Home » News » Best Friends Staffer Honored by L.A. County Supervisors

News

Best Friends Staffer Honored by L.A. County Supervisors

June 01, 2009, 5:58PM MT

By Sandi Cain

Supervisor Mike Antonovich Praises Robin Harmon for Help at County Shelters

Supervisor Mike Antonovich Praises Robin Harmon for Help at County Shelters

In just a little more than a year, more than 1,400 small dogs have gone joy riding from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, thanks in part to Best Friends’ Robin Harmon, Adoptions Manager for LA Programs. In May, Los Angeles County Supervisors, led by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, recognized her efforts on behalf of the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter and other county shelters.

The recognition caps a unique program started last year that takes shelter dogs from places where there’s an overabundance of some breeds to other cities where those dogs are in demand and supply is short. That frees up shelter space and helps in its own small way to reduce euthanasia rates in the shelters.

Harmon is the driving force behind the program, dubbed Pup My Ride[/url], but it takes the efforts of many dedicated volunteers to keep it running smoothly. Robin is the one who goes to the shelters, picks about 30 dogs for the next trip, and arranges drivers willing to invest their time twice a month taking dogs to Utah in a donated van. It’s often a trip filled with joyful and nervous barks. The Los Angeles pooches meet up in Utah with the Humane Society of Utah from Salt Lake City, which finds the dogs homes.

“Best Friends is extremely proud of Robin and her commitment to the Pup My Ride program,” said Elizabeth Oreck, program manager for Best Friends LA Programs. “Over 1400 dogs’ lives have been saved, and we could not be happier that the Board of Supervisors has recognized her contribution to solving L.A. County’s pet overpopulation problem,” she said.

Dogs from Los Angeles also have excitedly yipped their way to Phoenix on two occasions, with more possible trips in the future. Now, Harmon and her crew will start a monthly shuttle to Eugene, Ore., thanks in part to funding from “Grey’s Anatomy” actress and Best Friends support Katherine Heigl.

Harmon said cities are carefully chosen to make sure there’s a demand for the same breeds of dogs that overflow shelters in L.A. “We want to take them where they’re needed, not to places where they’ll simply compete with other local rescued dogs,” she said.

Robin has never denied that it can be tough going into overcrowded shelters to pick out which dogs get a reprieve. But, as many who know her can attest, she lives by the only philosophy possible when the need is so great: you can only save one animal at a time. Fourteen hundred dogs can attest to their good fortune at being the ‘one dog’ at the right time.

Best Friends hopes to expand Pup My Ride on a national basis in the future. But another group of unsuspecting dogs joined the program in another recent rescue effort when 30 dogs were brought from a puppy mill in Missouri to Best Friends in partnership with National Mill Dog Rescue. Those dogs were recently featured on an episode of Dogtown on the NatGeo channel.

Robin has a long history with Best Friends, both as a volunteer and staff member. Though she lives in L.A., she learned about Best Friends while visiting her parents in St. George, Utah back in the ‘90s. That’s where she started volunteering—and that’s where she learned about the opportunities to help animals right in her own backyard. She’s never looked back. She’s organized the Super Adoptions, mobile adoptions and worked with the shelters in Los Angeles—much of it while still a volunteer—and recruited other volunteers to help. After Hurricane Katrina, it was Harmon who put out an email request to Los Angeles area volunteers (yours truly included), asking if they’d help with an online effort to reunite the people of New Orleans with their pets. That nationwide effort was the beginnings of what today is the Best Friends Network—now 70,000 strong.

Robin would much rather talk about the dogs than herself. So it’s only natural that we figured the 1,400 dogs who found new homes would want to say ‘congrats’ on this effort and this award!

By Sandi Cain, Best Friends Network Volunteer

Photos courtesy of Robin Harmon.
Top photo: Left, Lance Hunter, Manager of Baldwin Park County shelter; middle, Robin; right, Marcia Mayeda, Director of LA County Animal Services.

Middle: Pups ready to ride from LA to Utah

Bottom: Robin with shelter dogs ready to roll

Comments

Posted June 01, 2009, 8:43PM by jessica

GOOOOO ROBIN!!

Posted June 04, 2009, 12:22PM by rickmcd

Great to see you recognized by LA County for ALL of your great work for the animals.

Posted June 02, 2009, 12:50AM by dcdawn

ditto a million times more....

Posted June 02, 2009, 2:56PM by kenyaecho

Way to Go Robin!! Amazing dedication!!

Posted June 01, 2009, 8:43PM by jessica

GOOOOO ROBIN!!

Posted June 02, 2009, 2:12PM by angelpaws

Robin has truly made a difference in the lives of so so many dogs. Congrats on the recognition from LA County for all her work with the county shelters!

Posted June 02, 2009, 2:54PM by kenyaecho

Way to GO Robin!! Amazing dedication!

Posted June 02, 2009, 4:45PM by Linzzzz

Congrats Robin on a very well deserved award!

Posted June 01, 2009, 8:42PM by jessica

GOOOOO ROBIN!!

Posted June 01, 2009, 8:43PM by jessica

GOOOOO ROBIN!!

Posted June 01, 2009, 8:43PM by jessica

GOOOOO ROBIN!!