to necessarily allocate that amountof funds to us to be able to donate.
And they still wanna support us.
(21:44):
They still believe in what we do, but.
And financially, they just don'tnecessarily have the means to
make the commitment that theyhave made in previous years.
And so we've had to really get creativeand go back to more of the grassroots
style fundraising where, we're doingplanning yard sales and bake sales
and fundraisers and things that wehad grown out of for a little while.
But we're right back to it and kind.
(22:04):
Feet on the ground, boots on theground, trying to identify ways
that we can fill that gap andcontinue to be able to say yes.
And that really what motivates our staffand our volunteers every single day is,
what do we have to do to be able to sayyes and continue to help every single
pet parent that walks through our door.
So it's definitely been a strugglefinancially just to be able to
(22:25):
sustain, operations and continueto empower every pet parent.
And not to mention, risingcost of everything as well.
Through our clinic we are seeing thata lot of the cost of medical supplies
and even the cost of insurance and justoverall operating expenses and overhead
it is climbing significantly this year.
Now it seems too for thatvery reason, a lot of people
aren't able to keep their pets.
(22:46):
So they are trying tosurrender their pets.
So are you seeing an uptick in theservices too that you're offering
. We have seen an influx in thedemand for our the programming
and the resources that we offer.
And for us, , we are in a community thatBastrop County is immediately adjacent
to Travis County, which is Austin.
(23:06):
And we have Elon Musk here who has Quar.
Twitter and which is now known as Xand the Boring Company and starlink.
And so we've also seen a tremendous amountof just growth overall for our community.
And so for us it's hard to reallyevaluate whether or not it's just
the population growth and, or isit, the, economic uncertainty.
(23:28):
But there's definitely been a significantincrease in the need for pet food and
access to care and, bridging, whatever gapmay come up along the way for pet parents.
And more recently we've been seeinga lot of folks reaching out asking
about assistance for like pet deposits.
And they're moving and they're tryingto find somewhere cheaper to live.
But in the course of moving and thecost of moving, they don't have the four
(23:51):
or $500 to put down as a pet deposit.
And historically, that's notsomething that we have ever done.
But it is something that hasrecently been a trending need
that we are, we're looking into.
I was just gonna ask you that.
So do you have more people coming uplooking for the medical care or more
people looking actually for the food?
That's actually a veryinteresting question.
There's kind of two sides to thatwhere they either come to us looking
(24:15):
for food and they're not necessarilyaware that we offer medical care,
and so we're able to connect.
Them through that entire routeof programming that we offer.
Or they're coming to us for medical careand in the course of conversation in the
exam room, we find out that they mightbe struggling or they're unable to afford
groceries for themselves this month.
So then we loop them into the factthat we do offer pet food assistance.
(24:37):
Many of our clients are mutualclients of both programs.
Looking ahead, what is the next majorgoal or initiative for Sav-an-Angel?
And are there any new programsor services in the works?
Right now we're really just, honing inon perfecting the model that we have
created here in, in Bastrop County andin the community that we're serving.
(24:57):
And then vision down the road wouldbe ultimately to really be able
to replicate this programming inanother community, another rural
community that needs our assistance.
Right now it's, economicuncertainty and fundraising.
We're really just focused onsustainability for our current
programmings and meeting the needsof the community that we're in.
But here within the next few yearsit's on our map of things to look
(25:19):
at is expanding and sharing theknowledge and the resources that we've
gathered throughout the course ofwhat we've done as an organization.
And moving and introducing ourselvesinto the next community that needs us.
So I do have another question to ask you,Jeremy, since you were so young when you
started volunteering, what do you thinkcan be done to encourage more new, younger
(25:41):
people to start volunteering as well?
Yeah I get this question a lot for me,it was definitely something that I've
always been driven to, to solve problems.
And I was passionate about animals.
I've loved animals my entire life,and just realizing the sheer need of
help that was needed within the animalwelfare community is what motivated
(26:03):
me along the way to just continue totake on more and to do more and to
step up and to take a bigger role.
And , we've started doing someprogramming here locally just to get
feedback from the younger generationsto see what is it that would motivate
them to really step up and into a role.
And , a lot of the feedbackthat we get is they're unable
to identify what help is needed.
(26:25):
They know that.
Animals are suffering.
They know that animals need help.
They know that, there's an issue.
They struggle to identify wherethey fit into that puzzle.
And so a lot of our messagingfor volunteering here locally,
especially trying to target someof the younger generation has
been very specific marketing to,we need you to help with this.
(26:46):
This is what you can do.
And just recently, we had in thelast week we've had 11 volunteer
applications come in all of whichare within that younger generation.
Helping them identify where theyfit into that puzzle seems to be
very successful for us currently.
That's interesting.
I never thought about it like that.
For our listeners who are inspiredby your work and what you do, what is
(27:08):
the best way that they can help you?
Donations.
We always need support financiallyto be able to do what we do.
And we have a fund called the Spay itForward Fund, and that is for folks
that financially are able to providethe care that they need for their pets
without having any form of subsidy.
They're able to make a donationthat is specifically into a fund
(27:30):
that our team is able to utilizeon a daily basis at the clinic.
If a pet parent is unableto afford a rabies vaccine.
or they need a heartworm testfor their pet, but they don't
have the means to do it today.
Our team with that fund has theability to say, Hey, we're gonna
take care of that for you today.
And so the spay it Forwardfund for us is truly essential.
We could not operate without it.
And the donations that come into thatfund to, to make our work possible.
(27:53):
And then we always need volunteers.
And volunteers don't have to be local.
They can live anywherein the United States.
They can help with socialmedia and online newsletters.
There's all sorts of digitalvolunteer opportunities that
we can loop folks into as well.
That's awesome.
Before we end the call, do you haveany final message for our listeners?
Absolutely.
I think for us it's at the end of theday, animal welfare is people welfare.
(28:17):
And when families aresupported, pets are supported.
When pets are healthy,families are healthier.
It's not just about theanimals, it's about compassion.
Equity community resilience andthe future of animal welfare for
us is proactive, progressive.
And I really encourage folks withinthe animal welfare community to
root what they are doing in theunderstanding that pets and people
(28:38):
thrive together and incorporate peopleinto the programming and what they do.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I really appreciatedspeaking with you today.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for the opportunity.
We love to talk about pets and people.
Yep.
It's the best thing to talk about
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
(28:59):
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
Please consider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Paws in
(29:20):
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(29:42):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(30:10):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(30:38):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(31:03):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every caller tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(31:23):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(31:44):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(32:08):
Every caller tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
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