Our Greatest Impact

This year marks five years for WWLDO, and we’re evaluating the impact we’ve had and mapping out a plan to greatly expand that impact. As part of that process, we recently polled some of the shelters we visited in the last few years.

The shelters mentioned the Amazon wishlist items and other donations that came in after our visit, the increased attention from their community, and, in some cases, the long-stay dogs who were adopted.

They also thanked us for the donations we brought with us. While we’ve certainly delivered thousands of much-needed supplies like dewormers, flea/tick treatments and preventatives, food, treats, toys, enrichment tools, milk replacers, and so many other vital items, what struck me in the responses is that the one thing we’ve delivered more than anything else is hope.

One ACO told me that he had been discouraged and thinking of quitting prior to our visit, but the experience reinvigorated him and helped him see the importance of the work he was doing. Like so many of us, we need to know that what we matters.

To that end, the responses from our survey gave us hope, too. What we do does matter. Like that ACO, it also recommitted me to find ways to have even more impact.

Here are just a few of the comments from our survey:

“We are so appreciative of you and your dedication to helping shelters that really need and deserve the help. Often us little guys are over looked.”

“Raising awareness is key to creating solutions for the unwanted, throw away animal population. Who Will Let the Dogs Out has motivated some of our community to get more involved and that alone is a step in the right direction. Rural shelters cannot make it without people like you. Thank you so much for choosing our shelter to support.”

“[Your visit] brought attention to the shelter from the public who has forgotten about it and forced the city to do better in their support.”

“Your visit has made such an improvement in the local community’s perception of our shelter. We are grateful for being included in your shelter tour. The ideas I’ve gotten from your resource guide have been wonderful. I’m so thankful that you put that together for everyone to use. Plus, it’s so nice to have someone that understands the small rural shelters sometimes aren’t able to write for grants because we can’t get some of the information required (this is a problem). And you help us do that by putting us in touch with Nicole [WWLDO’s volunteer Grants Coordinator]. Thank you guys for everything.”

“Seeing people care as much as you all do is very encouraging. Sheltering is hard right now for everyone and seeing someone appreciate the work is amazing.”

“[Your visit] gave the community more of an understanding of the way the shelter runs on a daily basis.”

“Cara’s and WWLDO’s informative and positive exposure of our local shelter and our rescue helped bring in donations and supplies for the many animals in need in our area!! The Facebook posts generated more positive interest in the plight of the animals in need.”

Showing up is often a superpower.

I can still hear one kennel worker proclaiming, “You came!” when we arrived at a shelter in the middle of nowhere. Meeting people where they are and listening to their stories is often more impactful than anything we can unload from our truck.

We are getting ready to travel, once again, to shelters in the south. This time, our focus is on Kentucky. While we’re out, I’ll have the chance to speak at the Kentucky Animal Care and Control Conference. What a privilege it will be to meet so many heroes in one place. And how humbling that I will get to address them. Beyond that, we’ll be visiting five shelters scattered across Kentucky where more heroes are working to save lives during this incredibly difficult time in animal sheltering.

I wish I had the easy answers. I don’t. But what I do have is this – the belief that communities who come together for their animals can create those answers. They can chart a path and write a new story. I know this to be true because I’ve seen it happen all over the south.

Doing this for five years, over more than 150 shelter visits, we’ve seen shelters that have turned themselves around. And in all those places, it happened because of leadership committed to finding solutions, a community that joined the shelter in creating and implementing those solutions, and veterinary access that allowed for it.

If you’d like to send a message of hope to the shelters on our upcoming tour, consider shopping our Amazon or Chewy wishlists, or making a donation to our shelter fund.

And if you haven’t already – register to bid in the upcoming online auction! The proceeds from our auction (of amazing stuff!) will enable us to continue our work helping shelters all over the south (and beyond).

If you work or volunteer at a shelter and need a new idea for just about any aspect of your work, visit our free online resource guide.

Or if you know of a Kentucky (or West Virginia) shelter that would benefit from a visit, please connect us so that we can add them to our tour.

Until each one has a home,

Cara

If you want to learn more, be sure to subscribe to our email list to get the latest stories and solutions delivered to your inbox. And help us spread the word by sharing this post with others. Visit our website to learn more.

Our Annual Online Auction is coming up in September. Check out what we’ve got so far (and register to bid). If you’d like to donate an item, preferably something easy to ship (like gift cards, tickets and/or e-certificates) or something you will ship yourself, reach out. Contact Cara@wwldo.org.

You can also help raise awareness by following/commenting/sharing our content on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok.

To see our Emmy-nominated, award-winning short documentary, Amber’s Halfway Home, click here. If you’d like to see it on the big screen (along with other short dog films), check out the tour schedule of The Dog Film Festival, currently in art movie houses all over the country.

Learn more about what is happening in our southern shelters and rescues in the book, One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues (Pegasus Books, 2020). It’s the story of a challenging foster dog who inspired me to travel south to find out where all the dogs were coming from. It tells the story of how Who Will Let the Dogs Out began. Find it anywhere books are sold.

For more information on any of our projects, to talk about rescue in your neck of the woods, or partner with us, please email cara@WWLDO.org.

And for links to everything WWLDO, including volunteer application, wishlists, and donation options, check out our Linktree.