How Fostering Pets Can Reduce Stress and Improve Mental Health

[0:00]  I was looking at the Mars pets connect us report and it said 83% of adults have communicated or interacted with people that they other lives wouldn't have because they had a connection with their pets and 73% of them uh of those pet owners interacted with people that were were let's just say different from them different cultures different races uh different genders um because they had that instant connection of their pets and it goes both way that is the neatest thing about a year ago there was a study that they said they measured anxiety and stress levels in dogs and cats and when they interacted in a positive way with people their stress levels and cortisol levels dropped as well animals are not robots right uh and some people think

[0:48]  it's a training issue or it's it's broken it's just you can manage a lot of those behaviors so wherever you're at if you're having problems with your pet reach out to you know your local Humane Society and most of them are going to be able to help you whether it's with food or Veterinary um expenses or you know just some behavioral uh tips and tricks to help keep those animals in their home you're not alone all right all right guys welcome back to a brand new episode of the hard and hustle podcast this is going to be an amazing conversation today because I

[1:36]  have an amazing leader who truly represents the intersection of heart and hustle sitting across this digital table with me now today's guest is the CEO of Anderson Humane Dean welcome to the show man a thank you so much for having me I really appreciate it now this is a this is an important episode for me because I grew up in a household with a mother who was a foster mom at all costs she was constantly on week nights on weekends saving animals hunting for people who had lost their animals to try and reunite people in forever homes with their animals and so I'm really excited to kind of have a better understanding about what the current landscape of Humane Societies look like in today's conversation we're really going to be talking about adoption policies we're going to be talking about the role of

[2:23]  pets and combating loneliness we're going to talk about industry challenges and solutions and we're going to talk about kind of your overall Journey so to get us started I think we have an interesting fact that I want to share with the audience when you were younger you started a zoo let's talk about that oh that's right it was a zoo my dad was in the military so uh we I was a milit Air Force brat my my whole uh childhood and uh one of the places we ended up right between junior high and high school was uh South Dakota so we had this little farm at in Fairburn South Dakota look it up it's actually a ghost town old railroad town and uh uh we had about 10 acres and we had everything goats dogs cats of course I had a pet pigeon uh everything that you can imagine we had it on that farm goats or uh Ducks geese you just everything we

[3:14]  always had that passion I can't ever remember a time in my life where I did not have some sort of Pet Companion in our household and you know really that was my dad and my mom they pass that love and that compassion of animals on to me um my dad still to this day uh he takes his dog everywhere with him he's City Council meetings he goes with them to church it goes with them just they just love it um so every our whole family has a passion for it and uh you know I was fortunate enough to work my way into a career that works with animals every single day how do we kind of get on this path I know we have an early love for animals but often people can't make that correlation and connection into something that they can get paid to do so what was your journey like well I for sure I'm not smart enough to be a vet I know many of them and they all all far surpass me in the

[4:01]  brains department so I started out in uh retail and uh had Progressive leadership roles with you know companies like Walmart and petmart and some of those other ones I took a little diversion for a while and had uh a couple of restaurants that I owned and operated and really enjoyed that for a few years and then uh went back into the retail sector and the pet industry with uh a national retailer and uh worked in the stores and then in the district and then as a as a Regional um or excuse me director of operations for the region and then I I really got my start working Hands-On with especially dogs when um I ran our Doggy Daycare division for a couple of years and that was just just a blast every day you'd go in You' see working with clients pets and you know

[4:48]  loving on those dogs all day long and all during that time there was always a a close connection to the different Animal Welfare organizations that worked with us uh we would do that through fun raising and and different events with them um and then I had a mentor that was in the stores with me in operations team and she uh was actually with the the Petco foundation and then she uh went to work for a animal welfare organization in Chicago and she called me up and said Dean would you know I have a role I think you would be good for it I said yes I always loved working for her and uh it was a great fit and uh then she moved like a week after I started there she moved out to Anderson human and I'm like okay I got to stay here for for a

[5:36]  while great organization loved it I really learned a lot with that organization but then the time came and I was able to make that move out here to Anderson Humane with I'm going to say her name Beth Mars she she meant a lot to me and has really taught me a lot over the years and she was director of operations and or excuse me the uh chief operations officer and I was director operations and then uh as we had some turnover uh she took on that CEO role and then uh she did that for six months and retired and then it was my turn to take over the helm here and I'm just so thankful to get to work with uh people that love animals every day uh clients and it's it's doing good for uh the animals and the people so it's what it's all about man I mean it's the perfect

[6:25]  intersection of heart and hustle you know what I mean things that we love and being able to contribute to a bigger Community save animals the hustle that's involved with that is amazing if someone were to double click on this episode what would be one thing that you would hope that they would learn from today's conversation yeah I I would love them to take away that there is lots of opportunity for everybody to help um whether it's just fostering like your mom I shouldn't say just fostering that is a huge huge impact for our organization without our Fosters we do about half adoptions that we do or less um but there's something for everybody there's opportunities even the smallest contribution and volunteer opportunity uh is so impactful to the Animal Welfare organizations and you know you can't

[7:16]  save every animal but that one that you do Save Right it means the world to that animal and to the person that gives it a home for the rest of its life it's an amazing um it's amazing companionship right I mean I think I heard a saying one time and it maybe kind of emotional on social media was like you know your dog in this example might only be there for part of your life but you are their entire life and when we think about just the ability to share time and unconditional love with our animals it's something that I feel like we need to take more seriously and so I want you to kind of paint a picture of what is the current landscape of animal welfare and Humane Societies look like are there Challen that we're facing in our communities what's going on yeah there's there's a lot of challenges right now

[8:04]  but first let me talk about what's really what I'm optimistic about with the Animal Welfare you know uh there are more spay and neuter opportunities for folks than ever before meaning that the animals are not unwanted that they're that no un unwanted no unwanted animals are uh being born at least in my area now in rural areas and in other states there's there's some opportunities where they don't have the access to span neuter like we do but it's being solved and we're making progress every day in communities pause let's pause really quick Dean I want to talk about the idea of spay and neuter because I feel like there's a lot of misconceptions about what having your pets spay and neutered actually means because I have other friends who have animals and they said I

[8:51]  would never get my dog fixed or I'd never get my animal spayed or neutered because it seems like it's a bad idea for the animal what is the upside what's the op optimistic side of that well it does prevent some health issues as the dogs get older for for sure um that's that's proven there's studies that show that you know getting your dog cat spade and neuter can help prevent different cancers as they as they age uh behaviorally it can mean a lot dogs like to go and find other dogs right cats like to go and find other cats um and it kind of takes away that need for them to to roam but most importantly you know it prevents the overpopulation of animals you know you can only place so many kittens and so many dogs or puppies in homes and uh you know let's find homes for the ones

[9:40]  that really need it the ones that you know for whatever heartbreaking reason somebody can't keep their animal let's give them a good home and uh let's let's prevent that overpopulation of of docks and cats and that's a that's a key element is there are so many loving animals that need a forever home and I feel like there is a a misconception where a lot of people have the idea that they want a puppy as an example but there are so many animals that have ended up in Humane Society or Animal Welfare that are amazing animals that can use a place to live I'm a perfect representation of that my dog Here We rescued him and he's been with me for about 9 years now other animals that have been a part of my home have always been animals that we've rescued from the Humane Society and animal welfare and I feel like there are so many other animals out there who

[10:27]  deserve a shot and not every animal has to be a puppy of course you're given that opportunity to go purchase a puppy but there are so many other animals and cats and kittens that can be rescued that I feel like deserve an awesome shot at an amazing life yeah there's there's a lot to be said for getting an older older animal for dogs oftentimes they're potty trained already or they learn their potty training much faster um you know depending on their age they might be uh out of that adolescent period where they're you know need to have this deep seated need to chew on things um Sometimes They Come trained and know their cues um other times they learn them faster um depending on your lifestyle whether it's a Chihuahua or a Great Dane or a hurting dog you know

[11:15]  when they're an adolescent they need a lot of exercise and a lot of time spent with them as they age you know a senior dog can be just a couch potato and maybe that's better fit for some folks's lifestyle they want to have somebody that you know they could take on a walk and then come home and they can both collapse on the couch and just cuddle all night long that's great and it's a joyful thing for them to have and a lot of Humane Societies including us have puppies and kittens available that's okay for somebody's lifestyle too there's benefits for that you have your animal and you're able to you know train them and get them amimated early um nothing wrong with that but I always I always recommend adoption if possible yeah I completely agree I want to talk about some of the changes that have happened in this space specifically

[12:02]  over the last couple years in our previous conversation and I've mentioned it to a couple of my friends is the cost of Veterinary practices right and cost for vets has gone up by 34% since the pandemic how is that impacting your guys' space yeah it's it's been a challenge right uh the cost of veterinary care and even to the cost of things like food and you know uh dog sitters and just everything in general has has risen and uh we're having more and more people requesting surrenders for financial reasons versus um behavioral reasons and what other re you know life changes and and that's that's that can be difficult you know some things that we're working on to do um to combat that is lowcost Clinic we have

[12:50]  invested heavily and even just added a second vet we real excited so that we can do more lowcost spay neuters vaccines uh dentals for our local our local community and able to keep those pets in the home pet food pantries we have people can come into our facility between you adoption hours and we don't ask a lot of questions we're going to help them out with that food they need to be able to keep that pet in their home but it's it's true housing as well is another huge challenge right now you know the housing crisis you know I bought my first house when I was very young and it's becoming increasingly difficult to do that um and so so there's a there's this age range where folks maybe continue to rent and that can be a challenge to have pets so they have to be a little bit older some in

[13:37]  some cases before they're able to to get that first pet or that dog or that cat um so that we're getting a lot of folks calling saying hey I'm moving we just can't take our pet with us it's it's heartbreaking for them so providing resources to them to help find pet friendly housing affordable housing with pets giving them different solutions is is about all you can do there but uh until we can kind of solve that that's going to be one of the big challenges for the near future yeah and you've said that cats are having their day right now compared to dogs so what does that mean yeah cat adoptions are slightly up uh where dog adoptions are are slightly down um which what does that mean that means um the amount of dogs in the shelter that have a have a good outcome compared to cats having a had a good outcome we're very fortunate we are a limited intake uh shelter that's not a

[14:28]  government fa facility so we're we're a 501c3 so we have to adopt an animal out before we take an animal in we do not have to euthanize for space that doesn't mean that's not necessary in some communities right including some other ones in our Chicago area here um we only can operate because they do but I'm very fortunate that um we have are able to do that so you know you may be able to take in less animals if they're not getting adopted quite as fast especially dogs cats they're about 2% increase in their adoptions across the United States but dogs are having a moment where where they're spending longer in the shelter before they get adopted that means less dogs are being brought in and less dogs are having that great outcome overall what is the the annual impact of the

[15:16]  amount of animals that you guys are bringing in to the society what does that look like on an annual basis so people can understand the impact that you guys are having yeah the scope is is really amazing when you think about it so we'll do about 3,500 adoptions this year it's about the same as last year um it's down from the year before but that was kind of during that Peak pandemic time when everybody was taking a home to pet into their home but 3,500 animals that we bring in uh from the local community from impoverished areas without access to veterinary care that we will adopt out a lot of kittens puppies a lot of kittens from the local area and then uh we're seeing as I said um a lot of surrender requests for those financial reasons and sometimes those animals can be a little bit hard to adopt they're those adult dogs that have been in a home they've known one home

[16:02]  for their life and it's a huge change for them so we try to do the best can for those animals make them comfortable and get them adopted as quickly as possible I'd like to talk a little bit about something that you had mentioned which is in our previous conversation which was open adoption policies what does that mean and what is the benefit to that yeah so we are looking for ways to say yes now there's nothing wrong we put our heart and soul into these animals and uh we become attached to them and uh so there's some organizations that may have some more restrictive policies right that take a little bit longer to do that adoption that are looking for that perfect home for it I say I'm looking for a good home for our animals right I'm looking for a loving home and uh that means that when you come in we're going to ask you some

[16:50]  questions about your lifestyle and we're going to try to match you with an animal that's going to be a good fit for your family or guide you to that right animal and um most of the folks that come in are going to qualify for an adoption and we're going to send them home with an animal if there's a good fit for them and if not they'll come back in a week and we'll have something different for them and they can get it then but we're looking for ways to say yes that allows us to adopt out that 3,500 animals every every year and really take care of them and place them into loving homes there was a an amazing story about snowflake that you shared with me last time we talked can you share that story again yeah let me give you the kind of the backstory on on that so um one of the things that is is a huge benefit to

[17:38]  practicing open adoptions it takes away a lot of the Discrimination in adoptions right like people that maybe look different than me uh dress different or speak differently than I do or my team you know sometimes that can be hard you're you don't know are they going to be a good home or not so when you we really try to look at it logically why do we think think there's a barrier to adoption what can we do to take down that barrier to adoption um I need to check my implicit bias right and make sure that um we're making a good decision so my my example for that is is snowflake so uh like to have an office dog in and sometimes that can be a more challenging dog and snowflake was a six-year-old uh pitty mix and uh she would pull hard on a lead she was a

[18:27]  slightly dog re active and um took a little bit to warm up to people she was my office dog first couple days you know she looked at me cross-eyed and then after a week she was my best buddy and went everywhere in the shelter with me take her on a couple walks a day but she sat with me for about six months while we were looking for a great home for her and then a lady named Shirley came in and Shirley was about 90 PBS soak and wet uh I was thinking how is she ever going to walk snowflake she was um advanced an age um and you know she she came right in and and was loving on snowflake I there's no way she's going to be able to handle snowflake especially you know frankly at her age and you know I was talking with her and she was going to go home and think about

[19:14]  it and I was really kind of trying to talk her out of this adoption and I went home and I really just thought and and you know I convicted myself on why why don't I want to you know adopt to Shirley she she has given me no reason not not to if we can make sure that it's going to be a good fit for her so you know I talked to Shirley the next day and she was still loved wanted to take snowflake home I say so what tell me about your yard and you know she had a fenc yard and but I'm not sure if it's good so I don't do this for everybody but I went out and checked her fence not not to see that she had one but just to make sure it was right for her I was going to fix it if we needed to right and uh I took snowflake order her house and we did an inhome visit again not something we usually do but for snowflake she got the little extra treatment and uh you know within a week

[20:03]  snowflake was happy in Shirley's house she was laying on the bed she was out and in and you know the fir every day I'd get a text from Shirley three or four times a day at first hey what are we feeding what do I do here and happily to ask her because I was really glad that snowflake had a had a great home and um you know after a while get a text every week and then every month and then after about a year year and a half you know I I haven't got a text from Shirley in a in a little bit and you know I texted her and then she texted back and then about a week and a half later I got a call that Shirley had passed away which was heartbreaking right and they're like we can't get snowflake out of the house she is distraught of course she was right she had she had the her best friend right had just passed so we

[20:53]  went in and um she remembered us of course and I had visited a couple times times and she jumped right in my truck and we went back to the shelter and she was my office dog again for not as long this time about six weeks cuz you know I KN I knew how to talk about sh about snowflake now and then and this is a nice part we took her to an adoption event one of our partners a really large one um after after most of the dogs had been adopted I went back for more and got her so she could have her space right and then a couple that came in they were a little tentative because they hadn't adopted a dog and it hadn't worked out and just like we say we're going to give you a chance with it animal we'll take them back if it's not working out it just wasn't a good fit for them so again other agencies would say Hey you know you returned a dog once you're not getting any more out right no man if this doesn't work this dog wasn't

[21:42]  a good fit for you and you did everything you can I mean it's you know we we talk to him and so we tried him with Snowflake and it's kind of the same thing went over to the house and and got him set up and now she she is with this wonderful couple who just loves Snowflake and and so you know she had two good outcomes but I want to think about you know what that year and a half that she had with Shirley meant to Shirley right and what it meant to snowflake I mean they had a a bond I could see that every time when I tell this in to a big group of folks I tear up because it's just such an emotional emotional story but you know so she snowflake got two chances and she she hit the lottery both times and uh she's happy in her home I check it on them once in a while and and she she's doing

[22:29]  great but but had I just went with my gut reaction when Shirley came in she wouldn't have had that opportunity to have that love of snowflake and and to give snowflake that love and it might have been another three months before she got adopted who knows or maybe until the other couple came in a year and a half later you know so you never know and it keeps us honest so you know our team if they say no if they can't if they can't guide somebody to the right animal and have to say no to an adoption then we do something times you know we have to but I'm going to ask them about it what why what what did we have to do and they know they're going to have to tell me and and it really takes away those barriers and those as I said implicit biases and uh makes it kind of an even playing field for everybody there's a there's an element

[23:16]  which is so human in that which is Judgment right when we have something that sits in front of us like snowflake that we've made a bond with we want to make sure that she is going to be okay and so naturally it's okay to think about we're going to protect her but in order to create opportunities for Connection in the future we kind of have to let her go right and I love the fact that you aren't holding a returned animal as an example against a family because you said it perfect not everybody's a perfect fit on the first time yeah and they learned a little bit and you know I looked into the case and found out what the return was for and it was for a legitimate reason it was not a good fit for their their life at that at that time and the other benefit to that is had I said know that was a spot that I couldn't bring another animal in to

[24:02]  help save their lives right or our team couldn't bring another animal in to save their lives so snowflake went in but that gave how many other animals opportunities to come into the system and find that loving home you are a perfect representation about what this podcast is really all about man you know just like being able to have an open heart to create opportunities for connection that can last a lifetime or for the reason and the season of why either there like surely and Snowflake and I'm sure the owners of snowflake if they ever get you know a hold of this podcast are going to look about look back and see her Amazing Story and the path that led her to them which is really cool you know there's a there's an element of isolation in loneliness that I feel like you have a real opportunity to kind of harp on here so in 2022 the

[24:50]  Surgeon General came onto a national broadcast and mention that the biggest challenge in our society today is isolation and loneliness I want to talk about how animals can create a sense of companionship it can help us reduce struggles that we have from a mental health perspective like anxiety how does that kind of stuff work with our animals yeah well Studies have shown that just 10 minutes of of petting or interaction with a dog or a cat can reduce anxiety stress and your cortisol levels uh immensely and can improve your heart health you know not to mention the other benefits of of connection with that animal and having that that companionship um it also provides many many social opportunities I was looking at the Mars pets connect us report and it said 83% of adults have communicated

[25:40]  or interacted with people that they otherwise wouldn't have because they had a connection with their pets and 73% of them uh of those pet owners interacted with people that were were let's just say different from them different cultures different races uh different genders um because they had that instant connection of their pets and it's goes both way that is the neatest thing about a year ago there was a study that they said they measured anxiety and stress levels in dogs and cats and when they interacted in a positive way with people their stress levels and cortisol levels dropped as well so it's just it really is a perfect I mean we've been working on it for what 10,000 years right dogs and cats we are bonded we are we are together we work we work together with

[26:29]  them and uh you know physi physiological we Lee we um you know we help each other along right we really do it's a perfect example I've got a little guy who's sitting back here if anybody who's watching the episode can see my dog Kell so got him when he was very young and we grew up in a house of me and five other guys and so our house when I was in college was kind of more like a a communal Gathering Spot right and Kell has bouts with anxiety today when he's Alone by himself he really gets anxious and he gets kind of shaky and we've had some issues that we've dealt with but one thing I Noti is when people are around just like this study talks about he's so much calmer he's so much more relaxed and he's so much more friendly um and I think about just how

[27:17]  much humans mean to him because he's always been such a social animal and I feel like it's really important to recognize that that study goes both ways right not only does he reduce my stress but I uce his which I guess means that we were meant to be together you know what I mean he's your companion right and that's it's all about it's about companionship and connection and and really just creating that wonderful uh loving Bond and clearly you have it with him and uh you know we like it's it's such a blessing that I get to help uh facilitate those connections each and every day do you ever get time to pause and think about the sense of gratitude that comes along with the joy and the sense of connection and the support that you have been able to create just by the

[28:04]  role in which you play in connecting all of these animals with their forever homes I tell you what a lot of times it's it's what keeps me going right you know just just we it's the same as any other role right there are problems you know we're a nonprofit so I am always worried about money it is the biggest thing we worry about right is where's the money coming to do this where's the money coming to do that or you know we have have those problems just like every other organization um does but you're right you know you stop and you get to think about the mission that you know we're embarking on and that uh that we're able to fulfill those connections with people and you know the animal that we're helping and the and really that person that is making that connection as as well and Animal Welfare can be tough

[28:54]  right you know we're are right up there and it's the bummer part but we're right up there with uh they say dentists and police officers and those those high-risk professions for suicide because folks get burnt out and and I really think the key to that it's it's easy to say but the key to helping prevent that is to think about the good you're doing don't you know help the animal that you that you're trying to help and and when you can't when it doesn't work out when that animal's uh returned and and there's some returns that or or surrenders that man they're better off with us right right not a lot but some and when you see that and it's easy to get jaded so I think you're right Kenan it's so so important to focus on the mission focus on the good

[29:42]  that we're doing focus on you know the the positive outcomes that we're able to have to use an animal reference birds of a feather a feather flock together right and the one thing that I've recognized in my experience of growing up is there is a certain type of person person who is willing to serve animals to serve beings that can't stand up for themselves how do you kind of think about building a culture in the Humane Society and thinking about the people that come and support who how who are the type of people that come and serve every single day right by your side you know it's it's a lot like other organizations there's a there's a wide variety you have your your people that love animals but they but they really love people and they can really make that connection with the the client that we're servicing and then we have the

[30:29]  folks that are coming in that really have this deep passion for for animals and and feel sometimes maybe more connected to animals than they do people and that's okay um maybe they're quieter maybe they're more introverted and hey I I just want to walk dogs and clean kennels or or interact with the cats and we'll let you know our adoption team work with the clients and that's okay too right we've got something for for everybody but what's really gratifying is people don't think of animal welfare in general as you know a a career opportunity I really really have been um blessed to see you know folks develop in their careers and advance and you know be able to take care of their family

[31:17]  while working in a Humane Society and uh working in fulfilling a a really impactful Mission and uh so trying to develop folks f is is really a you know kind of a a passion to to you know keep them engaged with this work and show them that they can be here for a while and then there's some folks that come and they you know they they're working at we just had a gentleman uh who was a kenel tech for us he's one of our leads and he just graduated from nursing school and he's after you know two or three years he's going on to at the end of the year to be a nurse great we loved having him for his season in Animal Welfare and I know he's going to you know volunteer and Foster and all the other good things for us as well yeah you definitely can't shake that bug once

[32:04]  you've been a part of it you know it's always been something that I've thought about when I have capacity It's always important to show up and to serve the animals who don't have anybody to serve them you know absolutely so Dean what is what is a topic that maybe we haven't been talking about here today that we should be talking about more yeah you know it's so important right now to uh get involved with um with the ability to keep those animals in their homes right now right so as and I have touched on this several times it's animals are not robots right uh and some people think it's a training issue or it's it's broken it's just you can manage a lot of those behaviors so wherever you're at if you're having problems with your pet reach out to you know your local Humane

[32:52]  Society and most of them are going to be able to help you whether it's with food or Veterinary um expenses or you know just some behavioral uh tips and tricks to help keep those animals in their home um you're not alone you know and and sometimes you don't have to always give up those animals your animal does not have to be perfect behaviors can be managed right you said your dog sometimes has a little bit of anxiety mine doesn't like children right so I just keep them away from children if we have him over the house he's happy in the bedroom for a couple hours you know there's ways to manage many of those beh behaviors same thing with cats right um there's ways to manage those behaviors so just really uh focus on trying to keep those animals in the home is very important and that's that's part of it

[33:41]  right I mean just like humans we're all have our different Tendencies we all have our different areas of focus and we all have different things that make us unique and I think it's really important to recognize that every animal is not going to fit in every scenario and that's not a bad thing like you said if someone were to hear this episode and they say I mean the dog doesn't like children why isn't a dog like kids because not every animal like kids you know what I mean Kell doesn't appreciate being by himself but my other dog Lucy over here loves being by herself and she hangs out on the couch and watches TV all day that's just not his bag and so recognizing that we have to be adjustable we have to be flexible enough to meet these animals where they are to give them the respect and the love that they deserve I think is really important and we should really harp on that so I'm glad that you really brought that up yeah you're so right I mean they're they're a lot like people right you know

[34:28]  there's there's certain things that you know quirks that people have right that that you just you're not it's it's not even a matter of fixing it it's just who they are and sometimes it's the same way with animals and you can you can manage that behavior or or you know put them in situations where they Thrive versus you know having to to go with that one thing we haven't talked about is our work with Wildlife so we you know we've talked a lot about our domestic side but we work with uh over 3,000 wildlife animals every year as well with our rehab program so everything from orphaned and injured uh turtles and ducks and geese to um raccoons and Raptors and you know you name it uh we get them into our Wildlife Center and and that is is different but much the same of course

[35:15]  we're not trying to adopt these our goal for these animals are to release them out into the wild but it's it's many of the same um types of folks compassionate hardworking you know we've got uh interns and staff and volunteers that will feed baby birds in especially in June every 15 minutes from sun up to sun down every 15 minutes and then you know and then it's a little less and it's now hour and then it's two hours and and then they can go out to the flight cages and then you know you see those animals released into the wild it is such a wonderful thing whether it's a whether it's a hummingbird or or a turtle that crawls back into the to the river it's it's amazing to see the the positive outcomes um and sometimes that's given the wildlife a um dignified

[36:04]  and kind um end of life you know if they're too injured to rehab yes and that takes it takes a lot of um emotional uh maturity for our folks to be able to do that and it also takes a toll on them to to work with those animals so um they're really really I'm going to call them Heroes our Wildlife team they're all all our staff is Heroes but um the Wild Life team especially because they have to have a special compassion for those wild animals man well we've talked a lot about some of the opportunities that are in front of us some of the challenges that come along with being a leader of an organization like yours if we had to use the next couple seconds here to create a call to action for people to reach out give their support either with time just their presence or financially what would

[36:52]  be a piece of advice to them if somebody wants to get involved yeah just take that first step okay uh call the organization go on their website sign up to volunteer you know every organ every animal wealth organization needs uh financial support they just do they or whether it's dollars or inine donations they need that every animal welfare organization needs volunteers um like I said that's our life bud and uh we have volunteer opportunities for everything whether it's administ FR rtion to as I said Hands-On cleaning and and a lot of people want to do you know that variety of um activities and we have folks that do both right we've got volunteers that that work 40 hours volunteering every

[37:41]  week for us and and and I feel like they're like one of our staff members and and you know when they say and have an idea man that means a lot because they're even more engaged than than you know our our staff members they're they're one of us right they're one of the team and as you said your mom uh fostered for for many years and uh that is always a way to provide that loving home for them while they're waiting for their next uh stop on their journey is is impactful no matter how good we make the shelter and we do a lot of enrichment for our animals right we do everything from you know our dogs get four walks a day our cats are out multiple times a day you know we play games with them and puzzles with them volunteers lead the those teams but no

[38:28]  matter what we do it's not as good as being in your home and if you can keep them in your home and provide that love for them and then let them go and it's not necessarily easy but then take somebody else in you're saving more and more animals and and they're just an amazing group those Fosters so there's multiple ways just get involved that's what I would say just get involved and how can we find more information about your organization yeah Anderson uh it's ahc connect.org if you Google andersonhuman South Elgen we'll pop up and you'll be able to click on our website and uh get the information about us that's amazing man well as we kind of land the plane here one of our traditions on the podcast is to ask a question that came from a previous guest

[39:15]  and I'm really interested to see how you answer this one so the frame of this is as a leader of an organization and as we go through life as individuals we always go through our ups and downs and sometimes we have to lean on a memory to think about who was somebody who brought us joy when you were leaned into somebody invested time and made you feel like you were the center of the world who was that one person who you can think of that made you feel incredibly special and just feel like you were on top of the world I I got to say my rock for the past 32 years has been my wife Angie and um you know through the ups and the downs she is always there for me she's involved with Anderson as well she's one of the she's not doesn't work

[40:02]  here but she's one of the team members right she she knows more about Anderson than anything else and whenever I have to think of someone uh to to lift me up it's it's my wife Angie for sure well that's amazing well everybody who's tuning in watching and listening today to the heart and hustle podcast let's give Dean a huge round of applause for the amazing work that you're doing lifting up those who need a voice and need support in this world and just creating so much opportunity for connection and companionship man it really means a lot and I can't thank you enough for coming on the show seriously well thank you for having me and and I'm I'm blessed to have such a wonderful group that I get to work with every day including our board members and our volunteers and our staff who give their heart and soul to to the animals that we that we care for and there we go guys

[40:51]  that's a wrap we'll catch you in the next one by