Continuing the Game of Giving: Courtney Mahoney and Chicago Wolves Community Commitment

Chicago Wolves’ Courtney Mahoney on Adopt-a-Dog Nights, Community Giving, and Women in Hockey Ops

Host Julie Marty Pearson welcomes Courtney Mahoney, Chicago Wolves president of operations, to discuss how she rose from a college intern with no hockey background to overseeing multiple departments by saying yes to new responsibilities across game ops, community work, creative, TV, and merchandise. Courtney shares the Wolves’ long-running commitment to Chicagoland giving—especially their monthly Adopt-a-Dog game nights with Border Tails Rescue and Right Way Rescue, where fans can meet dogs in the arena and adopt on the spot, contributing to over 1,900 adoptions and strong retention. She also highlights additional animal-focused efforts like pet health fairs offering free vaccines in underprivileged communities and volunteer shelter support. The conversation also covers Courtney’s experience as a woman in hockey operations, the importance of growing women’s leadership, and practical ways listeners can support nonprofits with time, talent, or treasure.

01:12 Courtney Career Journey
02:51 Rising Through Roles
04:36 Passion Projects and Real Work
06:29 Adopt a Dog Nights
09:11 Beyond Adoption Giving Back
11:47 Personal Pets and Loss
13:34 Women Leading in Hockey
17:11 Community First Leadership
17:28 Women In Sports Careers
19:53 Trust Your Gut
20:45 Ditch The Shoulds
21:59 Giving Back Through Work
25:24 Shelter Reality And Support
27:27 Game Day Dog Adoptions

Transcript

Julie Marty-Pearson 0:00

Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers. Welcome to a brand new episode of The Story of My Pet podcast. I am your host, as always, Julie Marty Pearson, and I am happy to be here today to bring you some new stories of amazing pets I'm so happy to have you here to hear this brand new interview. It's a little different than some of the ones we usually do, but I know you're going to enjoy it. I would love to welcome my guest to the podcast, Courtney Mahoney. Thank you so much for being here.

Courtney Mahoney 0:30

Thank you for having me. Very excited.

Julie Marty-Pearson 0:33

So Courtney is coming to us from Chicago and she is the president of operation for the Chicago Wolves Hockey Team. So when I say a different, a different guest, you know, I like a variety depending on what we're talking about. But I have spoken to people from the Chicago Wolves before. I spoke with Jason, one of the announcers, and we talked a lot about how your team. Uses its role as a team, as having games and just as a friend, you know, as an organization to support your community. Very much. So we're gonna discuss all of that. Before we get there, I always like to get to know my guest first. So Courtney, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to be the president of operations of a hockey team?

Courtney Mahoney 1:20

Yeah, it's amazing. Um, I grew up in the suburbs outside Chicago. I grew up in Western Springs, LA Grange, always played sports. Seemed that something I wanted to get into without really knowing what that meant. And then I went to school at University of Wisconsin Madison, where I studied communications in Spanish and did a bunch of internships. Just kind of, again, getting a feel for what I wanted to do and then starting to get a grasp, like event planning and fundraising and giving back. And then there was an internship at the Chicago Wolves. I didn't know anything about hockey. It was very new. They had started in 94, 95, and then I graduated in 96. So I started there. Right away. And just slowly like worked up the path. But it was just like a tremendous opportunity to learn different roles. And for me, the opportunity to work in sports, in a fundraising capacity, in a community capacity was unbelievable. And then our owner, Don Levi, is someone who gives so much back to the community that it just like the stars aligned, I would say.

Julie Marty-Pearson 2:26

Yeah. You know, I've read about him and also heard about him in my previous interview, and I love it when people use their position for good. Mm-hmm. But especially to support their local community. You know, it's really easy to give money or give big checks, but when you're really focused on the needs of your local community, it seems like that's what you guys do a lot. So what were some of the roles you had early on that. Kind of helped you learn, but then grow into your role now?

Courtney Mahoney 2:51

Yeah, I mean, I, I think it was, I think I'm very privileged to be in a, a job where you do get to give back to the community and, and have earned a lot of autonomy and deciding like what we wanna do and how we wanna do it. But yeah, I, I started as an intern. Um, I did that for about a year and my boss at the time left, so I had taken over that department and then I'm like, ah, it'd be kind of cool to play the music at the games. And they're like, well, why don't you take over all of that? And I just gradually, like I took on any opportunity anything, anything was asked of me, I just kind of did it. And so after game ops, I was doing the community and game ops and then, our creative person actually left and they asked me to run that department, which was very different 'cause I didn't know any. I still don't know anything about creative or design, but I could help manage the efficiencies of the department and it's actually works out great, so they don't have to worry about my opinion on a lot of stuff. So they're very, very talented. So if I could just kind of help them with everything and then television and merchandise and just slowly. Accumulated more and more departments. So we have John Sada who runs the business side, which is like tickets and corporate sales, mostly revenue. And then I run the whole operation side, which is more of the community game day focus, merchandise, really anything else. And it was you just kind of, you take on, you learn, and you. You make mistakes and you learn from them and improve. And, uh, it just, it's been amazing. And to have, again, I guess I it's so amazing to have an owner that's so dedicated to the community and spends wants that to be a priority. As much as anything else is, as much as winning a championship is, is really amazing. And I, I don't know any different. I hope I don't ever have to. So it's, it's been tremendous.

Julie Marty-Pearson 4:36

Well, I love that because I think a couple things come out no matter who's listening, whether you're a man or a woman, the idea of taking a role at an organization you know, very little about. Yeah, I'll be an intern for a hockey team. I know that would be like me saying that because I don't know a lot about hockey. I could probably say that about most sports. It's okay to do it and just see if you like it. Mm-hmm. It may not be a good role, but maybe it will. But then also once you're there and you see it's a good organization, I, a lot of what I'm hearing is you were just like saying, yes, okay, yes. I'll try it. Let me try it. Let me see if I could do that for you. Right.

Courtney Mahoney 5:11

Definitely. And I, I've had a lot of colleagues at, and we all kind of had that same mentality and they've gone on to different. Organizations, but you're like, yeah, I'll do it. You want me to number check a p? Got it. You want me to set up the dog cages? Got it. Like, whatever it is, you just kind of do it. And it's essential to, and I agree, like figure out what you wanna do and what you love. I mean, if you're gonna get into sports, especially, it's a passion project. It's a grind and it's not a lucrative thing, but you're there for the love of the game and it's, it's a privilege to do that. But it's you, you gotta love it.

Julie Marty-Pearson 5:43

Yeah. And I think people oftentimes, especially I think in sports, they see the shiny photos or reels on. Mm-hmm. Oh, that looks like so much fun. It's like, yeah. But there's hours and hours of work behind all of that. Mm-hmm. So it is important for people to be realistic. For sure.

Courtney Mahoney 5:58

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 6:00

And I also think that's true. You know, for me, podcasting is a passion. It is a part of my business and I do make some money helping other people start podcasts and do things like that. But I love it. I love sitting here with people and interviewing them and getting to know people all over the world, and also getting to be an advocate, which is what I get to do. Mm-hmm. I get to advocate for women, but I also get to advocate for pets who cannot advocate for themselves. Yeah.

Courtney Mahoney 6:25

It's amazing and we need more people like you.

Julie Marty-Pearson 6:28

Well, thank you. I appreciate you, but we also need more sports teams like you guys because, so you guys have been doing the dog adoption events at your games, some of your home games for what I learned from Jason was for many, many years. So can you tell the listeners, remind them if they didn't hear that interview, talk a little bit about. What that is and what that program's about.

Courtney Mahoney 6:50

It's amazing and it's really, I always say pet project, with no pun intended of our owner is obviously huge into supporting animals. And we started, I, yeah, I think it's like many, many years ago. Over at least over 20, if not more. And what it is is essentially one game a month, usually what? A Saturday per month. We bring dogs out, they're in our south lobby and, and. Folks have a chance to kind of meet and greet with them. We work with a border tails rescue and right way rescue, and they're taking dogs home. Like we, we had 19 dogs adopted at our game in January. And it's bananas. It's bananas that people are coming to games and leaving with a dog. But the retention rate has been absolutely amazing. Jason, by the way, just adopted another dog last sat the Saturday. Oh my gosh. So unfortunately he lost one and uh, he, his. He and his wife adopted another one, so we're, we're very thankful. But yeah, it, it's crazy. I've had, I always joke like my blimp guys adopted a bunch. I had a buddy that came to the game left and she had her dog for 15 years. It's, it's incredible. And now I think. Because we've been doing it for so long. A lot of times people are coming with the expectation, Hey, if I'm gonna get one, we're gonna get one from one of these great, uh, shelters. So it, it's, we have 'em on the ice, we introduce them, we have 'em in the aisles. Hey, meet, you know, meet, Mick, and you can take 'em home and promote it. It, it's, it is a feel good. And while the owner is certainly very, did you get a hundred dogs adopted? But. If you get one or two, it's amazing. You've changed somebody's life and you've changed that dog's life. And again, I know I keep saying it, but it is a privilege of a job where you, you go to work and you come home and you, we found 19 dogs, found a new home.

Julie Marty-Pearson 10:28

Absolutely. As someone who has volunteered and also worked part-time in a shelter and did a lot of those out in the community events and bringing the dogs out, one adoption is worth the event. Right. That's what we would always say. Like it was, we hated it when we would have to pack all the dogs back up mm-hmm. And take it back to the shell. We fell bad for them because the dogs like. Get a break, they get to get out of, you know, they aren't, they don't aren't running around in the yard all day at a shelter or a rescue, you know, they're taken care of, but it's limited and so it's so heartbreaking. But one is where that 19 is huge, you know? It's

Courtney Mahoney 11:01

amazing. Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 11:03

Big impact.

Courtney Mahoney 11:04

And it is, it's a huge priority for us. We spend times, he does pet health fairs in the summer for underprivileged communities that pet owners can get vaccinations and shots, uh, at no charge. We do, we did a dog Thanksgiving where we had the players bring, uh, Thanksgiving meal to the dogs at Border Tails. So it's literally like, what can we do to help this community? And that's kind of the mantra, whether it's dog related or anything else. What else can we do? What more can we do to get back to the Chicagoland community?

Julie Marty-Pearson 11:35

And I think that's so important for anyone listening because fundraising and volunteering and all of that is great for once or one event. And that does impact small organizations, small rescue shelters, but the overcrowding, popul, overcrowding, overpopulation we are dealing with right now in the US is so overwhelming. Mm-hmm. That it needs consistent support. So I see that's what you guys really are doing. You're not just talking about it, having one big event and being like, yay us, we did this. Right. It's a consistent effort. And also the vaccines, that's a huge part of what plays into the overpopulation and people giving up animals is not being able to afford their you know, vet care because it's so expensive.

Courtney Mahoney 12:18

Yeah, it, it, it is, it's an, it is an incredible thing and I kind of, somebody had quoted this to me and it's always time, talent, treasure. Like, what, how do you have the ability to give back as a human, as you know, do you have time? You can just donate your time, your talent, Hey, I, I can't, I don't have the money, but I'll help you do your website or I'll help you with your podcast 'cause it's a great cause. And then treasure, obviously donating money. So there's so many ways to give back to the community. And we do, we feel it's not a one and done. We wanna build partnerships. In the summer too. We'll, our staff will go and volunteer and just take dogs out at the shelters. It's again, it's just what, yeah, just getting those guys a little bit of free time and it's great for the staff. I mean, you get, oh, you get to run around. Dogs cool.

Julie Marty-Pearson 13:01

Yeah. There's nothing, there's nothing bad about getting to go, Hey, let me go walk dogs for a day, or, or, you know, our lo one of my local shelters does I'm totally blanking on the name of it, but it's like, take a shelter dog out for the day where people come in. They do like short-term foster, they take 'em out, they get to take photos and videos, and that helps the animals. And a lot of what you guys do with your events is all these photos of these dogs, the photos with your mascot, which I love. All of that gets put on the website. The rescues get to share it. It's all a domino effect of the different ways. Like you said, if you can't donate money, if you can't donate your time, follow on social media. Help them in other ways, because certain

Courtney Mahoney 13:38

word, yeah,

Julie Marty-Pearson 13:38

they need all of it. Absolutely. So are you an animal lover? Do you have pets yourself?

Courtney Mahoney 13:43

I am an animal lover. I had a dog for about 15 years. Mick Badger Mahoney. Uh, he has, he has passed, so I haven't quite gotten, he is the, he is, uh, the, the, uh. The mo the mantra or the model for the adopt a dog, his hands and face. But no, I haven't, I haven't gotten back to it. So I, for me right now, it's, it's the, what else can I do to build a community? 'cause I'm not quite ready to It's it's, uh, yeah, it was heart. It's heartbreaking.

Julie Marty-Pearson 14:13

I totally understand and I think, you know, we're all different in that some of us anticipate it and maybe get the new pet before our older pet has left. Sometimes we need space without one and really honor the pet. We lost I know when my last childhood dog passed, my dad was like, Nope, I am never doing it again. I can't go through this. We all have,

Courtney Mahoney 14:34

yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 14:35

Our needs and what feels right to us.

Courtney Mahoney 14:38

It's wild. My best friend, I remember when she lost her dog, she, and she's got three kids, she's, I'm like, why? Just to take a week? And then literally two days later, she's like, I adopted two dogs. It's just, yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 14:48

Yeah. So we currently have three cats. Our oldest. Is 16 and a half. He has arthritis and he's diabetic, so,

Courtney Mahoney 14:58

oh, there you

Julie Marty-Pearson 14:58

go. We decided to let him live out his golden years peacefully and not bringing a dog into the mix and stressing him out. But don't worry, it's like all the ideas. Who else, where else?

Courtney Mahoney 15:09

Yes, yes, definitely.

Julie Marty-Pearson 15:10

But like you said, we get our. Fix from volunteering and going to the, you know, I love, sometimes I dog sit for friends. Mm-hmm. I go volunteer at the shelter. We can go still get our fix even if it's not the right time for us to add to our fur family. Right?

Courtney Mahoney 15:25

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Julie Marty-Pearson 15:27

We've talked about all the charity and all of that, which I think is so important and I love sharing what you guys do, but I also kind of wanna talk to you to flip it a little bit, is your role as president of operations for a hockey team as a woman. What I heard early on when I started talking with people from, the organization was, it's rare to have a woman in this role in hockey. So what is that like for you, even though you've. Sounds like spent your whole career with this team, and so, you know, it's your life too. But obviously in interacting with other teams, it's a little bit different. How, what can you tell us about

Courtney Mahoney 16:02

that? Yeah, it's wild. I mean, I, I will say it's one of those, I never felt anything with the wolves, like, in, in any negative capacity. I felt that, you know, I really worked harder. I felt I worked harder than anybody I. And I think Don Levi recognized that and kept promoting me and giving me a responsibility. I don't think truly it had anything to do with being a woman. He's just like, you're really good at this. Do this. And, and, um, we built that rapport. So I always, and he is a guy. I mean, I was so privileged to work. You know, to work for him. We have the amount of power. Women in this office are the number one salesperson in the whole entire league. Stephanie Evans crushes it day after day. She's been here for almost over 15 years, probably more than that. Jackie Schroeder, who's our executive director. So there's a lot of women in high ranking. Positions here, which is awesome. And because it's always been that way. I mean, I've been in a position, I've dealt with the hockey side very early on 'cause I was doing the community and, and the now Governor Wendell Young, who was GM player at the time, is kind of like my surrogate father. We built that rapport. So I never felt like someone always had my back. And it wasn't almost necessary. Like, this is how this goes here, this is, I'm gonna be your best friend here. I'll help you guys find a house. I'll help your wives. I'll help your family, but. So I never, I've been like, knock on one, have really felt that discrepancy ever in this organization. But it is, you know, my job to continue to grow the other females in our office and give them all the tools to succeed. Any young person that comes and talks to me about what they can do, uh, how they can grow and offer that advice, and I do, I think you have the rules unfortunately aren't quite the same. From men and women in this sport, and I think you have to represent yourself very professionally. You can't get away with as you know, as much as the men. But I, and it is, it's a, it's a, especially hockey's an old school, right? Boys world, but it's you just, you, you kind of figure out how to navigate that and it's my job to like set that tone, set parameters, and then really do everything, whether it's for the women in my office or you know, I have a very good friend of mine that is. A VP at the Chicago Bears and like, Hey, you need another reference point. She's crushing it. Someone over at, uh, the black, you know, so you, you continue to do that and enable, and enable and really support. So, but fortunately, yeah, I, I've been so privileged here that it's just been. I just yelled at two players yesterday. It was great. So it's just like, yeah, I got it. Sorry.

Julie Marty-Pearson 18:46

You saying that makes me think of, I can't think of the name, that there's a show on Netflix. I think it's basketball, that Kate Hudson is like,

Courtney Mahoney 18:52

yeah, yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 18:53

And it's that same thing. She's like, I grew up with this team. I could yell at him if I wanted to. Yeah,

Courtney Mahoney 18:57

yeah, yeah. It's not, it's a little different. Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 19:00

Right.

Courtney Mahoney 19:01

But that show was great though. But you're like, yeah, but, and it is. You just, and we've designed it I mean, because I ask the guys to do a lot in the community, and most are really, really good about it. You want, I, I wanna be the number one person. I always say, right. If it's not paycheck or power play, I'm your person.

Julie Marty-Pearson 19:17

I love that. But I also love that, you know, there's two sides of this. We talk about. Gender roles and women breaking the ceiling, all those things. But it sounds like for you, this organization was really just about nurturing someone who was doing the work and was good at it and they supported you. Mm-hmm. Didn't matter who you were, you were just doing it and, but because that you are a woman and now you're in this position, you see your role and your importance of supporting other women in these roles that maybe not traditionally were held by women. Correct. And so I think that's really important for people to hear. Because it doesn't have to be that we, you specifically set out to be a female president, right? It was, this is the role you were able to get based on your years and hard work and all of that. But now that you're there, you see how can you help others in other roles or help other women get into other roles? And I think that's really key is. A lot of us as women feel like we can't do anything to help, but we can do something with wherever we are at in our own world, in our career, or whatever that may be.

Courtney Mahoney 20:17

Absolutely. And it is, it's growing and especially a lot of times, you know, we have people here for one or two years and then they move on to a different organization and do something different. So it is, it's giving them the tools and especially. When they start here, it can be young, it can be right outta school. And, and it's like, Hey, these are the basic tools. But this is how you got it. How I would recommend how you handle your business as a female in sports. And like I said, and it is, this is an organization that recognizes hard work. No matter what, but you just, you need more people with seats at the table. It's more women in PO decision making positions and we have to continue to build that. So it's just not an anomaly anymore. That, it's not like, oh, there's one female president in the American Hockey League. Like, let's have 10, like we can have 10, we can have as many as we want. Like it's could be great. Right? Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 21:11

But I also think it's important to say that because, you know, it also isn't just about being able to say you have this many women in these roles. It's, they're in the roles that are the right fit for them and the right fit for the team or the company. And it sounds like that is exactly what you are for your team. Yeah, and it may not be the

Courtney Mahoney 21:28

same. Our women in this office crush it like it is. Like I said, we have the who like monsters and tickets. We have a. Unbelievable woman who runs our client services, our social media gal is unbelievable. So it's like really cool to be like, well, we're amazing at what we do, period.

Julie Marty-Pearson 21:46

Yeah. And I also think it's important for women to say, you know, if you're at a company and it doesn't feel right, is to listen to your gut. Because there are places where you know it will feel right. It'll feel like Correct. Yes, yes. I'm appreciated. I can move up here. I'm not fighting against everything every day. So there's also kind of that side of like, it's okay to trust your gut and be like, yep, this is not the right place for

Courtney Mahoney 22:06

you. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Julie Marty-Pearson 22:08

And I'm sure you have to do that too sometimes with your staff, it's like, you know what, you're great, but this is not the right place for you or not the right job for

Courtney Mahoney 22:16

you. Correct. Yeah. It's a, it's, it takes a special like. I do, I think a special person to really be in sports and understand the grind, and understand the push pull between sales and ops and all of that stuff. And if you don't love it, it is so much time that it's just not worth it for you.

Julie Marty-Pearson 22:38

Yeah. You know, that's a conversation that comes up a lot for me, whether it's in interviews I'm doing or being interviewed, is this idea of we have the power to kinda step back and say, am I enjoying this right? Do I like doing this? Like sometimes I think I hate editing. Someday I'll hand it to someone else. That's very simple. But I think that a lot of times, especially us as women, we have to. Own the power that we get to change our lives or make our decisions. And it can be scary and it can be hard, but it's also very empowering to be like, I hate doing this. Why am I still doing it?

Courtney Mahoney 23:10

Yeah. And then it is like the shoulds, the case of the shoulds. I should be doing this. I, early on, I was offered a position and I. I was like, I should do this. I could be. And I, I just, I didn't ever wanted to be in charge of the sales aspect and I said no, and it was, I wanna come to work and enjoy it. And I turned it down and it was the best decision I made. And now. You know, now I have the privilege of do doing, being president for the part that I love and not have to worry about like ticket sales. And it's just not something that resonates with me. And it wasn't worth it. And, but you have the should I should do this. I should. And you're like, ah, so.

Julie Marty-Pearson 23:49

Get rid of

Courtney Mahoney 23:49

the shoulds. Yeah, the

Julie Marty-Pearson 23:49

should. Coulda, woulda.

Courtney Mahoney 23:50

Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 23:53

So in terms of your role and you know, getting to be so involved in the community, if someone is listening to this, whether they work for a sports team or some other type of company and they're like, I really wanna be able to do something like that and get something started, what might be one piece of advice you would give them about. Connecting that community piece and being able to use your job to give back.

Courtney Mahoney 24:15

Yeah. I think it kind of goes back to like what your passion is and then what do you feel like you wanna give back to. So if it's like, Hey, if you are an animal lover and it's sitting down with. Local shelter and be like, you know what? I'm great at social media. Can I come in and help you with your social media? I mean, so many of these charities and organizations are understaffed or just like, oh, you need a collection of just used towels. Great. I'm gonna reach out to everybody in my office and say, instead of donating here, can you all bring in. Old paper towel rolls that the dogs love as Kongs or just in general use towels that the shelter can use. So I think it's using things that you feel really strongly about, like your skillset and what you're comfortable with. And then how do, how does that fit for that organization? And we can't force it. They might be like, no, we're good. But I think there's, especially smaller, we have found with the wolves, we really partner with a little bit smaller charities. So that our impact makes a difference and we create true partnerships so that. For example, we work with the Silver Lining Foundation where every $175 is covers a mammogram for someone who can't afford one. So it's really cool to be like, Hey, and every fan knows like you do this, and it's just like you know exactly where it's going. So what is something that Dr. Sandy needs that we can help with, other than, I don't have a million dollars, so how can we help you? And I think spending time and being like, oh, you know what? I got a guy that can help with this, or I can do your website, or I can, mm-hmm. Yep. Spend days just doing data entry one night and help 'em out. So I, that would be my kind of recommendation is feel like what you wanna feel good about and is important to you, and then combining that with your, whatever passion it is, whatever charity or organization.

Julie Marty-Pearson 26:01

I think that's really important because no, you have to have the passion because no matter what you're offering, it takes hard work and you're adding to your already full plate of whatever you do in your job and your family and such. But so many small nonprofit organizations can use help in a thousand different ways. Like you said, social media, website, if you know how to write a grant, if you know how to run a email newsletter, whatever it could be, right. That's something you personally could do, but also, like you said, if you have a company and you're like, Hey, I'm just gonna walk around and ask everybody to bring in, you know, used towels or bring in newspaper, whatever, it could be that a shelter needs or some organization needs donations for. There's really incredible little ways that it can happen and you never know where it may go from there. But I think that's great advice because small nonprofits of all different shapes and sizes can use help in a lot of ways people wouldn't even think of. So that's a great advice. Reach out to them and ask them what they need.

Courtney Mahoney 26:57

Yeah. 'cause I think it's like they have a system and it's someone like, you know, oh, this is how we'll do it. That's not gonna fly. But I, and I do, it's like even if you think about shelters, like even if you just. Put the email out, Hey, can you guys share this? This dog is up for adoption, right? Like it's just, it can be as little as that, but that exposure, as you mentioned, is unbelievable for that pup. So,

Julie Marty-Pearson 27:16

yeah, absolutely. I've seen, I have seen dogs savor euthanasia at my own local shelter within hours.

Courtney Mahoney 27:22

It's

Julie Marty-Pearson 27:22

amazing it being shared online and, and it's heartbreaking when it doesn't. And I also think people need to also learn and educate themselves, whatever the cause is, but especially with animals, I think a lot of people don't understand what happens. In the organizations, in the rescues, in the shelters. I worked for one for nine months and it literally broke my heart because I would see them. Walking the dog and the dog's all excited and you realize they're walking them back to where they get put to sleep and you know, it's just, we're very overcrowded here. We have like a 30 something percent euthanasia rate in our county because we have so much breeding and all the things.

Courtney Mahoney 28:00

Yeah. Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 28:01

And some people say, oh, I can't deal with it. I can't deal with it. It's like, well then don't deal with that part of it. Right. What can you do to help so that less of that is happening?

Courtney Mahoney 28:09

Correct. Yeah. There's something you can do and it is, I would say. The folks that run these shelters and the staff are unbelievable unsung heroes. But yes, if you don't wanna deal with that, I'm not ready to get a dog. So I can give you, I'm gonna give you some money once in a while. I'm gonna volunteer. I'm gonna get you 20 dogs adopted at, you know, I'm gonna, it's like, what? What can you do that gives back? And that's a great point. There's something. There's always something.

Julie Marty-Pearson 28:38

And yeah, a shout out to rescue workers. Volunteers, shelter staff. Like they deal with the worst of the worst. They get all the negativity and they are, do they literally spend all of their time trying to save these animals?

Courtney Mahoney 28:50

It's amazing.

Julie Marty-Pearson 28:52

It honestly is I, you know, there's a high turnover rate, a high burnout because of what they see, but they are the ones that need our support and yeah, I think it's just so important for people to kind of take a step back and don't think about what you can't do, but find the things you can do. Great. Absolutely. Whether it's you personally in your role, and I think. From what I have learned, meeting you and talking to Jason is like your organization, your team really does everything they can to support animals in your community. Wrapping this up, I wanna go back to your dog. Adoption events are one. Game a month on a Saturday, and the dogs are all there for you to meet in person during the game. And if they're a good match, you can adopt them right on the spot. Or you can even go to the rescue after to adopt dogs that may not be there at the time. Correct?

Courtney Mahoney 29:40

Correct. And we have handlers for every dog, so it's not a total free for all, but it is a wonderful chaos in our lobby. And yeah, it's at a very, very, very discounted rate. The shelters do a great job of really kind of going through and making sure it's a legit, like I said, the retention rate of folks that adopted at Gaines and kept the dogs is unbelievable for us. So we have, and that's

Julie Marty-Pearson 30:03

a huge thing.

Courtney Mahoney 30:03

Yeah, it's huge, trust me. Yeah. And a lot of times, even if it's like, ah, we have a dog at home, then we can go out the next day and,

Julie Marty-Pearson 30:11

mm-hmm.

Courtney Mahoney 30:12

It's been great. We've had a couple players adopt a dog and I love that. And I'm very close to getting 2000. Yeah. So that would be. An unbelievable goal for us. But we're at over 1900 dogs have been adopted through this program, which is amazing.

Julie Marty-Pearson 30:25

That's huge. That you know, and for smaller rescues, like those numbers make a huge impact because every dog that gets adopted is a new spot. They can save another dog, whether it's from a shelter.

Courtney Mahoney 30:36

Yeah. And that's what's crazy. Like we wanna put 'em outta business. That's my goal. To put all these shelters out of business.

Julie Marty-Pearson 30:41

Oh, absolutely. If we could do that, that would be heaven.

Courtney Mahoney 30:44

Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 30:44

And I also think it's important for people to understand that retention piece, because I. Think that sometimes I have witnessed it firsthand at adoption events. They gung-ho, oh, this is so great. And then like on Monday or Tuesday, the shelter would text me. Back. I know they chewed up the, you know, they chewed this up or they jumped that or, and it's be realistic about adoption. Right. And the type of dog. But it sounds like what you guys do at your event and what your, the organizations you work through, really work with people to say, is this the right fit for you and your family, your lifestyle? Because different dogs have different personalities. Different needs. So having a good retention rate means you guys really are working hard at that

Courtney Mahoney 31:23

and it's great. And the shelters know like, Hey, these two gotta go together. They're like besties and our fans. We have unbelievable fans that are so supportive of all of our community endeavors and the generosity they have, but also like so many of our fans, like season ticket holders that come and are taking dogs home and then take another, and it's just, it's a great day. It's a really great feeling and it's so fun to see the pictures

Julie Marty-Pearson 31:49

right,

Courtney Mahoney 31:50

you know, at the end of the night with the new dog and their new family and just the joy on everybody's face.

Julie Marty-Pearson 31:56

Yeah, and I, and also thinking about people that are just there to attend the game. They may not even know the event's happening, or they do and they're not looking, but they could see a dog and send it to a friend. Like, this is the dog you've been looking for, totally. So it's not just the immediate, I'm sure it's, you know, it. Every event has an impact down the line in terms of just people learning more, learning about the organizations that the rescues are, and all sorts of things. So it sounds like it's a really big impact in a lot of ways.

Courtney Mahoney 32:23

Yeah, we're very proud of it. And like you said, if someone comes and maybe they don't have the dog, but hey, now they're gonna go volunteer, they're gonna do this and as you said, like exposure to those amazing shelters is terrific.

Julie Marty-Pearson 32:35

Well, Courtney, thank you so much for being here with me today. I really, I know you are very busy in the middle of hockey season.

Courtney Mahoney 32:41

No, this was awesome. I always, I love being able to talk about our programs and the community and supporting women. Everywhere. So I really thank you for taking the time and letting me come on and spout about.

Julie Marty-Pearson 32:56

Absolutely. Well, I will wish you guys much success with the remaining adoption events and all of the rescue organizations we've mentioned today. The links will begin the. Uh, show notes of this so you can follow them and support them if that is something you wanna do. And you can learn more about Courtney and the Chicago Wolves and go head out to a game sometime soon, assuming there's no more blizzards coming our way. Yeah. Or coming

Courtney Mahoney 33:21

guys. Just a little chill. Just a little chill out here. We're pros in Chicago. We can do, we can take,

Julie Marty-Pearson 33:25

I'm sure I would've if I was there during that, I'd be like, oh God, I can't function.

Courtney Mahoney 33:29

It's wild. It's wild. Yeah.

Julie Marty-Pearson 33:32

Well, thank you again

Courtney Mahoney 33:33

so much for being

Julie Marty-Pearson 33:34

here. We

Courtney Mahoney 33:34

appreciate it so much. Thank you.

Julie Marty-Pearson 33:38

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Story of My Pet podcast. I appreciate you listening and supporting the podcast, and if you haven't already, wherever you are listening to this episode, make sure you hit follow or subscribe and leave us a rating or review. All of that helps the podcast grow and get to even more listeners, and help us educate and advocate for animals in need around the world. If you haven't done so already, make sure to check out our YouTube channel, Story of My Pet podcast. Again, hit the subscribe button, give us some likes and comments on our videos, and that will help the podcast grow on its, on YouTube. Thank you so much for being here, and much love to you and your pet