In many aspects of shelter operation, we would not be where we are without our volunteers. Our staff members are very thankful for the active roles our volunteers take in caring for the animals in the shelter. We thought it would be nice to showcase one in particular and what she does here that better improves the mission we all have; save as many lives as we can! Let us introduce you to Candy Brown!
This is Candy, with her waif Bert! Bert has been at our shelter collectively a little over a year, so she spends as much time as she can with him! Candy herself has been with us seven, and almost eight years now! She started as a dog socializer, working her way up to working with our behavior dogs. She works primarily with our Peace Academy, which is high-energy dogs, but she also has worked with our Confidence College dogs as well. After that, she worked her way to meet and greets, dog to dogs, and eventually landed where she is today; an adoptions counselor/a member of our rescue team.
Candy is here Wednesday-Sunday when we are open for adoptions, and on Mondays and Tuesdays she works with our behavior dogs. She is here seven days a week, way beyond full-time! We appreciate Candy so much! She is a tad camera shy unless she is with a dog, (as pictured above) but she allowed me to shadow her for some pictures of what she does!
As pictured above, she goes through the adoption process with people and helps with animals visiting the vet clinic for the last time before they go home! Candy explained to me that she appreciates all the friendships she has made, both with the people she works with and volunteers that socialize dogs. She was working in the ER before she came to Wayside, and she quit her job so she could come here full-time. Talk about dedication! She also brought up that age doesn’t matter at Wayside. “You could be twenty, forty, or sixty, and the level or respect stays the same.”
Candy also brought up a very touching story about the dog Chetana. “This animal is from the ASPCA tri-state dog fighting bust and will need to be screened through the approved adoption process.” That was the note in our system. She was the sole survivor of six fighting dogs. She was worked with over a year here by Candy and a staff member consistently to build her up. While Chetana finally got adopted, she escaped from her new home and was lost for several days. The police notified the owners, who notified Wayside that she was found on the highway, deceased. Candy still gets teary-eyed telling the story, and she memorialized Chetana by getting a tattoo of her and placing a memorial stone at our Pet Memorial Gazebo.
After telling me the story, she said “She is the reason why I do what I do, day in and day out.” She also showed me how Chetana is featured on our No More Bullying curriculum.
You can hear the passion in Candy’s voice, and this place is her passion. She is very thankful that she is able to live her dream, and as long as she is physically able, she will continue to do so. Once again, all of us here really appreciate Candy’s dedication to our mission, and we hope she stays with us for a long time! She is very modest, but she is one of the many people that make this organization as great as it can be. Thank you for your service Candy!
You can visit us during our adoption hours!
- Monday: CLOSED
- Tuesday: CLOSED
- Wednesday: 12pm-8pm
- Thursday: 12pm-8pm
- Friday: 12pm-8pm
- Saturday: 10am-6pm
- Sunday: 1pm-6pm
Written by Teryn J.