Reflection, challenges, and super-powers — November CEO Update

It’s been just over a year since I assumed the role of CEO at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter. It was a dream job for me, and one I’d aspired to for a long time. Over the course of the past year a great many people have expressed surprise and questioned me about my decision to leave Black Dog Animal Rescue. I needed to reconnect with my personal “why” and to pursue, with greater opportunity than ever before, the chance to make a difference for the pets and people of our community. You see, for me the work was never about a singular institution. It has always been about the mission, my lifelong love for animals, and my dedicated belief in the power of the human-animal bond to bridge divides and bring people and communities together. 

So when the board at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter asked me what my vision was for the organization - where I’d aspire to lead us should I be given this incredible opportunity - the answer for me was easy and unchanging. The answer for me has always been - to be the very best. To excel in the industry. To not only provide the basic sheltering services demanded of us, but to also offer - in the most proactive way, services, leadership, and input that help bring people together. To elevate the Shelter to an organization not just for those who are lost or un-homed, but for those who are deeply loved and cared for. To become the leading Socially Conscious Shelter in the region is to become more than a Shelter. It is to become a resource center which leverages our connection to pets in a way that makes life better for the people who love them. 

I am grateful for the chance to write these words today. Because, to be honest, the road has been very difficult over the past year. Chief among our challenges have to do with staffing, a pervasive problem across the country. Animal care, adoptions, medical and behavioral support, community cat initiatives, and community care programs cannot be done from home. Despite the fact that across-the-board our staff are earning higher wages and salaries than they ever have and our benefit package is now more comprehensive than it has ever been, we continue to have unfilled vacancies. Vacancies which make it even harder to find the time to provide adequate support and training to the team members who continue to show up. Vacancies that stretch our people so thin there simply aren't enough hours in the day to attend to the other challenges inherent in any business. 

We have been laboring for months to update our policies. We are struggling to audit, improve, and document daily processes, often under-delivering on our promise to this community to be a more kind, welcoming, and inclusive space. Added to the challenges are long-overdue maintenance issues and equipment well-past its replacement date. Though “facilities management” isn’t technically in my job description, I’ve come to be very familiar with an HVAC system that is on its last legs and was never designed to support the building adequately in the first place. There is a crumbling foundation, animal housing units that no longer meet industry standards and for which we can no longer buy replacement parts, windows that are literally peeling out of the walls, a lack of insulation resulting in actual frost on the inside of my office walls, a roof that needs replacing, and more. The list goes on and on. 

I share these challenges with you today not to paint a picture of an insurmountable mountain. But rather, to ask for your support and understanding as we continue to become. It is an act we can undertake together - to fully realize the potential of the Shelter and to remain focused and doggedly (pun intended) determined to bring that vision I shared to life. We cannot do it alone, and we cannot do it overnight. But we can do it, little by little, with your support and enthusiasm. And with your commitment to a long, bumpy, and ultimately very rewarding journey.

As we head into the final stretches of 2022, I want to be sure to mention some of the many small victories we have already had over this past year. Among them are those aforementioned improvements to our staff support. One of our primary pillars of focus is on becoming a Best Place to Work. And while it remains challenging to fill our vacant positions, our turn-over has dramatically decreased over the last twelve months. We are also working to elevate our programs and services to not only meet industry best practices, but ultimately to exceed and help in redefining them. Our partnership with national animal welfare leadership from Maddie’s Fund through the Million Pet Challenge has helped connect us to resources from all over, adding to our team via an expanding network of seasoned industry professionals and better resourced organizations. In response to the work done with the Million Pet Challenge team, the board made the bold decision to dedicate a significant amount of funding to continued work on process improvement and deferred maintenance. In this fiscal year alone, nearly $300,000.00 has been set aside for these projects. Projects I hope you’ll also be excited about, and lend your support to. 

Speaking of the board, there have been tremendous and exciting changes there as well. It is hard to step in as a new leader to a group of people who aren’t sure what to make of you yet, and who have had a very taxing set of experiences in their volunteer roles. Together we have revisited our bylaws, streamlined our committee work, refocused our attention on the mission, sustainability, relationships, and long-term planning, and recruited new faces and lots of energy to the team. I can honestly say I’d be drowning right now if not for the support and encouragement of the Shelter’s board, and of the board of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter Foundation, our partner in long term success. 

There is so much work yet to be done, but at the end of the day we can come back to our root purpose. That purpose is to support companion pets in our community and the people who love them. Your continued faith in this organization, and the evident increase in excitement and optimism about our future is palpable. Throughout this tough year of setbacks, change, and growth, we have heard the beat of your steady and helpful drum ever-increasing. When fatigue and defeat threaten to bog us down, inevitably you - our friends and community, show up just when we need you most. You are the oxygen that keeps our beating hearts pumping. 

And so my friends - I thank you. At the close of my one-year anniversary and the beginning of our end-of-year fundraising efforts, you are the thing that gives me hope for the future. Hope for our team, hope for our vision, and hope therefore, for a more kind, compassionate, and united community. Together we are a powerful team of “Do-Gooders”. This is a title I proudly embrace and invite you to celebrate in yourselves as well.  For what more can we want than to do good for ourselves and for the animals? I can think of no greater super power.