Hi, and welcome to the Animal Welfare Junction. This is your host, Dr. G, and our music is written and produced by Mike Sullivan. The last two days, yesterday and today, I have spent at the Jefferson County Humane Society, and I thought that it would be a great time, a great idea, to talk to some of the members here about where they came from and how they got to where they're at. So, I'm going to have them introduce themselves and what they do at the Humane Society here.

Hi, I'm Rachel Gilman. I'm one of the board members of the Humane Society.

Hi, I'm Di Lorenzi. I'm board operation officer with the Jefferson County Humane Society, and I do volunteer work, walk dogs, foster dogs. Pretty much everything.

Awesome. So one of the things that I want my listeners to understand is like we started the rascal unit 18 years ago, and we've been coming here for 18 years. So this was 1 of the 1st locations that we came to. So, before we talk about, though, what we have done while we're here, how about you tell us a little bit about the history of the humane society?

Okay, um, what year did we start? 50 1950. Oh, 1915. Okay. I'm sorry. It was run by just a group of women that started out just wanting to help the animals. And for the years, we just got more and more involved in working with animals. I came on probably about 25 years ago. And actually we're working out of the old shelter, which wasn't even a shelter. It was a pound. Very, very high euthanasia rate. No medical attention whatsoever. Really was in a bad place. We started to levy. Had to fight to get a new shelter built. And that was, oh, about 2008, 2009. We kind of started working on that. Took quite a few years to get the levee pat. Well not the levee, pass the everybody to get involved with it and it passed with like 68 percent of the county voted for it. So it was a very good thing. And that's pretty much when we started working out here, we started coming out volunteering. It took a long time to get where we are now, which we are. Not actually a low no kill shelter, but our percentage is very, very low. We're a County facility, so we can't be a no kill.

So when the, when the humane society got founded back in 1915, was it, uh, was it a dog pound? Was it an animal control facility or was it just like a humane society?

Actually, it was just a humane society because they did have, you know, Humane officers. I think they only got paid like 5 dollars a case. You know, we were just they were just starting out. Uh, the and the county took care of the dog pound. We had No relationship with them,

and there was no adoption program at all at the old dog pound.

Okay. So they just picked up animal. They were literally like dog catchers. Exactly. They picked up a dog and they euthanized it.

And if the owner didn't show up in 3 days, then the dog was put down.

Yes.

So when, when we started coming here, we started coming here in 2006, which is when the Rascal Unit started. And I know that you guys were having a huge problem with diseases, especially like with cats getting sick. But I remember that Parvo was a big problem.

Oh, Parvo was terrible at the old place and apparently when we opened a new place, but we didn't really have any ways to test it. The dog warden would just look at them and believe that it was.

So probably some animals that did not need to be euthanized were being euthanized because they thought that maybe they had or even just to control the numbers.

Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. So, that's when we really got involved and we've got a contract with the county to come in here, our people and run the shelter. And, you know, we did all the computer stuff and everything and, and, you know, we started the adoptions and we got involved with vets getting vets to come in here and help us with stuff.

And with that contract, we, we basically did medical intake on every animal that came in. So they got updated on their immunizations. If they had a medical issue that it got treated, we did all the medical care in the medical room in this. Um, and so animals that got adopted out were sort of cleared and ready to go. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. So big improvement from just picking up dogs and euthanizing them to trying to find them homes and then actually taking care of them to find them good homes.

Oh, definitely.

Well, they were healthy.

I mean, before we got our vet in here, uh, the euthanasia rate was ridiculous. It was just terribly, terribly ridiculous. It was very, very high. Once we got the contract and it takes two people, a dog warden and a board member to sign off on euthanasia. So I just can't go in and say, oh, well, that dog needs put down. There should be two people to sign for it. Now, as I said, we have a very, very, very low euthanasia rate. It's If an animal has been hit by a car, if it's court order, severely aggressive, or if it has cancer, and it's really not going to make it. Yes. Then we will do that. But no, if we could find a home, and we also work with rescues, if we can find a home for'em, you know, we get them adopted out if we can't, then we try to find fosters for we have a trainer that comes in now and she works with the dogs. We work with the community, and we have um-teen volunteers in here and it's, it's a wonderful thing when you see all these older folks when they come in because they just want to walk a dog, but they can't have one. I mean, it is very good. You know, we're helping the community and that's what we needed. We need to get together with the community to help these animals. And I think we've done a wonderful job.

Well, and it's nice that you have this nice facility, right? Because it's, it's attractive to people. Like, I know when I was growing up, I didn't want to go to the dog pound or the shelter because it was depressing. And I was thinking, I'm going to go in there and all these animals I'm not helping, like, they're going to get killed. So, I think that people come here and they don't have That mentality and they don't have that perspective. So they come here and it's kind of like a happy place to

exactly what it is.

Yeah, because it's a newer building. And then we also had the county doesn't have a mandate to take care of cats, but in 2013, we, we signed a contract that we could take care of the cats as part of the shelter. So that is done. Just the humane society's job as well. So now we have a cat room and, and, and we're able to do the same thing for cats and have an adoption program for them as well.

That is really nice because all those places that we go to, they can only do dog, right? And, and they, and there's nothing that they can do about it. Like their hands are tied. They legally can not take in any cats. So that's kind of nice that people here can, can bring either.

Yeah.

And, and then I want you to talk about the clinic that you guys built because that was a, that was a big thing, right? It was like a, a big risk and it really was kind of a, it was, it was pretty amazing what you have been able to do with that. So you want to talk about the beginnings of that?

When we first got our 1st vet, we worked in our medical room, which is what is that? A 10 by 15 room. I mean, it's very, very tiny and we started low cost wellness checks for these animals. We were bombarded here. We were here till late at night, just giving shots, just doing wellness check.

People were lined up out the door. People were waiting outside chairs outside and it was

it was crazy. So that's kind of what we started talking about. We probably need to look for another building and it just so happened our humane officer is also part time. Police, uh, uh, he was riding around and he saw a building that had been on the market for quite a few years and it was like an old church, but I mean, it was a nice building. Uh, so he inquired about it and he came back to us and he says, you know, they want, I can't remember how much they wanted for it, but we put a low bid in. This is, wow, we probably can't afford it, but let's put a low bid in. So we did put a low bid in, not even thinking that we would get it. And like the next day they'd come back and they says, yeah, you could have it.

And

it's like, now what!? That is, that is exactly what happened. We're sitting here looking at each other like, yes, yes, this is wonderful. We just all stopped and looked at each other like, what the heck are we gonna do now?

We were a board of like 12, 12, I think we had, we had one guy on the board and 12 women and we thought, all right, you know, let's, let's go.

We knew nothing about setting it up. We knew, We weren't vets, none of us, we're not vet techs, we're volunteers at an animal shelter and we actually did research. I know I contacted you on a lot of things. You know, what should I put here? What all do I need? Um, and with our nonprofit, we were able to get through grants and everything. We're getting like a lot of things that we needed. We rebuild it on the inside. Um, we had fundraisers, you know, to pay for. You know, different rooms and different parts of it. Uh, we have a euthanasia room. It's very pretty. Uh, we have an x-ray room, which was the closet, but it was a perfectly sized closet. Uh, we have 3, uh, exam room exam rooms, uh, surgery room, uh, animal holding our humane officers also located there. Uh, and from there. We got another vet to come in and work and we've been doing really good.

So what, what services do you offer at the clinic?

Well, right now we do spaying and neutering of all the animals here. Uh, here at the shelter here at the animal shelter. Yeah. Well, we take them to the clinic, but these animals right now, we don't have a RVT. We're still looking for 1. so until we get an RVT, we can't really do any public, but we do have, like, walk ins where they can come, the vet will check their dog and their animal. And if they need a dental or something, we'll refer them to some place. Um, heritage usually.

Yeah, when we're fully staffed and we had an RVT, um, and the vets, we were able to do public animals. People could come in with lumps and bumps with their animals or, you know, um, tumors and spays and neuters and all that kind of stuff for public. And we were able to offer low cost services, and that was really important for our clientele. Um, and then we would run wellness days as well. And then we also have community care and we had community care. So we have a fund that we can help people to fray the cost of their animals, animals care, and we fundraise for that every year as well. Um, and then with losing the RVT, we were unable to do private animals and, you know, public animals anymore. And then we just were restricted to our shelter animals,

spaying and neutering, but everything else we pretty much can do. For everybody, and we do have it like, once a week that they could come in like, 10 to 7 or something like that. And they could get their shots. They're just an exam or whatever. They need now trim, whatever and euthanasia, of course, you know, because they can use the euthanasia room. Um, so I think we've helped. There's, there's a lot of people in need out here and it just breaks your heart because they cannot afford to go to a regular vet. And I've had people come up to me with baggies full of quarters, you know, and I'm like, okay, just keep the quarters. I can't take care of that.

Well, and even just yesterday, you want to talk about the lady that showed up yesterday with her dog?

Oh,

yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, we can.

So we had a woman show up to get her dog spayed, I guess, neutered, neutered, um, and, uh, she didn't have an appointment. She had seen that the van was going to be here. And so she thought she would just come to realize she had to make an appointment. And, and so, um, you were graciously able to put the dog on the schedule and, and we told her how much it was going to cost. And she said, Oh, I have 25 dollars, and we said, okay, we want your animal. Fixed and she had to get the animal fixed in order to be able to stay in her apartment that the landlord had dictated the animal had to be neutered. Um, and so we decided that and I decided, hey, look, you're here. We can get this done for you. It's really important. You have, you can keep your dog and stay in your housing. So, um, we defrayed the cost. Di defrayed the cost of the

tab on it. I mean. I felt that she, she was an older woman and she was crying and I'm not going to let her go away without having that done. And that's why we have the community care fund because these people want to do the right thing. Yeah, they just do not have the money.

Yeah. And you and I mean, it's so important human animal bond is so important, especially if it's an elderly person and she doesn't have money. And the only thing that she has is that dog. And then, you know, she's going to face eviction. And sadly, there are people that choose eviction over losing their animal. So, yeah, so, you know, it was, it was a little bit of help giving her a little bit of money to get her dog fixed, but potentially keeping her housed.

She was happy.

Right.

And that's all that matters.

And the appreciation that people, you know, I, I strongly believe that everybody should have access to care. Yeah. And, and, you know, if they can, if we can have them be responsible for it, great, but to a certain extent to whatever they can, the most important is how can we keep them together?

Yeah. And I mean, she was very happy to pay the 25. And I picked up the rest of it

and we had some food samples. Actually, we had gotten a donation of of food that had come in a few weeks ago. That was actually refrigerated food. So we had to be used in a certain amount of time. So we gave her a bunch of bags of that. And she picked the dog up. So so we, we also run 1 of the other programs that we run as a food pantry and twice a month, we have a site that we distribute it from. And so we get donated food from Walmart, actually, and we pay. Get up every other week in our van, and we bring it, we unload it, and then on the off weeks, um, we give it out on a Saturday morning, and so volunteers actually come and do the unloading of the van, and they also distribute the food, and, and, and we're, we always have a huge line of people for that as well.

And the volunteers love it. Yeah. Yeah, you can't you can't tell a volunteer we could stay home because they want to be there. I don't care if they're just sitting around. They love doing that. Yeah, it's good program. Yeah.

And do you have any, any requirements from the people? Or is it as long as they show up and they need food, you're going to get it talked about.

We talked about requirements. We've kind of bounced around on the board a little bit of do you need to proof have a proof of income or that you're on assistance or some sort and. It's a discussion we continue to have, because sometimes we don't get as much food to give out. We try not to, we try to give it out fairly, not give tons to one person. But I think all of us feel like if people need it, they show up, we're going to take them at face value and give them that food. Yeah. Yeah,

I appreciate that because there are people that don't qualify for assistance, right, for income assistance, but just because you don't qualify on paper doesn't mean that you're living paycheck to paycheck or that you're struggling. And it also, it also makes people feel. How do I say, like, pointed at to say, show me your proof that you're poor, and then they have to show you a piece of paper to show you that you're poor, and that makes them feel like dirt sometimes, right? I

would never go to a place like that. That's one thing. I won't be involved if we're in a Start asking, and

I think it's hard for people in general to even come to to to a pantry and get in line to ask for food for their pets. And, um, and so you just do it. Yeah, because

we have, and I think now that they've seen how our volunteers are, they're real chipper and happy and everything. We have a 1 senior citizen who actually makes beds. She has nothing to do. So she sews beds and stuff. So then everything will bring big bags of them. We pass them out of the pantry and everybody loves them. And I mean, it's sweet cause it gives her something to do and it helps these other people out. So, I mean, it's great for the community. It's great for everybody.

Yeah. No, and community involvement in general, none of us ever know when we're going to be the ones that are struggling. Right. So it's kind of good to give back because we never know when we're going to need a little bit of help.

Exactly.

So 18 years ago, I remember I came and met with you guys and there were a couple other organizations that we met with as well. And I was very, very pregnant. I was like nine months pregnant. I had my child like a week later. We met at the, uh, I think at the college to talk about bringing in spay and neuter what was that like for you guys? Finding somewhere someone that was able to do spay and neuter. And how did that change the way that the humane society was able to evolve?

It changed it a lot because we really couldn't get any vets to work with us. I mean, you could go to one group and they'd say, Oh, okay, we'll give you 10 dollars towards it. Well, 10 dollars ain't covering anything for anybody. So we had been looking for different. vets that travel around and do this because we really didn't know anything about it. And then Sally had found out about rascal unit. So she contacted you and then we talked to you. And I mean, we were, that's what we wanted. We wanted to be able to fix these animals. We wanted to fix some of the animals out at the pound at the time. We desperately needed it in this area and it has helped us immensely. I mean, you come like 2 times a year and even when we lost our vet the 1 time and got sick, you came down on your own and helped us by doing surgeries. And that kept us going. So we really need some vets and RVTs, but. You know, it's kind of slim pickings, so

yeah, the veterinary shortage is affecting everyone and shelters in general, and we're hoping, you know, we have programs with students hoping that. We're going to encourage more veterinary, future veterinarians to do community work and community service. And

yeah, I mean, they used to do that like years ago. I could remember all the vets in the area used to do pound the animals, give a day a month or something like that, but they don't do it anymore. But now, you know, we have the rascal unit. It has helped so much. I mean, I remember the 1st time you guys came, we were at the college and. I think we had, like, a 1, 000, 000 people and I mean, literally a 1, 000, 000 people and their animals showed up at 9 o'clock and that was, that was crazy. We were like, okay, this ain't going to work that way. Um, but, I mean, we learned from it, you know, we've evolved I will always remember that 1st 1 because. It was real hot out and you're just wandering around. Oh, yeah, it'll be all right. It'll be all right. I'm having a breakdown. Sally's laying on the ground and Ellen was just like, holding her head. Like, oh, my God, but yeah, it really helped us a lot. And I think we've. We went 1 year. We didn't have you and then because Helen couldn't handle it. And I, I says, I think we need to get them back. I says, I will take over running it. And I've been doing it ever since that and made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned a lot. So, it's been great. Yeah, you've helped Jefferson County immensely.

Well, and that's and that's all we can do, right? Learn from what doesn't work and learn from what does work and then move forward. Because everywhere that we go to operates differently, right? What helps here is different in other places. And that's why we consider cultural competence is knowing what is working. You guys need and what your community needs, which is different than all the other counties that we go to. Um, so I think that over the last 18 years, we have all evolved properly.

Yeah, I know. I've made a lot of mistakes. We've made a lot of mistakes. It wasn't deliberate. It wasn't intentional. It was just, we're learning and we learned really quickly not to do it again, right? So, you know, we're trying and we're doing that for the people and we're doing it for the animals. We are not doing it for our own recognition. I do not like,

and we're certainly not doing it for the money.

Yeah, I lost more than I make

know. And I think that, it kind of starts with, by bringing spay neuter and medical care, the community starts taking, uh, an initiative to take care of their animals, right? And then they become not just a dog and cat that is outside. Now all of a sudden we're letting the dog inside. And now we're worried about the vaccines and, you know, fleas and ticks are not just something that dogs get. It's like, let's take care of it. So we have seen over the years when. People would come in and just get them fixed and now they're asking for preventive care because they care, right? And they and they've been educated We're all doing a really good job and you guys are doing an amazing job at Providing them with resources and education so that they can take better care of their animals.

Yeah. I mean, like I said, we learn all the time. We've had um-teen cats come in with ringworm and this was years ago and they automatically got put down. Yeah, well. Ringworm isn't that bad. It's not fatal. I mean, you can fix it.

Yeah.

And for how many years we lost so many cats because of that. And now these people, you know, we tell them, we explain to them what to do and how to take care of it and don't touch. And they're just amazed. They're like, Oh my God, I thought, you know, I thought we'd have to put them down. It's like, no, not at all. Right. And even if a person gets it, it's very easy to take care of.

So, 1, 1, last thing that I wanted to discuss, because 1, I mean, you guys have done a lot with the shelter and then you have a website and an app and stuff and people can get information about the animals. Can you talk about that?

Yes, our so our system, anytime an animal comes in, we have an, you know, give an identifier and then we basically our system links into pet finder. So we're able to put those animals to out so people all over can see them nationally, uh, and we found that we've had a pretty wide reach. Um, you know, we use Facebook a lot to put animals out there. But if people were to get on pet finder and then and search, they're going to be our animals are going to pop up from them. And we're getting adoptions from pretty far away

people from distance,

various parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania and stuff that we'll see a dog and they'll want that dog. So, um, and then I think we get a lot of people that will call, you know, go to the website to look for information about the, you know, the vet care, the clinic that we have, um, foster programs or the rescues that we put on hold shortly now, but hopefully we'll pick back up again.

Even our shirts and stuff. Oh, yeah, we put that up our raffles and we get a lot of people that, you know, they just want to help the animal. They don't want to win a bouquet of flowers. They just want to help the animal. And I believe I know I don't believe I know that there are a lot of other. Animal groups out there that have a little more respect for us, Jefferson County than they did before because we'll get messages. You know, what do you do about this? How did you guys fix that? We never had that before. And it's all because we put stuff on, you know, Facebook on our website and everything. This is what we're doing. This is what our main officers are doing. And we do have a lot of other animal groups all over the country calling us.

We have, we, we have somebody who does PR for us. Um, and I think that's been really important. So not just the PR, you know, for the humane cases that come in, obviously we put a lot of focus on that, but PR for the clinic and what we can provide the community and what's going on at the shelter and other outreach things that we're doing and when we have adoption events and things like that. So that's been really helpful. I think, Oh gosh, yeah. Grow our community and the more people that see it. More people than, you know, comment on things and donate, obviously, because we're a completely donation driven organization, um, and, um, and all our staff, we pay through donations. So.

We get no money from very little money from the county and we get no money from. The national you know, I mean, they have their own problems. I have to take care of all our money is fundraising and personal donations,

right? We've paid staff at the clinic and here at the shelter. Our humane agents are employed by us and we pay them. The board members are all volunteer. Yeah. And, um, and obviously we pay our vets as well.

So what, what is the website that people can get more information and see all the awesome things that you guys are doing? And if they have some extra money, send that donation your way.

Yeah, if you would just get on our Facebook page, there is a link to the website. I don't

it's it's Jefferson County Humane Society.

Here we go. All right. So anybody that wants information about the humane society can go to Jefferson County humane society dot net. So Jefferson County humane society dot net. And this is the Jefferson County humane society. It's in northeast Ohio. Steubenville area. So thank you so very much for being part of this interview and for sharing information because hopefully this can be, uh, you know, give hope to smaller groups that are thinking we can't do it. And yeah, you can do it. You have to put a lot of effort,

but you can't do it as small as they were. Yes, they can do it.

Fantastic. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing and for everybody listening. Thanks for listening and thank you for caring.