 Hi, this is Jan Reardon and I am here with a very dear friend and former co-worker, Joyce Cameron, who is the president CEO of the Humane Society of Chittenden County. And I just want to begin by saying thank you for everybody as far as listening. We have this show offered on the third Thursday of every month thanks to Town Meeting TV. And that's from noon until 12 30. So thank you so much. And I can't even tell you how excited I am really to have Joyce here. It felt kind of like Christmas for me last night. I was so excited. I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about all the different things. We go back a ways from working at the Y together. Thankfully, I was able to meet Joyce then. One of the highlights of my time at the Y was certainly to have you as a friend. And I just am so thankful that you were able to be here and that we are continuing to be in touch, even though it would be better to have it happen more often. I'm glad that we were able to get together. So, Joyce Cameron, if you can tell us a little bit about what the history of the Humane Society of Chittenden County, because, and add this in if you would, but my understanding is each Humane Society is different, right? And so you are the president and you have full control. Is there a governing body that you have to report to as far as things? But talk a little bit about the history. Thank you. Before I do that, Jan, it is my pleasure to be here. I love it. I love it. Thank you. And ditto to everything you said. Thanks. We have some really fond memories. More to come. And nobody better could be talking about kindness than you, Jan. Oh, thank you. Great. Thank you. Yeah, so the Humane Society, for those that aren't familiar with it, we serve Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties. It's a 122-year-old organization. That I did not know before we had it. Really has withstood the test of time. All Humane Societies in Vermont are independent. In fact, most of them are independent. It's not like the YMCA, where there's a large governing national board. The USA, right? There is the Humane Society of the USA, but we are all independent. So there are, I believe there are nine of us in Vermont. A lot of flexibility then in going to what that community needs. Sure. Love it. Love it. So we, as I said, we serve Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties and we also provide resources for a lot of other. I believe we're the largest and the most dense population of the state. Yes, I would imagine right. So we do what we can for others that are smaller and that need us. I preside over anywhere between 25 to 30 incredible committed staff members, depending on the time of year. When I've been there, everybody is so welcoming and so genuine and loving. Yeah, you can feel your vibe all the way through, Joyce. Well, and their vibe, you know. Yeah, I think there's just that beautiful culture of being there for all the right reasons. That's exactly right. And so, you know, when you're a mission animal centric organization and people don't typically work for us for the money and the benefits, although we're getting better at that, but they do it because they just have such a deep passion for what they're doing every day. And so not only are there 25 to 30 staff members. I happen to serve at the pleasure of 15 incredible board members who really do so much. And so we have really some terrific governance in our organization and also anywhere from 150 to 200 volunteers. Now, we could not open our doors without our volunteers. There is no question. How do you get the volunteers? Because everybody struggles and nonprofits to get those volunteers and that's a huge number. Well, there are a lot of people that love animals. So that's a good thing. So we don't have to try all that hard, but I tell you the few, you know, the couple of handfuls of our real loyal ones that come in, open the doors in the morning, feed the animals, worth their weight in gold. And they really are. And some people have probably been doing it for years, right? Yes. Oh, it's beautiful. Absolutely. Beautiful. We have a myriad of programs. We just opened, which we're all really excited about, just launched in the last six months our community pet clinic. This was in response to kind of an overwhelming community input saying we really need help. Our, you know, mission and our ethos is really to keep people and their pets together. Yes. What often happens is people will are forced to relinquish their beloved pets for lots of different reasons. They have fallen on hard times financially. Oh, it's heartbreaking. They're homes, you know, they're displaced. They're addiction issues. They're incarceration issues. All the time. That's when they need that little pet. All sorts of things. So, you know, it's so, I could tell you heartbreaking stories of people coming in, having to relinquish their 14-year-old pet, who in some cases is their only family member. So what we try to do is provide access to every resource under the sun to allow them to keep their animals. We also do education programs, everything from Camp Paw-Paw, which is our very popular summer camp, to Humane Heroes and Animal Welfare Warriors, which is geared toward teens who are more interested in animal welfare. So we serve, you know, hundreds of children every day. We have thousands of donors that allow all of this to happen. Right. Right. And, you know, great community partners. And, of course, we partner with the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, for instance, for our Good Neighbor program. And if someone is hospitalized and they can't care for their pet and there's no one else in the home. Oh, I had no idea the extent of the resource that you provide. We do, yes. And where, can somebody go to the website to donate? Oh, absolutely. Okay. Yes. Okay. And what is the website? www.hsccvt.hscc, so Humane Society of Jitton and County. Correct. Org. Perfect. Good. Thank you. And, you know, we have a very active pet food shelf where there's free pet food for people. So everything you can imagine to strengthen that human-animal bond during the pandemic, as most people can appreciate. That's what I was thinking. Right. That's probably one of your questions. It was the first one about 20 minutes ago. So that was good. You answered it better and included a couple, right, as I love it. You know, the demand was so tremendous. And of course, like everyone else, we had supply chain issues mostly around transportation because we do transport animals from high-volume shelters down south and re-home them. Right. And so that was not happening. All that stopped. And, you know, our primary focus is always on community animals. Right. Helping community animals. But we did manage to re-home a record amount, I think, 1360 animals this year. So that's remarkable. It was really remarkable. We did a lot of that. We just pivoted quickly and changed up our operations and were able to do things online. We were able to do things curbside. Our community outreach team was still able to go out in the community, meet people where they are, and help them. I just picture this, though, like shifting gears into time like that. And you have all those cute little eyes all around looking at you. And you're like, we're going to do something and just like go in a completely new direction. That is, you know, giving you a chance to thrive even more. Right. Yeah. And be more of a resource for the community than you even were prior. I think so. We're really in a growth track organizationally. And it's a good thing. Our clinic is really the weekly. Oh, that is fabulous. And did I say I may have said we have a satellite clinic in the north end of Burlington? No. No, no, no. So where exactly is that? That's North Champlain. It's actually where the Old North End Veterinary Clinic exists. Oh, right. Right. Okay. And so we are there a couple of days a week doing health and wellness vaccines, rabies, things like that. And at our facility on Kindness Court in South Burlington, Oh, ironic. We do our spay and neuter surgeries and other minor surgeries for not only the animals in our care, community animals and also people's animals. They, you know, that find difficulty affording private veterinarians these days or getting into them because they're really backed up. And so do you have veterinary, your veterinarians on your staff? Do you reach out into the community? So you actually have. Actually, two vets of record currently. Two and a half full time equivalent. Yes. So we're really, really fortunate. And Old North End Veterinary, we are poised to actually take over that clinic. Dr. Susan McMillan, who was our vet of record years ago, was also our board chair. She's divine. Many people know her in this area right up, we're in the neighborhood. She is wanting to move on. She's still going to keep her hand in it. But a natural progression would be for us to kind of seal that business. Exactly. So we're looking at that. And lots of great things going on. And I, you know, I love the organization and just was not aware of all of these recent happenings. This is just so fabulous. Yeah. I'm thrilled to hear and be able to spread the word and whatever we can do through the foundation because our mission's aligned so well whether you're talking about people or furry little people, you know, they all have our souls and our hearts are all together. So that's why I just love this whole true connection. Absolutely. But let me just see if I can cover another. How about if you could describe one of the best days for you as the president or your team, obviously, at the United States? What's a good day or week look like from your point of view, like the best ever? The best. Oh, well, the best ever would probably be, I mean, if we're talking about a day, a day in the life would be re-homing a lot of animals that need it. Exactly. But of course, that goes without saying finding those. How many would go on a great day? Oh, geez. One day, a couple of weeks ago, we had some crazy number, like 35. One day. Or something. Yes. So that's a lot. Yes. Yes. So we, at any given time, we care for around 60 to up to 130 animals. And many of those are in shelter and also with our foster families. And the kind of trend in animal welfare is to decrease the length of stay, even though we take such beautiful care of our animals, the less time they're in the shelter, the better. Right. So being home with a lot more foster families. Yes. And so we have a great network. We're always looking for more. So if anyone is interested, please contact us. Should they contact you again through the website or do you want to say anything? Through the website, I just call the Humane Society. What is that number if you don't mind just giving a shout out? 802-862-0135. And I'm at extension 12. You can call me directly if you're interested in fostering. Or talk to our animal care manager. So, yeah, where were we? We were talking, oh, it's the best day. So that goes without saying. You know, rehoming animals. Also, I think would be to do the same with our clinic, to be seeing a lot of community people avail themselves of this affordable pet clinic, where they're paying to 30 to 40% less than they would at an ordinary veterinarian. To hear stories, the storytelling, as you know, you've worked for a non-profit is just the most compelling thing. And they're with you forever. They are with you forever. And it keeps us fueled. Exactly. That's what it's all about. That impact, knowing that we're having that impact every day. You know, getting a call from someone, and this happened recently. All these things happened recently. These are real examples of an elderly woman who had a cat that she'd lived with for 14, 15 years. I think this cat was 15 years old. And she said, I have no money. I don't have much support. I live alone. I've got incredible health issues. And I'd rather die than relinquish my cat. So please don't tell me that I need to relinquish my cat. And I said to her, the good news is that you don't. We have, there's so many things we can do. So through our rainy day fund, we were able to grant her money for emergent surgery for the cat that was actually more complicated than anything we could do. So we sent them off-site. So she had money for that. We just, you know, provided the safety net for her. And she had called me and was so beyond grateful. Oh, and now the quality of her life is better again. And that's what you've done is create this better quality of life when we have these companions. So, you know, we think of human societies as, you know, totally animal-centric organizations. And really, as you know, they're so inextricably linked and behind every animal as a person. And we find ourselves, you know, as doing things that are social service oriented to help the people, help their animals, and then everybody. So those kinds of stories are just incredible. They come in all the time, whether it's on social media, whether it's to me directly. So, you know, I'm so gratified by that. It's also having donors, you know, our amazing foundations and individual supporters. We raise 80% of our revenue. We have just under $2 million budget and 80% of that is raised through charitable means. So we are truly a community, a non-profit. And to have a donor during the pandemic, as it was starting, not one donor, more than three or four of our major donors call me, reach out to me and say, what do you need from me? That is so beautiful. What do you need? Right there. Because they know. That's a show in itself right there to be focused in on what that does for your organization, what it does for that human being, what it does for the community, and it just lives on and perpetuates. Absolutely. Oh, that's beautiful to hear. Yeah, so those are acts of kindness that happen every day. And then, you know, all the other not sexy things, like balancing the budget, like, you know, being able to hire staff that are the right fit, all of those things, you know. It's all good, it's all good work. Definitely, definitely. And you do such a great job of that behind the scenes, but you pop out and you're in that lobby, too. And it's just so nice to feel all of that, you know, passion and love and energy throughout the whole organization. It's beautiful. It has challenges like any other organization, but people are there for the right reasons, for sure. And that's number one, as you know. Absolutely, absolutely. Let's, this has been fabulous, obviously, talking about everything here with Humane Society, which is the reason that I had invited you on initially. And then, as I was thinking back on just everything that we know of each other, and when you go through different tragedies and things like that, I'd love to have you speak to us about all the good that has come, thanks to what you have done in regard to the loss of your son, Will, and how the community, obviously, has embraced you and all that Will stood for, and Will's spirit will stand for forever. If you could talk about that, that's the kind of thing, obviously, with the foundation that we are all about is keeping that kind of spirit just living on forever well beyond when our spirits are here. Oh, of course. Yes, so thank you. And I know, Jen, that you understand that completely with Jen. And I know when that happened with Jen, you know, we connected. Exactly. And even through that darkness, there's just such a transformational aspect to it and such a positive aspect to it. So, let's see. No, where do you start? Because... A deep breath. Yes. So Will, my son was at a student at UVM. He was a senior. What year was this, Joyce? 2013. And he was working for Mount Philo in Charlotte. We, it was just a part-time, it started out as a part-time job, something that he could do while he was studying and getting ready to graduate. So... He was a big hiker. Did he love Mount Philo? Yeah, well, he grew up. Well, he grew up on the mountains. So he's done everything. Beautiful. Something's probably that I didn't want to know about. That you do now, right? But yeah, so very close to us, right? Right. And he felt like he knew it quite well. So he started working there, and the Rangers at the time, Kim and John Fergo, Fergult, sorry, I always mispronounce their last name, are the most amazing people. They were the Rangers, they're since gone from there. There's a new Ranger. They really were a great mentor for Will, and he really, really loved them. Great timing. And he would come home and say, God, they're just so easy to work with, and they're so nice. And he was able to do things he liked to do as a park attendant. So it's a student environment. What an opportunity at that age, though, to be treated so well, obviously. I mean, sometimes those part-time jobs are like being in the service. That's right. Yes, that's right. That's beautiful. So he felt very, very at home there. And then he graduated from college that May at UVM, and in July he died. And he died from an accidental overdose of opiates after he had had two major surgeries from sports injuries. His shoulder, did he? Shoulder, major shoulder surgeries. So our family, his dad, my daughter, Meg Wallace, and myself decided that we wanted to do something to perpetuate his spirit. We had, of course, our memorial service up at the top of Mount Filo. And the outpouring of... Sorry, I just have to interject a little. He were into this. Yes, please. Okay, as we were going to Mount Filo that day, that was a beautiful afternoon. It felt... There was definitely a powerful sensation there. But Marcia and I were walking up the road in neutral by like, help! Not much of a climb probably for somebody like you. No, but I could see where it was a workout for you. And that was beautiful, right? No, it was a really special day. We decided to see if we could start a program with the Vermont Parks Forever, which is the State Parks Foundation arm. And it's a charitable foundation. And so I contacted Craig Whipple, who was the head of that at the time. And we discussed what that might look like, an internship, apprenticeship program for the summer for youth in our area in Chittenden County. For younger than Will, you know, 15, 16, 17 year olds. And so we started this. The outpouring from the community was overwhelming for me. People that I, of course, knew friends and family, but also people that I didn't know came out of the woodwork to support this concept and were just beyond kind. And today we've had five summers of interns. This could not have been done without the charitable support of amazing, generous people in our community. And three of those young men, one girl, four boys, and three of the young men have come back to Mount Philo to work there. Oh, what a good story that is. They had such an unbelievable time, you know, team building. What a transformation, though, for a certain people to experience that. They may not have been able to otherwise. Exactly. So Meg and I feel really good about it. And we kind of manage it along with Sarah, who is the executive director of Vermont Parks Forever. And it's called the, it's a mouthful. It's called the Will Haggadorn Mount Philo Forever Fund. So if someone wants to donate to that, they can contact Vermont Parks Forever. Okay. And how do you contact Vermont Parks Forever? What's their website? Do you know offhand? I think it's vermontparks.gov, but don't quote. Okay. That'll pop up, though. It'll pop up. If someone Googled that, it would pop right up. Right. So that is just a really great perpetual fund. We hope to actually broaden that to the rest, make that available to youngsters, youngsters, and the rest of the state at other state parks. That's what I was going to ask you, sort of, what's the next level for you there? And what type of funding are you talking about when you say, one, give us an example of what it would cost to have one internship? Oh, like for the summer, it's around $5,000 per student. Yes. And now we're looking at there's actually enough need for maybe more than one full-time equivalent park attendant. And so it's a youth development program, right? Right. So there are mentors. It's not like you're being hired by the state park. And are there grants for something like that? Like, are you able to apply for grants? Well, we haven't had to, fortunately, because people really want to support that environmental stewardship and youth in our community. That movement is so critical. Yeah. And people are very passionate about Mount Flaileau. Yes. Very. What a beautiful. I mean, it is. Talk about peaceful. You probably go there quite a bit. All the time. I mean, it just, I can only imagine the piece that it can bring to you under, you know. People call me and say I'm up here, people that I haven't spoken to for a while. They'll text or call and they'll say I'm up here. I feel, I just saw a butterfly sitting on this limb. I thought of Will. He's so here. I feel him so strongly. And I can't tell you how many times that happens. Oh, exactly. And so that's a gift. Right. That's a gift. Again, it's, you know, as heartfelt and beautiful as it can be. And those are the types of things that you love to be able to share with people, because it just gives you such great hope and purpose to really keeping that spirit going, you know, because it's obviously appreciated, as we can tell, because of signs and signals that you do get, you know. It's absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Kindness is eternal. Yes. And so is this life, you know. Exactly. And you know, we do have the acts of kindness app, which is called acts of kindness. I'm going to look this up again, but it's spark actsofkindness.com. And it's an actual app so that you can just log in, even what you see somebody else do. And what's nice about that is not only does it make you feel really good if you saw somebody do something, but you, it just puts it out there and then other people are reading about that. Instead of all of the horrible things that you always hear about, you just want to go to a place where it's like, oh, that, and then, you know, they do a nice job with social media as far as posting just different quotes that people make as far as what they did or what they saw somebody else do. So just to get our minds wrapped around healthy, positive things. And there's more out there than we, you know, know of. And that's what we're trying to do is to really be able to make that more of the norm instead of, and it is great. Some people just do things naturally, but I think other people underestimate the power of a little smile or holding the door, right? Because it always seems to, I think, based on the universe, those things come to somebody at just the right time, you know? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I, and that's what we hear from our clients and customers at the Humane Society. Your staff is so kind, so kind to us. Exactly. No matter who we are, how we think, where we come from, what color our skin is, none of that. Your staff is so unbelievably kind. And how great it must feel and how fortunate we are being here to be in a community that there is so much support and love around kindness. I think, you know, Vermont's on the map for how the, you know, the governor did a great job of the pandemic and the communication around that and how we have managed to get through that. And I think stronger in many ways. I mean, obviously there's still a lot that needs to happen, but I've noticed so many good things that were put in place, as you're saying now, even like with your business, that will sustain different, you know, family structures even in the future when they got back to the basics of playing some games and things like that. It's just those little things to remember that it's not all about social media feels good. You know, we can't always be on those devices and we were losing contact with one another. And I think in some ways it's been nice to just come together and make that new normal even better where it can have some of that wholesomeness that we had back in, you know, long even before we were born. So there I know. Exactly. That's not often I get surprised I even remember that. Exactly. But as we wrap up here, Joyce, if you could just, you know, tell us a little bit more about some of the fundraising goals for, I know it's not typical. You have events. Could you tell us maybe some of your events so that people could get involved and raise some money for your fabulous organizations, both of them? I'm hoping that web traffic goes up. Shout out to both organizations and doing great work. Yeah. Thank you. No, the Humane Society, you know, we have two major events. Our walk is our walk and run is unfortunately been virtual for the last couple of years due to the pandemic. And it is this year as well. But that's really our major fundraiser. And there are a lot of different ways to support that. We have peer-to-peer fundraising. There is a website. If you just log on to HSCCVT.org, you will see. Go and hit with it. Yeah. Perfect. So that's coming up in July. Okay, good. The first part of July. And the great thing about doing a virtual walk like that is that you're doing it in your pajamas. Precisely. You can do it anywhere in your backyard. You can go up Mount Fila with your job. July, did you say? Yes. Oh, this is exciting because I am so happy that my brother and his family's little dog, Aspen, is coming to stay with me in the month of July. And then we're doing the kindness tour together, which I want to tell you all about. We're going to head down the east coast and work with you. Can I get on that? Absolutely. Yes, we'll talk about that, but that'll be in July with Aspen. She's traveling with us. So you'll get to meet her. Oh, fantastic. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I'd have to bring Amos, though. Absolutely. Okay. I don't go anywhere with that except I've come here with Amos. And then we have Barkenbrew, which is a really fun, fun event. It's a series of, I think, six people come to the Humane Society and we have a great big dog yard. I think you've seen it. Yes. And we have our sponsors, our beer district. Oh, my goodness. We have every, all these wonderful How long has that been going on? Years. Years and years. Love it, love it. Oh, clever. And I couldn't believe it when I first started. I've only been at the Humane Society for four years, but when I first started, I said, this is my kind of event. Switch, switch back. Sign me up. You know, it's a different. Oh, absolutely. A different, what am I trying to say, beer every, every, you know, and Mo's comes and we have food and people bring their dogs and, and you know, some of our dog behaviors cringe because they say, oh, this is like, oh my gosh, it must get pretty wild. But it's so fun. And so that, we love people to come and support. Yes. And what's the date on that? That happens. It's all through the summer into the fall. Okay. So you can also go on our website and see what those. So, you know, our business sponsors, thank you all. You know who you are. And we certainly are incredibly thankful because, again, these events are really driven by volunteers and our business sponsors and we couldn't do it without them. So there's so, there's so many of them for the walk and we have, we have their real estate displayed on our t-shirts and all our collateral and so forth. And we were sad to not be able to do this in person. We were going to do it at Battery Park this year, but boy, it was just too uncertain. That's the next year. For planning sake, you just, yeah. So yeah, you know, our business community is really a very integral part in our success as well. I mean, primarily our donations come from individuals and foundations. But for these events, I mean, you know, this event will raise $75,000 for us. And that goes a long way. Absolutely. One of the other funds I wanted to just give a shout out to is the Jess Cares Fund, Jan, which is the Parmalo family when Jess passed away a few years ago. She was such an advocate and such an animal lover and canines in particular. And so we, we created this fund with the Parmalo family who's been supporters of ours in the past. So wonderful. So that our animals in our care that come up on transport that come from, that are strays that are brought in from the animal control and need medical assistance we can pay for those. Sometimes it's very expensive. It's thousands of dollars. So, so the family has raised money and we've created this fund for Jess. So it's really a wonderful opportunity. Oh, absolutely. So we're, you know, just wonderful for the Parmalo family right with all that they've done. Yes, amazing. So that's beautiful. Speaking of kindness. Good. Well, we do have to wrap up. We need to keep on chatting. Exactly. We will do that, I'm sure, later on today. But thank you so very much for being here, Joyce. It was such a pleasure and I just driving over, like I said, I'm thinking about you are truly one of the most loving but the funniest people that I know I'm so thankful to call you my friend. Hey, stand up next. Thank you. I love you. Okay, bye. It's a wrap. It's a wrap. Oh my God.