29 Apr Foster Friday: Meet Melissa C.
As a part of our 10,000 lives saved celebration we will be featuring the stories of some of our fosters, both Northern and Southern, old and new. As a rescue that does not have a shelter facility, fosters are a vital part of our rescue.
Meet Melissa C., long-time LHK9 foster and Senior Coordinator for Adoption Events.
What is your position in the rescue?
I’m the senior coordinator for our events team, which over the years has been responsible for leading our team of coordinators in planning & executing our in-person adoption events. Over the past year (with COVID), we’ve shifted to move our in-person events to virtual adoption showcases.
How long have you been volunteering with Last Hope?
I joined last hope in April 2015.
Why did you decide to volunteer with us?
I’ve always loved dogs but with my past work schedule, I was traveling a lot and knew I couldn’t have a dog of my own. I went to a volunteer orientation on April 1st and the joke is on me because, although I went with the goal of learning how I could hang out with dogs on the weekends, my role has become so much more than hanging out with dogs on the weekends! After learning about Last Hope’s mission and all the passionate people who come together to help dogs in need, I was hooked and became much more involved.
How many fosters have you had to date?
My most recent foster was Yeti and he was #48 for me. After Yeti, I’ve had to take a foster break due to conflicts with work and moving, but I’m desperately looking forward to welcoming future fosters and hopefully celebrating my 50th foster later this year.
What would you say has been the biggest change in the rescue since you started?
In addition to what I’ve learned personally over the last 6 years, including SO much about dog behavior, body language, and how to be a better handler, one of the biggest changes I’ve seen is the amount of resources available to our fosters. As our rescue grows, the amount of information and knowledge sharing is SO impressive – I encourage fosters to really leverage the information that’s out there!
Do you have a favorite adoption story?
I often think about my “dog that got away” and while I feel like I’ve had so many fosters find truly amazing adoptive homes, my favorite and hardest adoption was Sable Lena. Sable was a 80 lb pit bull mix and I consider her to be my “gateway pittie,” she made me fall completely in love with pit bull-type pups. I didn’t know it before fostering her but she proved to be my dream dog, her sweet and hilarious temperament, her love for life and her large and in charge hippo body. I fostered her for about 3 months and fell so hard for her I didn’t think I’d be able to give her up. I struggled so hard during the meet and greet and sobbed the whole way home. But every year that went by I saw updates of her living her best life and saw how her adopters welcomed the role of amazing advocates for pit bull-type dogs. Today Sable has a human sister who adores her and parents who love being advocates for their pit bull. If I kept Sable Lena, I would not have been able to help as many dogs as I have and I would have taken away the opportunity for her to flourish in her FURever home. I know I was meant to foster her, but I was also meant to let her go!
Do you have a favorite foster story?
Oh, that would be Lamarian. I consider him to be my boomerang and longest term foster to date. He was a boomerang because he made a few attempts at his furever journey but wasn’t ready. He had more to learn and more to teach me. Our journey was not easy, I was tested many times but I learned so much with him by my side and got to experience the love of a fiercely loyal dog. Third time was the charm for him, he’s been adopted for over a year now and his parents are everything he deserves and more!
What is your favorite part of volunteering with Last Hope?
The amount of change that we can make and inspire others to make. Many of the dogs we adopt out don’t stand a chance in the shelter so we are literally their last hope. Being able to take a dog in, teach them, train them, and help them realize that they’re safe changes their world. Once adopted, many of our dogs also end up changing the lives of the families who welcome them home, so being part of the change is a beautiful thing!
What advice would you give to a new volunteer joining the rescue now?
Learn everything you can. Take foster dogs that will encourage you to learn new things about dogs, like how to handle certain behaviors and how to be better advocates for them. At the same time, don’t be too hard on yourself if something feels impossible or feels like a failure at the first try. Every dog is different and usually responds to new scenarios very differently so we need to spend time learning each individual dog we help. There are certainly best practices to take advantage of and the best way to fully understand them is to practice. The more we learn, the more we can do to protect them and get them into the right adoptive homes.
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