Reflections on 2025: Strengthening the Shelter Behind the Scenes
Written by: Britney Tennant, Cheyenne Animal Shelter CEO
It’s the final days of 2025. The year-end emails have gone out, the last fundraising mailers are finished, and, as often happens in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the Shelter is quiet. Staff and volunteers are taking a rest where they can, and the usual bustle of appointments, adoptions, and services has slowed. I am grateful for this rare moment of time and space to reflect.
Most of what we share publicly highlights programs and services—tragic circumstances transformed into happy endings. Photos of adoptions, reunifications, and animals healed from illness or injury fill our social media, e-newsletters, and website. When a community partnership leverages resources to provide compassionate, accessible care, we celebrate alongside those partners, rejoicing in the warmth of helping someone else.
“This year, that help reached more than 6,000 animals—a number the Shelter hasn’t seen in years.”
The Hidden Work Behind the Impact
Yet the work that makes this impact possible often goes unseen. My goal in this reflection is to shine a light on that effort and celebrate the dedication of our staff, volunteers, and partners. Without it, none of our programs or services could exist.
Much of this unseen work involves daily facility upkeep. At over 20 years old, the Shelter is showing its age. Aging equipment and building systems are deteriorating and increasingly unable to withstand our climate. Moderating the building’s temperature has become a near-daily task—adjusting thermostats, moving space heaters and fans, adding or removing bedding, and deciding where to hold meetings or trainings.
Our community room, with its beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows, has almost no insulation and is often unusable because it’s too hot or too cold. Yet it remains the only space large enough for all-staff gatherings. Beyond these daily challenges, we’ve tackled major projects, including replacing a roof long past its life expectancy and navigating the unexpected failure of our well system—reminders of the ongoing demands of facility management.
Investing in People and Systems
Behind the scenes, the Shelter’s board and executive team have devoted hundreds of hours over the past several years to strengthening the systems that support our volunteers and staff. When our strategic framework was established in 2022, it became clear that our people—the heart of the organization—needed a stronger foundation.
We created a comprehensive index of all policies and procedures, many rewritten from scratch, updated critical software systems, developed step-by-step onboarding and skills training programs, and overhauled the employee handbook. We also revisited the organization’s framework—rewriting the Bylaws, updating the Board handbook, clarifying committee roles, and refining recruitment and performance systems. Every layer of our people-support systems has been examined, reconfigured, and woven back together into a cohesive, comprehensive structure.
Building Clarity and Partnership
Another focus has been creating clarity and alignment with the city and county around the cost and valuation of our contract services. This work has helped rebuild and strengthen relationships, reinforcing the Shelter as a trusted community partner.
“By breaking down costs in a detailed and precise way, we ensured our municipal partners have a clear understanding of the value and impact of the Shelter’s work.”
Achieving this required redesigning our accounting framework, developing a systematic process for coding transactions, streamlining financial reporting, and clearly identifying programmatic expenses. The result is transparency and accountability that strengthens our partnerships and positions the Shelter for sustainable growth.
Looking Ahead: Stability Before Growth
Even with these transformative efforts, our progress remains precarious. The changes we’ve made are not yet fully woven into the fabric of daily operations. Systems, processes, and structures require continued investment to endure over time. Our team—and our community—are eager for further growth, but before we expand programs and services, we must first make these foundational changes permanent and strengthen capacity for current operations.
In 2026, I hope to see us add key staff positions to provide greater stability, revisit the systems and tools we’ve developed, and ensure they are used to their full potential. By consolidating these foundations, we can create a stronger, more sustainable Shelter—ready to expand, innovate, and continue serving animals, volunteers, and the community with excellence.
Gratitude and Hope
As we look toward 2026, I am filled with gratitude for every hand that has helped build and sustain this work—the staff who show up every day, the volunteers who give generously of their time, the donors who invest in our mission, and the municipal partners who trust us to deliver on our commitments.
Together, we are not only caring for animals but also creating a resilient, compassionate organization capable of meeting the challenges ahead. I am proud of what we’ve accomplished, mindful of the work still to come, and excited to continue this journey with all of you.
