Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 37 minutes ago
Co-hosts:
Romy Harness, Director of Access to Care, Maddie's Fund
Dr Sara Pizano, founder of Team Shelter USA, a national, full-service animal welfare consulting firm that helps funders, organizations and municipal leaders learn and use proven best practices for animal well-being. She is also a consultant with Maddie’s Pet Million Challenge, a cohort dedicated to helping communities build programs to keep families and their pets together. Dr Pizano is the author of The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters and the new Go-To Guide for Animal Services.
Guest: Ruby Fooks, Shelter Director for Friends of Butler County Animals
Ruby Fooks recognized that animals needed help in her community so as part of the non-profit Friends of Butler County Animals in a rural, underserved part of Kentucky, they took over the county shelter. But she knew there needed to be subsidized access to spay/neuter as a long term solution so set out to raise money to build a clinic, which she did in record time. In the first year, 10,000 animals were spayed or neutered from 76 counties in 6 states! How did she do it? Watch the recording to find out!
To comment or ask more questions about this meeting, please visit https://maddies.fund/communityconversations62226
Please Note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie’s Fund.
About Community Conversations, hosted by Maddie’s Fund: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, animal sheltering transformed overnight. Foster-based sheltering, home-based employees and volunteers, along with collaboration galvanized our communities. The pandemic, along with social injustice, has motivated our industry to look at how we partner with our communities and confront our own biases. Shelter and rescue staff across the country began talking on a weekly basis, offering support and innovative ideas to do things differently. To learn more about these calls, visit forum.maddiesfund.org/communi
Co-hosts:
Romy Harness, Director of Access to Care, Maddie's Fund
Dr Sara Pizano, founder of Team Shelter USA, a national, full-service animal welfare consulting firm that helps funders, organizations and municipal leaders learn and use proven best practices for animal well-being. She is also a consultant with Maddie’s Pet Million Challenge, a cohort dedicated to helping communities build programs to keep families and their pets together. Dr Pizano is the author of The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters and the new Go-To Guide for Animal Services.
Guest: Ruby Fooks, Shelter Director for Friends of Butler County Animals
Ruby Fooks recognized that animals needed help in her community so as part of the non-profit Friends of Butler County Animals in a rural, underserved part of Kentucky, they took over the county shelter. But she knew there needed to be subsidized access to spay/neuter as a long term solution so set out to raise money to build a clinic, which she did in record time. In the first year, 10,000 animals were spayed or neutered from 76 counties in 6 states! How did she do it? Watch the recording to find out!
To comment or ask more questions about this meeting, please visit https://maddies.fund/communityconversations62226
Please Note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie’s Fund.
About Community Conversations, hosted by Maddie’s Fund: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, animal sheltering transformed overnight. Foster-based sheltering, home-based employees and volunteers, along with collaboration galvanized our communities. The pandemic, along with social injustice, has motivated our industry to look at how we partner with our communities and confront our own biases. Shelter and rescue staff across the country began talking on a weekly basis, offering support and innovative ideas to do things differently. To learn more about these calls, visit forum.maddiesfund.org/communi
