The Truman Charities Podcast
Truman Charities is the only podcast that donates $250 to each of our guests' charity of choice.
Jamie Truman, connects with individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities. From New York Times bestselling authors to innovative farmers, we share the untold stories of those who are shaping the world around us. We feature trailblazers, influencers, and innovators who are driving positive change, such as the lawyer who fought Dupont for two decades to protect our water and the vital work of an organization dedicated to supporting women who have been trafficked within the United States.
Jamie Truman is the co-founder of Truman Charities, an entirely volunteer-run organization. Since its inception in 2010, Truman Charities has successfully raised over $2 million for a variety of charitable causes.
In addition to her work with Truman Charities, Jamie is also the author of the bestselling book "Vanishing Fathers: The Ripple Effect on Tomorrow's Generation." This book has generated over $80,000 for charities supporting at-risk youth, as 100% of the book's proceeds are donated to these vital organizations.
The Truman Charities Podcast
6.5 Million Dogs & Cats Go To Shelters Each Year; What Can We Do About This? | PetConnect Rescue Ep. 78
Can you imagine sharing your home with a Benji-lookalike too scared of his own shadow? That's just one tale from our guest, France, who is a devoted animal lover and an integral part of Pet Connect Rescue.
Join us for an enlightening and heartwarming discussion, where France unravels her journey with Pet Connect Rescue, sharing stories of the numerous animals she's fostered and adopted. From the shocking reality of 6.5 million animals being sent to shelters each year to the tale of a pregnant dog she nurtured, it's an episode packed with poignant moments that underscore the importance of fostering and adopting pets.
Strap in as we navigate the mechanics of Pet Connect Rescue's foster application and animal onboarding process. Learn about the emotional bond that foster homes can form with these animals and the incredible work of shelters the organization partners with.
We also uncover the financial aspect of providing veterinary care and the exponential demand that has arisen since the onslaught of COVID-19. Ever thought about how you could make a difference? We highlight the diverse events and fundraising initiatives Pet Connect Rescue organizes, from Yappy Hours to Puppy Yoga, and how anyone, regardless of time or space, can contribute.
Remember, all it takes is a bit of passion and a willingness to help to make a huge impact in an animal's life. Tune in for an episode that truly celebrates the spirit of animal rescue and fostering.
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Email: info@trumancharities.com
This episode was post produced by Podcast Boutique https://podcastboutique.com/
Hi France, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Of course you know. I want to know a little bit about your background and why you decided to become so involved with Pet Connect Crushew.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's a long story, but I guess I've always been obviously very passionate about animals.
Speaker 2:I was one of those kids that would kind of find animals and bring them home and beg my parents to let them stay, and I somehow was very convincing and we ended up with quite a many animals, from horses and cats to dogs to whatever it was that I found outside.
Speaker 2:And I started really missing it when I went to university and was in law school in DC and I was the president of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, which is the student body of a major national, basically legal operation that protects animals across the US, and I was really missing dogs. I didn't have any animals, so I started fostering and I worked with an organization in DC called Canine Lifesavers, another one called Lucky Dog, and I was fostering and then I kind of got hooked on fostering and then I became an adoption coordinator and it really was just a really quick roll from there and I met someone who was leaving to go to Pet Connect Rescue and I connected with them and they said come with us and join this amazing and small organization that really prioritizes the animals. It's not about numbers, it was about quality and I think that was about 12 years ago, and I've been with them ever since, so it's been a beautiful journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was reading on your website, which I was kind of floored about, that 6.5 million dogs and cats per year are sent to shelters, which is kind of mind boggling. So I want to know and we're going to get a little bit into what exactly fostering is and the adoption process and all of that but can you tell me maybe some stories of some animals that you've worked with through Pet Connect?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, there are so many, I think.
Speaker 1:Hard question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is a big. I'm an adoption coordinator, which means that I have my hands on a lot of animals right, so I'm responsible for getting them out of the shelter and we can maybe touch on that later. But I'm also a foster and so that's where you get to know the animals the best. And I will say it's been quite an incredible journey because, as I said, I started fostering kind of in my early 20s and I got married, I bought a house, I have three children and I've fostered all the way through. So every single one of my kids, my babies, came home from the hospital with a foster dog here, and so they've kind of learned the process from from the beginning. And there's just so many stories along the way. I mean, there's been seniors, there's been hip surgeries, there's been three legged dogs.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite ones was early on. It was right before we had kids. I think I was pregnant with my first and this dog got off of the transport, which is when the dogs are moved from the shelter up to rescue, and she was going home with a foster and the foster came to pick her up. And I'm looking at the dog and I was a little bit new to rescue and I could tell her belly was quite big and I was like, hmm, this doesn't look quite right and I'm like I think this dog might be pregnant and you could almost feel the puppies in her belly.
Speaker 2:And the foster was like no, no, no. I signed up for a four year old dog, not not a mama that's about to puppies. So I, having no idea what I was doing but having just committed to this animal already, was like, okay, I'll take her home. So I show up with her. You can imagine how my husband felt about me coming home with a pregnant dog, having no experience. So we waited a couple days. I made some phone calls, I tried to figure out what you do with a baby, that with a mom that's about to birth. And one day I came home and I couldn't find her anywhere and I'm like Salma, salma, where are you? And I finally here, kind of like, you know, like little puppy noises, which I'll save you and not make for you here and I find her in my husband's closet on his laundry pile. It should just given full birth.
Speaker 1:Of course, in your husband's closet.
Speaker 2:All the places to find her and I told him I'm like, listen, if you were better about picking up your laundry, it might not have been an option, right? So it's not her fault, exactly. So I thought that was. You know, there there are times like that. There's one we fostered who? He looked like Benji, and you know the really cute kind of scruffy Benji.
Speaker 2:Yeah he was afraid of his own shadow and I swear the dog couldn't like. My friend has a funny story of I asked my friend to come over and let him out one day when I was at work and the dog got out and wouldn't come back in. So my friend, who's trying to do me a big favor, had to hide, keep the door open, stand behind the door with an umbrella and wait till the dog scooted in 20 minutes later and then shut the door so that he could trap the dog inside. And this dog was petrified. He was with us for over six months before he got adopted. You can imagine, jamie, the tears.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that must be hard. I mean, it's such a great thing to find a forever home for these animals, but I guess it is sort of a hard transition for me, since you get attached to him to Right. So can we talk a little bit? We talked about fostering a lot. Let's talk about a little bit about that process with pet can address you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think ours is very similar to most others and it's quite easy. Essentially, you have to be willing to open up your home and treat an animal like they're your own right, but also recognize that there's a transition period. That's going to happen and I think a lot of people you know it's hard because a lot of people put human emotions on the animals right, the anthropomorphize and so you'll get this scared dog that comes in from the shelter and so people will kind of coddle it and, oh, it's okay, and you don't really have to do anything and just stay in your corner. Really, what that animal needs is a pack leader. Really, what they need is someone who's going to give them structure, who's going to be really strong and it's going to say come on, get out of your shell and there's nothing to be afraid of anymore because there's no harm here.
Speaker 2:So I think the foster process it's very rewarding but there's also some challenges. You know it's a learning process. But the actual procedure itself you submit an application online, you go through a quick interview, like a phone conversation, with an amazing volunteer that we have who kind of runs our foster onboarding. You do have that check if you have current animals and then you do a virtual home visit and everything can happen in a day. It's really quick, and then you just you get an animal. I mean, we are always in need of fosters, so I would say we jump on any foster application and I think part of why we are in such need of foster is and Jamie, I haven't run the statistics on this, but I will that I would imagine that we probably lose 75%, if not more, of our fosters to adoptions.
Speaker 2:So they foster one time. The dog comes into their house. They can't let it go because you get attached. And then they decide I can't foster because I just can't give them up. And I get that because it is tough. At the same time, every time that you close your home to a foster, that's another animal. That's euthanized right, because we can't actually get them out of the shelter, assess their temperament, get them the vetting they need and move them into adoption homes until they can get fosters. So you really need that revolving door of fosters and you need fosters who are willing to foster multiple. It's a lot of work and effort that goes into onboarding the fosters. So when they just do it one time, you're like oh well, that was a lot of it's a lot of work for just for just nothing.
Speaker 2:And then they no longer take dogs. So we were really looking for fosters who can work that angle of recognizing that the emotional relationship will be there. But the value add that they have to that animal and to the whole process of saving animals, dogs and cats is much higher if they can continue to welcome animals in. And I think on that note is just, you know, everyone thinks and feels this a mean, immense connection with an animal. And do you have animals, Jamie?
Speaker 1:No, but I grew up like you, kind of like you were saying about yourself growing up like a million animals Was a million.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like I mean I well, so many new diagey, like one day I'll retire, live on a big farm where I can have them all around me. But you know, you feel this emotional connection and I think that that's it's incredibly important that that exists. However, animals rebound in an incredible way, right, and they're able to actually form bonds after they leave the foster home, and that's the only thing that makes rescuing possible, right. If animals couldn't live in the present and form new connections with new people that are just as strong as before, rescuing wouldn't be feasible, right, because they'd all be so scarred from what happened to them before they got into the shelter or in the shelter, right. So we work really hard in trying to, like have fosters understand that actually, yes, you feel that connection and the animal does love you, but they will reform, right, and they will rebond. So, don't worry, you're not, you're not the last option for that animal. Let them be adopted and then you can do that. You can open up another animal's heart. Basically.
Speaker 1:That's a great way of looking at it. Yeah, that is such a great way of looking at it, and so what I want to do is go kind of go back in the process. Where does Pet Connect? Where do you get your animals Like, what shelters? And then what's kind of the process from shelter to either fostering, or are there some animals that just go straight to adopting?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. So a couple questions in there. So we have several shelter partners and we pull from mainly high. Well, I don't want to say high, kill shelters, but kill shelters right when they are forced to euthanize if they don't get the animals out. So most of them euthanize for space, not necessarily for behavior. So we have partners throughout West Virginia, texas, south Carolina, western Maryland, kind of a lot of the southern states.
Speaker 2:We also Georgia we also pull a couple of international. We have dogs that come in from Korea, from Tunisia, from Egypt. Yeah, the conditions and the situations there are absolutely appalling. And, as crazy as this sounds, because they fundraise for the vetting costs there in country, it's cheaper to fly the animals over here in many cases than it is to vet completely vet. So that's all the vaccines, spay, neuter and microchip to completely vet an animal in the US. So financially, yeah, yeah, yeah, and vetting costs since COVID are like through the roof, through the roof and why do you think in your opinion, why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, just inflation, all costs have gotten up.
Speaker 1:So everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Everything. But then also a lot of people got animals during COVID right Because they were home and it like searched, and so both rescues but also people bought animals and so, as a result, vets are just in super high demand. I mean it's hard to find an orthopedic surgeon for a vet Like I swear. I'm going to leave the whole law thing, which is my real job, and I'm going to go back, go to vet school and come back and take care, provide service to all these animals. It's just it's right now. To get a dog in for a vaccine, you could be months.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:So it's getting a little bit better. It's plateauing, yeah, but it's pretty tough. So when they come abroad we really do try and vet the animals before they come into our care. And then we have some animals that come owner surrenders right. A lot of people in COVID bought animals People who lived in apartments and bought labradoodles thinking it'd be super fun. But then the puppy grows up and now has boundless energy and wants to play and engage and it's just tough.
Speaker 2:So we help a lot of people who find themselves in difficult positions. They're hoarding cases right that we take directly from. I will spare you the quarry details, but some really horrific situations. So basically we get you know. I've been doing this for almost 15 years. So a lot of people have my number and my email address and they reach out with a situation or our shelter contacts reach out and say we have some great dogs. They do temperament testing there. We want to make sure they're good with people, good with other animals. You know some are better, some are. Everybody's got their kind of tweaks. But basically they identify an animal.
Speaker 2:We as a team will look and assess is this one that we think we can bring into our rescue? We commit and then we work really hard to find a foster forum in kind of the Virginia, maryland, dc area, and only once we have a committed foster Can we then bring the animal up. Now, if that's from Texas, I had a transport come up from Texas last weekend. Took them over two days to get here because of traffic and a breakdown of the truck, but normally 24 hours. The animals come from Texas, from Georgia, from Mississippi. They come up here and then we kind of have a wonderful.
Speaker 2:You know, it's kind of a neat experience when the fosters come and you open up the doors of the van and you see the dogs all in there and it's quite smelly, but you take them out and you know that you've changed their life forever and it's a. It's an incredibly rewarding experience. And and then that's like where it all begins, right. Then they go on a foster home and then you're learning about them and what kind of qualities they they have. Do they need another dog? Do they love kids Like I have a foster puppy right now Adores my children adores my 18 month old Nobody likes 18 months old, I mean babies like they're so hyper and high-energy and this puppy thinks are the best thing in the world. So what's cool is now I can advertise that puppy is great with children. So a family that's looking right, a family of young kids, can say, ah, this dog has already lived in a home with kids. This will work for us.
Speaker 1:Well it's not really important for the foster Families to give you that feedback. So then, it makes it easier for the adoption process to pair that animal with the correct Exactly 100%, and I think that's a big thing that distinguishes Rescues from shelters, and shelters are critical.
Speaker 2:We couldn't do our work without them right, and they provide an incredible service to the state. But the wonderful part about the rescues is that the animals are actually in foster care, so you get to know that animal in and out right and so you get to be wiser in terms of higher placing that animal for success and then for the families that are looking, there's a higher likelihood that it's going to be a match.
Speaker 1:Oh, fantastic. So I want to talk about some of your events. I was looking through and I saw yappy hours, which I don't know what that is, but it sounds really fun and some of the events that may be in particular that you, that you have loved, that Pat can at rest you offers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you know the yappy hours are fun. Basically it's like a fun have cocktails with your dog and I mean you're like it's not Awesome, I'm so happy hours and it's social. But you also get to socialize. You can be in public spaces with other animals around, sweet yappy hours. We also do something super cool, which is puppy yoga. So it's yoga classes with a litter of puppies, right, so you're like down dog and you've got the puppies coming in and out of your arms, so that's really fun.
Speaker 2:We also just had, in May of 2023, our first. It's called race to the rescue and Basically it's a 5k Fundraiser where people can come and run with their dogs, with their dogs and and basically just be able to get out in the community and have fun with your pups and on a beautiful May day and and yeah again, socialize and get exposure. I mean all these animals need is exposure, so we're trying to get them seen in as many places as possible and then for them to kind of get used to that so you can tell like, oh, is this animal afraid of Dump trucks or runners or wheelchairs or whatever it is? And how do we help them to gain confidence in those new spaces?
Speaker 1:So how, if someone's interested in either fostering or adopting, how? How do they go about doing that? And then also, if someone you know anybody listening that it's like I would love to foster or adopt an animal, but it's just right now, say, I live in a small apartment. That's not something that I can do, but I still want to help pet connect, how can they get involved in your organization? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think you know, for the people living in apartment A, we have foster dogs that go into our apartment, so it's possible. Obviously, it's a lot easier with a yard. But first and most important thing would be going to our West website, which is wwwpetconnectrescueorg, and then following us on social media, which is really important because we have some great volunteers who do a lot. So our Instagram is rescue pet connect. Our Twitter is at pet connect rescue, with no E at the end, and then you can just Google. You know Facebook is pet connect rescue. So those are all really good ways to get involved.
Speaker 2:On our website there is a volunteer submission. So there's an application form for a foster, application form to be an adopter and application form to volunteer. So if you can't foster, there are so many places that we need you. Basically come to us with what your skill set is Like. Are you good at taking pictures? Great, we need volunteers who can go around and take pictures.
Speaker 2:Do you have a car and you're willing to help the dogs get from transport to their foster home or to vet appointments? That would be awesome. Are you good at making phone calls? Right, we need people who can help us do vet checks and home visits. Do you like social media or like a big thing right now that I would love to have that we don't have volunteers for is?
Speaker 2:We have a lot of dogs who've been in the system for a while right Like six months and they're still in foster homes. We'd love to get some volunteers who might be like video or photo, or I don't know TikTok savvy I'm not on TikTok, my niece isn't. If you show me how cool it is, can you create a video with some music of this animal that's been in our care for a while and help us just get them out there, right, and show them in this new light. So there's a million ways to volunteer and then, of course, donating, right. We I'm a volunteer, we're all volunteers who commit our time to making sure that these animals aren't using eyes just for lack of space. So it just reach out, reach out and we'll find a way to engage you.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much, France, for taking the time to talk with me today, but before I let you go, is there anything we haven't covered that you think somebody should know?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I guess I mean we've covered a lot, and thank you so much for this opportunity. Jamie, I think the most important thing is it really you come with passion right, and if you have the heart right and you want to commit, we will find a way to help channel that into something good. There's a lot of amazing animals out there who just don't have an advocate right. They don't have the voice that they need, and so we just need more people who are willing to commit their time and energy, and if that's one weekend a month, then that's great, right. So just please be willing to come forward and don't be nervous. Don't say, oh, I don't have the time because you don't know where you can fit the time, or I live in an apartment, or you know, I'm just I don't have this knowledge. I promise you, if you have the heart, we'll find a way for you to be able, for you to be able to put that to good use. Aw.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much again for talking with me today. I learned so much about your rescue and I love it, and you guys are just such a wonderful group of volunteers and I can't believe you have all of these small little kids and you're still fostering all of these animals too.
Speaker 2:You're better than I am. It's a little chaotic, I will say it's a little chaotic at the house, but I think it's a good thing for the kids. I think that they're learning a really amazing, amazing part of life by donating their own time right now, at this time of age, so hopefully.
Speaker 1:I 100% agree with you Little kids and learning about dogs and being around them and things like that. It's just, it's so. It's so good for them and it's so cute to watch.
Speaker 2:You've got a lot of good photos, at the very least, the very least good photos, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you again, france. And then I want to thank everybody for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities podcast. Until next time.
