Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to Kindness in Action, the podcast where our host, first grader Kate Royer, shines a light on everyday heroes transforming lives through their passion for giving back.
Join us as we explore inspiring stories of service, compassion, and the powerful impact of volunteering. Let's celebrate the kindness shaping our world one story at a time.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Hello, my name is Kate Royer. I am talking to guests about their volunteer work. My guest today is Dawn Meyer, and she used to do this sled dog rescue.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Thanks for having me on, Kate. I really appreciate the chance to talk about my rescue, Northern Lights, and all about rescue in general because it's a very important issue, very important to me, and I think it's very important to the animals in our country. We still do have the rescue. It's a 501C3 rescue, which means it's a licensed rescue and we have to meet all kinds of criteria to run it. That means we have to keep our dogs in good spaces and we have to keep them healthy and we have to do all kinds of things like that that we try to do every day. So let me just kind of go back to the beginning, and that is that we started this rescue. It's started 20 years ago. And you know my friend Julie, you know Julie, she and I have run it for about. I started with her about two years after she started the rescue. I joined her and we made it into a pretty big rescue. The last couple years, we've been trying to phase it out because we're getting older. So like you said, we're only taking. We're taking occasionally a dog that really needs it or if one of our dogs needs to come back. And right now we have a dog named Flower that I'm working really hard to find a home for.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: That came back because the owner was gonna live up on a boat.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Right.
Her owners moved to the Bahamas and bought a sailboat. And they're sailing, supposedly do that.
Well, I asked that question myself. But anyway, they wanted to do that. And Flowers Malberian. So she's half husky and half malamute. So she wouldn't do very well in those really, really hot temperatures. She's back with us at the kennel. I don't know if you realize this, but Friday we placed a dog. We placed a dog named Bear. And I just checked with the people that adopted him on Friday and he's doing very well. He's a red husky. Do you remember me showing you pictures of him? We took him because they. Somebody found him on the side of the road. Yeah, he was Cute. So anyway, he's got a good home with somebody that adopted from us before.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: What funniest part of your job?
The funniest part.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: Funniest part of it is probably getting to see all the great pictures of the dogs when they go home with their. With the kids and the families.
Yeah, it is kind of funny. I've showed you those videos before. When they're run, they're so excited to be in a new home, running everywhere and being all crazy in their new home. That's the funniest part.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I get it. Wait one sec. Tell me about a funny, memorable story from your volunteer experience.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Hmm.
Funny memorable story.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Maybe we should change. How about we change it to fun because we just did a funny related thing.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Okay, we'll talk about fun. The fun. I think a fun part of it was every year one of our good volunteers and foster moms and she adopted. She actually still has one of our sanctuary dogs and she's adopted from us a number of times. She has several of our dogs. Anyway, I know she had ran it and it was in Lafayette, Indiana. She ran a race walk for us every single year. And she. To raise money for us, she would run this every year with some friends of hers up there at Prophet Park, a park in Lafayette. And Julie and I would go and we would get to see a lot of our previous adopters and dogs would show up with dogs from the Indianapolis and Lafayette area that they had adopted from us and adorable. We got to see so many great dogs with the people that adopted them and they would come every year and walk and run with us. And that was fun. And that happened. She did that for probably about seven or eight years.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: That's nice.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: So that was fun. Yeah, it was fun.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: What inspired you to get involved with this particular non profit?
[00:04:45] Speaker C: Okay, so basically I've always been into animal causes for many, many years. I was on the board of directors at the local Humane Society here in Evansville. And we built.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: You told me about that.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Yeah, we built a shelter. And we finished building it in 2004. Brand new shelter. And I had worked on that for many years and I was kind of looking for a new direction to go into rescue because that was just something that interested me. So Julie, this friend of mine, she had, was running this rescue. Northern Light started it and so. But it was pretty small at that point. And so we got together and then for the next like 19 years this month we have run it and it turned into the biggest Malamute Husky rescue in the country for a while.
For just a few years. It was the largest one because we had 30 or 40 dogs at a time. I was volunteering about 30 or 40 hours a week, running it with Julie. That sounds amazing. Well, we placed almost 3,000 dogs over the life of the rescue. So it was a good thing for me. I was able to meet a lot of wonderful people. One of the great things about rescue, Kate, is you get to know a lot of good dogs and also a lot of good people. And we had a lot of really good people over the years.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Could you share one piece of advice for someone thinking about volunteering?
[00:06:11] Speaker C: That's a great question. Okay, really good question. Basically, volunteering can take a lot of different forms and I would say that some people are really good at hands on volunteering and that would be visiting say if you're talking about rescue, for instance, because I've been involved with other volunteer organizations too over the years. But if you are talking about dog rescue or dog volunteering with dogs, I would say that there are some people that are really cut out well for being hands on. And they're the dog people that like you, that don't mind if the dog sits in their lap and licks them. And you know, you just, they, they love.
Some people think it's cute to do that and other people want to just volunteer their time to volunteer their time to do, do things for the rescue, like maybe get donations or something like that. Everything's valuable. Any part of volunteering is valuable. It just means that you have to be willing to give your time. One thing that's important in volunteering for a rescue or anything else you volunteer for, I feel like, is you can't expect something back like you're doing it for yourself. And sometimes it works out the way you want it to and sometimes it doesn't. But you just have to keep in mind that you're doing it for yourself and that's what's important. You're doing it for the animal or the person you're volunteering for to help them. But you can't expect anything back.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Okay, last question. Has volunteering changed your perspective?
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Yes, it's changed my whole life, you know, because just like I said, for many years I volunteered 20 to 40 hours of my week doing it like a full time job or a part time job. So it's changed my whole life. And the fact, and just like I said, lots of the people that I've met through rescue, through other volunteer roles, they've changed my life because I've gotten to be friends with some of them, I have some really good friends in rescue and just in the dog world in general. And I've gotten a chance to meet people that have done really great things. So, yes, it's changed my life.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Can I hold you on for a bit longer? Because I decided while you were talking, I want to talk about the free dogs you had and where you got them from and which kind they are.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Okay. Well, right now, you know, a few years ago, I had a lot of huskies and malamutes over the years, and I've had a lot of other breeds, too, before I started in the husky malamute rescue. But a few years ago, you know, Gramps and I are getting older, and I had this dog named Spot, and he was over £100, and we'd had malamutes that were over way over £100 for a while, and it was getting really hard when something was wrong with them because we took older, sicker dogs to get them to the vet and all of that. So we decided when Spot was gone that we would get smaller dogs. So right now, I have an American Eskimo dog. Her name is. That name, that's Elsa, and she is what's called an American Eskimo. So that's like a really explain about.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: How we got Patty.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: Yeah, in just a minute that I wanted to say. She. I got her from rescue in Indianapolis that a friend of mine got her. Had her. And then I got Jack from, sadly.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Dumpster dog.
[00:09:31] Speaker C: That's right. He was. I had just recently lost another dog, and so a friend of mine who ran a rescue in Posey county here in southern Indiana, had this little dog named Jack, and someone had dumped him out at a dump in Posey county, and so we adopted him. He's like. He's a little Jack Russell mixed, and then he's cute, though. Then Patty is our newest addition. We got her about six months ago from the Vandenberg Humane Society. Yes, you sure can.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: It was because sadly, one of our other dogs died. Ember.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: That's right. And we were looking for another dog.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Because she got cancer. But Patty has renal diet candy issues. You can't brush her teeth or else they bleed. She is adorable and sweet, though.
[00:10:21] Speaker C: She is. She what? Do you know what kind of dog she is, Kate? What kind?
[00:10:26] Speaker B: She's a half pug, half Pomeranian. She's very old. Thank you for doing this.
Do you want to talk about anything else?
[00:10:37] Speaker C: Well, I mean, I can talk about a lot of things that you've probably. But thank you for having me. Because you. I think this is wonderful that you're doing this. And I love that you're doing your podcast about Bob volunteering, because, you know, that's very important to me. And I want to say right now that, Kate, you are one of my biggest helpers with the dogs. And I really appreciate that. Because every time you come to the house, they love you and they love to see you.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: They do.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: Yeah, they do. You are one of their favorite people.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: You can tell.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Maybe your fate. Maybe their favorite person. Yeah, that's right. So thank you for having me.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Probably.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Okay, I will see you later. Thanks a lot, Kate. See ya.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Thanks. Love you. Bye.
[00:11:20] Speaker C: Bye, sweetie.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning in to Kindness in Action. We hope these stories inspire you to make a difference in your own way. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who needs a little extra kindness in their day. Until next time, remember, small acts of kindness can create big, big waves of change.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: See you soon.
