by Amanda Peterson | May 29, 2018 | Leadership Spotlight |
The past couple of months have been very challenging for the Dallas Pets Alive! medical team. We have taken in more medically urgent animals, tougher cases, and several surgeries that have run up large vet bills. But, we do it because that’s what it takes to save more lives! Behind the incredible DPA medical team is a woman who juggles vet and ER phone calls while she works full-time job as a pre-school teacher, and also balances life a new mom. Allison is at the core of what we do and the pets we save wouldn’t have their second chances if it wasn’t for her hard work and dedication to DPA’s mission. We literally could not do what we do without her. Learn more about our Medical Director, Allison Brandon, below: 1.) What does your role within DPA involve? What do you oversee within the organization? I currently serve as the Medical Director. I have an incredibly hard-working team of 12 volunteers. Together, we review the medical records of each pet that enters our program and determine what each pet needs in order to be healthy and adoptable. We work with a variety of vets across the metroplex, and we help to coordinate the appointments for our fosters to ensure everyone is getting the care that they need. I work closely with our vets to create treatment plans for our pets, which can vary anywhere from antibiotics for a cough to an extensive surgery and therapy for a severe injury. We have anywhere from 125-300 pets in the program at any given time so this is no easy feat!...
by Amanda Peterson | Apr 28, 2018 | Blog, Leadership Spotlight |
Happy tails and forever homes – that’s the ultimate goal for the dogs and cats that enter the Dallas Pets Alive! program. Without the dedication of amazing leadership volunteers like Christina, we couldn’t successfully adopt out hundreds of animals each year. Learn more about Christina and her incredible contributions to DPA. 1. What does your role with DPA involve? What do you oversee within the organization? I am the Adoption Assistant Director, I help Stacey, our Director, oversee anything that has to do with adoptions! I love being a part of all of the “happy tails!” I am also the Assistant to the Vice President of Animal Operations (Jessica) and help her with administrative tasks to keep the Animal Ops side of the organization running smoothly. In addition, I coordinate our fundraising events- I lead the Dallas Pets Live! event at The Rustic in the fall, am currently working on the 2018 Pup Crawl, and will be chairing North Texas Giving Day as well. 2. What is your professional background? I have a business degree from Baylor University and I currently work at Phoenix Capital Partners, a private equity firm, as their Assistant Controller. 3. How long have you been involved with the organization? Since 2014. 4. What drives you to dedicate your time to DPA? I love being a part of all of the “happy tails” by helping our animals find their furever homes. I started out as a foster, and have fostered 22 animals so far (I foster failed on #11 and #22) and now that I’m mostly maxed out on animals in my home, I...
by Amanda Peterson | Apr 2, 2018 | Blog, Leadership Spotlight |
A lot of what goes into rescue happens behind the scenes, and the time and dedication that our foster team puts in does not go unnoticed! This month’s leadership spotlight honoree is Danica Butler, DPA’s Canine Assistant Foster Director. Danica works hand-in-hand with the families that foster dogs with our organization, making sure they have a strong support system and resources when needed. Hardly anyone says fostering is easy, but nearly everyone says it’s a rewarding, life-changing experience knowing you’re saving the life of a homeless pet, and it couldn’t be done without the contribution of people like Danica. Learn more about her below! 1.) What does your role within DPA involve? What do you oversee within the organization? My role with DPA is to work directly with the foster families and assist with behavioral issues, offer advice and ensure they feel supported. 2.) What is your professional background? I am a calligrapher and illustrator. I have a wedding invitation company and teach calligraphy classes in Plano. 3.) How long have you been involved with the organization? Going on two years! Time flies when you’re having fun 🙂 4.) What drives you to dedicate your time to DPA? Definitely the community!! I adore the foster team-Jessica, Stefanie and Lori are amazing humans that I am proud to call friends. Knowing we are slowly, but surely, making a difference for Dallas animals with each and every animal that gets out of the shelter and into a loving foster home. 5.) Tell us a fun fact about yourself. Power tools are my happy...
by Amanda Peterson | Feb 26, 2018 | Blog, Leadership Spotlight |
What does your role within DPA involve? What do you oversee within the organization? I am the Alumni Director, and the purpose of the Alumni Team is to ensure the health, safety, and overall well-being of our adopted dogs and cats are maintained after they have moved out of our program and into their forever homes. Our responsibility to them does not end at adoption. My team follows up initially to ensure the pet is scheduled with the adopters’ veterinarian and again several weeks later to ensure a successful transition to their forever home (Angelica Thomas and Kim Boller manage follow-ups for our adopted dogs, and Michele Morneault handles all of our cat follow-ups and issues). We respond via email to common transitional issues and provide training techniques to assist the adopter, and we encourage them to contact one of our professional training partners who provide discounts to our alumni. If the situation is urgent, I contact the adopter via telephone and try to work them through the issue/concern until a trainer is able to meet with them. If the situation is not a good fit, I work with the Foster Team to secure a new or the previous foster parent and get the pet back into our program. Although this can seem disappointing, we have a great track record with second adopters! What is your professional background? I am an Environmental Professional and provide due diligence consulting services to lenders, developers, investors, or current property owners. I have worked in this industry for 19 years and have experience in every aspect of due diligence assessments, remediation, and regulatory...
by Amanda Peterson | Feb 7, 2018 | Blog, Leadership Spotlight |
A lot goes on behind the scenes of Dallas Pets Alive! While pets are always top of mind, we have a large, highly organized infrastructure that is run by a dedicated team of volunteers. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do for our four-legged friends without the commitment, support and dedication of the two-legged members of the DPA Family. 2018 may be the Year of the Dog, we’re be highlighting members of our Leadership Team, in addition to our monthly Pawesome Volunteers and Fosters, this year to give you a closer look the people who make our mission possible. Meet Stefanie, DPA’s Foster Director! What does your role within Dallas Pets Alive! involve? What do you oversee within the organization? As the Foster Director, I am responsible for all things foster related. I oversee a team of 2 assistant directors, 30 foster representatives, 6 foster application vetters, a team of administrators and bio writers, and all active fosters of the 1200 individuals that are approved. I work closely with all teams to make sure the foster process runs smoothly from working with the rescue team to pull an animal from the shelter, to making sure an animal is behaviorally and medically cleared for adoption with both the adopt and medical teams. Additionally, my team does everything in between such as approving new fosters, providing behavioral advice, uploading marketing material to our website and checking in with medical updates. We are the support team for our amazing foster families. What is your professional background? I recently moved from Dallas to Denver for a great opportunity with a...
by Amanda Peterson | Jan 11, 2018 | Blog, Leadership Spotlight |
There is so much that goes into rescuing animals, especially within Dallas Pets Alive! While pets are always top of mind we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the commitment, support and dedication of the two-legged members of the DPA Family. While 2018 may be the Year of the Dog, we’ll be highlighting members of our Leadership Team, in addition to our monthly Pawesome Volunteers and Fosters, this year to give you a behind the scenes look at the people who make our mission possible. Meet Elina, DPA’s Rescue Director. She is our voice at Dallas Animal Services and often the first DPA contact a pet has with our organization. When a dog or cat hears from Elina, they know they are safe with us. What does your role within DPA involve? What do you oversee within the organization? As Rescue Director, I am responsible for the Rescue Team, who are the boots on the ground at Dallas Animal Services – the shelter we rescue from. We are the first point of contact for most of the animals coming into Dallas Pets Alive, and I correspond with DAS to coordinate all of the animals that we save. I manage a team of ~20 volunteers who spend time at DAS evaluating the animals we network to our fosters, getting pictures and dog-testing them, and writing up reports so that we have the most thorough information possible about them. That’s the short version 🙂 What is your professional background? After my completing my undergraduate degree I studied Publishing and have been working in that industry for over 5...
