The Best Friends Podcast Episode 108
Helping people and pets in rural America comes with many challenges. For example, how do you offer even the most basic veterinary services when there are no vets who can help within 100 miles, and buying a transport van is a pipe dream? How do you recruit new foster homes when you've already asked everyone in town? Reassigning staff to support new programs can be a valuable strategy, but how can you when overburdened employees already perform several roles - everything from animal care to adoptions, volunteer coordinator, and fundraiser.
What are the best practices in rural shelters, and how do they differ from those in larger communities? And what can we all do to support the lifesaving organizations in those communities? Learning from those who have found ways to overcome the obstacles is a good place to start!
This week, we head to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, to speak with the executive director for the Good Shepherd Humane Society, Cole Wakefield, to learn more about what it's like to save lives in the Ozarks.
Click here to check out all the episodes from the podcast.
Resources from this episode- Best Friends Podcast Episode 51: Serving the Underserved in Rural America
- Best Friends Podcast Episode 63: Saving lives in rural Indiana
- Achieving “No Kill” in a Rural Community, presentation given by Brown County's Jane Weatherford at the 2015 Best Friends National Conference
- U.S. Census Bureau report on rural America
- Best Friends Network Town Hall: Leveling the Field: How to Remove Barriers for Underrepresented Communities and their Pets
- Cole's blog series for AAWA: Rural Challenges in Animal Welfare
- Best Friends Pet Lifesaving Dashboard
Guest this week
Cole Wakefield
executive director, Good Shepherd Humane Society
Cole Wakefield is Executive Director of Good Shepherd Humane Society in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Before joining the staff at Good Shepherd, he served as Clinic Manager for HOPE Humane Society in Fort Smith. Cole also serves on several national advisory panels and consults with other animal welfare organizations on management practices. Cole is a graduate of Western Governors University and is currently pursuing a master's degree and is a graduate of the Southern Utah University/Best Friends Animal Society Executive Leadership Certification program.
Episode Transcript