Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Hessley and Pam Weiner.
Jennifer and Pam, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Dachshund Rescue South Florida was started to provide a lifeline for all dogs long and low down on their luck in the three South Florida Shelters, as strays on the street, or as owner surrenders. In 2008 we rescued 89 dogs and have grown to serve over 650 dogs in 2017.
Has it been a smooth road?
There are always struggles being a 100% volunteer staffed, 100% donation funded organization, but we have been very fortunate. Our community has continued to grow to support us (with over 215,000 followers on Facebook and 24,000 on IG) with some incredible donors, we have over 60 foster homes with families who love and care for our dogs and help them heal, and Pam does an amazing job coordinating all of it!!!!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The thing we are most proud of is that we do not turn any dogs away based on age, condition, or severity of injury. Other groups do not always have the resources to take on complex or extremely expensive cases and we have traveled to all parts of the state to assist when other groups could not and even work with a group in Puerto Rico to take come of their dogs and even taken in a doxie from Korea.
We think we are able to keep donors engaged as we try very hard to tell our dogs stories from their intake (sharing kennel cards or photos/video of them in the shelter), on their freedom ride, educating our community via each of the conditions of the dogs – what their illness/injury is, what it means, how it was diagnosed, what the treatment is, and what specialty vets we work with to provide the care, and equally importantly – if the illness or injury could have been prevented. We provide updates on the dog’s recovery that go out over our social media and donor platforms so people can see their donations at work and then as each dog is adopted, we share their happy tales photo with their new family bringing their rescue journey full circle.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The pet overpopulation issue is more pronounced in the Southern US than in the North and the need for all dogs (not just dachshunds) is huge in Miami. There is a group like ours for every breed of dog and cat around and there are many groups locally who are not breed specific who fight the same fight we do every day and still there are dogs and cats put down every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dachshundrescuesouthflorida.com
- Email: info@dachshundrescuesouthflorida.com
- Instagram: @drsfdoxies
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dachshundrescuesouthflroida
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
