Animal Posse Saving Lives, One Paw at a Time: A Chat with ARNO's Shelter Manager - Animal Posse

Episode 21

Saving Lives, One Paw at a Time: A Chat with ARNO's Shelter Manager

Published on: 20th June, 2025

Step inside the incredible world of animal rescue with our latest episode! We sit down with Jessica Vaccaro, the dedicated Shelter Manager at Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), to uncover the inspiring work they do every single day. From heartwarming adoption stories to the challenging realities of running a no-kill shelter in our community. Learn about ARNO's mission, their tireless efforts to care for abandoned and homeless animals, and how they work towards finding every furry friend a loving forever home. This episode is a must-listen for animal lovers, advocates, and anyone curious about making a difference right here in New Orleans.

If you're enjoying the show, a tip is a great way to support our rescue! You can do so here: Unwanted Feline Organization

#ARNO #AnimalRescueNewOrleans #NoKillShelter #AdoptDontShop #AnimalWelfare #NewOrleansAnimals #PetAdoption #CommunitySupport #Podcast #AnimalHeroes #NOLAPets

Transcript
Dixie:

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues, making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Today's guest is Jessica with ARNO.

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Hi, Jessica, thanks for joining me today.

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Jessica: Yeah, thank you for having me.

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Dixie: Sure.

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To start, could you tell our listeners

a bit about yourself and your role

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with Animal Rescue New Orleans or Arno?

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Jessica: Yeah.

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So my name is Jessica Vaccaro and

I'm the shelter manager of Animal

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Rescue New Orleans, or Arno for short.

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I oversee our day-to-day operations,

help shape long-term strategy, manage

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our team of staffing volunteers.

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And stay pretty involved with, the

rehabilitation and medical of the

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animals within our organization.

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No two days is ever the same at Arno.

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Dixie: And what inspired you to

get involved in animal rescue?

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Jessica: I grew up surrounded by animals.

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My grandparents showed boxers,

so I grew up in the show world.

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And then when I was 18, I joined the Army

active duty as an animal care specialist.

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And so I worked with the military

working dogs and also with the

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clinics and shelters on bases.

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So just from an early age, started

working with them, fell in love with

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the work, and when I got out of the

army, I, continued on this path.

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Dixie: How did you get involved with doing

the animal care specialist to begin with?

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I've never heard of that before.

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Jessica: Yeah, it's very small MOS,

and they actually only have it in

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the army the DOD executive, that

position, and we cover all branches.

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And I just was lucky that

one of those was open.

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I had not heard of it either.

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I was 19, and I didn't even really

understood everything I would be doing.

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But it just, worked

out because I loved it.

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Dixie: I knew they had animals, but I've

never heard of anybody say they were

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an animal care specialist in the army.

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So that's pretty cool.

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Jessica: Yeah, it was really cool.

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Besides people who I know from

serving with, I have never,

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randomly met another veteran who

had this job either it's very small.

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So yeah, it was just very lucky.

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It was definitely kismet.

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Dixie: And thank you for serving too.

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Jessica: Oh, thank you.

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Dixie: What makes Arno's

mission important to you?

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Jessica: We have a couple of things.

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Arno is really multifaceted

in the work that we do.

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So we take in, behavior cases,

medical cases, we work closely with.

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open intake shelters in the area.

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We also have a community assistance

program that helps us, provide

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food and veterinary services

for low cost individuals, to

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help keep animals in homes.

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And we also assist on

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natural disaster and neglect cases.

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I like that.

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Arno, to me, really encompasses what

rescue is about, which is helping our

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community in a lot of different ways that

are impacted, in the animal rescue field.

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Dixie: I was always familiar with Arno,

'cause I'm of course from New Orleans,

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so after Katrina they were really big

and involved in rescuing animals here.

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So for those that are unfamiliar, can you

give us an overview of the organization's

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history and also the primary goals?

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Jessica: Absolutely.

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So ARNO was born in the

aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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It was started by animal lovers who saw

the thousands of animals who were left

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behind in the city, and they started

doing triage work here in the city.

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They just all came together.

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They had a passion to, help these

animals and that passion never faded.

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And it turned into this kind of grassroots

organization that still is going on.

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And actually, August, we'll

make our 20 year anniversary

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from where it all started.

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Yeah, it's a really neat

kind of origin story.

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And our still core goals are to,

rescue, rehabilitate and rehome

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animals, especially those who are

sick, injured, and overlooked.

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And we do all of this without any

sort of government funding and we

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do this, mainly volunteer driven.

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Dixie: How many volunteers

does your organization have?

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Jessica: I think that's a really hard

number to encapsulate just because

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we have, a turnover of volunteers,

but long term dedicated volunteers

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who do, higher end task for us or who

have been with us for a long time.

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At least 50 to 75 individuals.

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But, for the people who come and help

with animal care on those shifts each

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day and all the other things, likely

we have, a hundred to 150 volunteers

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at any, one in a month's time.

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Dixie: You said, you do have a

quick turnover of volunteers.

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What do you think the cause for that is?

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Jessica: A lot of people just come for

different types of service hours, so

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for schooling, for different programs.

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So a lot of people are just coming for

a set amount of hours to volunteer.

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We get fortunate that, we do get

people who come for limited time who

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do end up sticking around, but it's

just the nature, especially, we have

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a lot of college students that come.

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Who, don't stay in the city when

they finish their degrees and stuff.

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So I just like those kinds of

girls we see high turnover in.

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Dixie: 'Cause I know a lot of other

organizations, they always say they

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have a hard time getting volunteers,

so that's why I asked the question.

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I didn't know if it was something

where, people show up and they think

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they're gonna play with puppies or

kitties all day and then they actually

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find out they have to do some cleaning.

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Jessica: I'm quite sure that is

definitely part of it as well.

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It is really hard work.

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And we certainly do get volunteers who

thinks it's gonna be just hanging out

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with the animals and they don't realize,

that it's walking the dogs, cleaning the

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kennels, doing dishes, doing laundry.

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Also that kind of work, the kind of

behind the scenes stuff that a lot

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of people don't see and don't always

realize that, that's part of it.

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Dixie: Are you doing the rescue

work only in New Orleans or do

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you go out to other areas as well?

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Jessica: We go out to other areas as well.

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We pull a lot from our community.

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So we pull a lot from Orleans

Parish and Jefferson Parish.

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We also pull a lot from Terrebonne.

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From St.

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John.

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We will help wherever we

can, we used to go up to St.

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Landry quite a bit, so wherever we can

accommodate, shelters that need help, we

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try and help, but we do, try and maintain

Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish

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as kind of some of our top priorities

just because they are our community.

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Dixie: How many resident

animals do you have?

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Jessica: We can house and shelter

45 dogs and probably about 50 cats.

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And then in foster we typically

have about 75 animals.

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In summer kitten season, that number

can certainly go up in Foster.

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Usually we have about, between

Foster and in shelter, about

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150 to 200 animals in our care.

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Dixie: How old is the oldest

resident or how long has the

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oldest resident been in your care?

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Jessica: Our oldest resident is

Carol and we have had her for

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unfortunately five years now.

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Dixie: And is she a cat or a dog?

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Jessica: She is a dog.

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She is a beautiful little

squatty body pit bull.

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She needs to be an only child.

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And it takes her a minute to warm

up to people which has been what's

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made it difficult placing her.

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But she does warm up to

people pretty quickly.

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And she has a lot of friends and a

lot of new friends who are always

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working with volunteers, getting her

intro to more people, so she just has

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more walkers and people on her team.

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Dixie: And has she gone to any like

trial homes and it just didn't work out?

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Jessica: No.

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She has had a couple, like

handful of people apply to adopt

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her, come meet her, and just.

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haven't followed through, she has not

gotten even a chance at a trial adoption.

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She's been in foster, like short term

foster with some of our volunteers.

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And she did well.

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Like they didn't report any issues.

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They just weren't in positions

where they could keep her long term.

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Dixie: That's sad.

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But I'm glad she's with y'all

because at least she's okay.

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Jessica: Yeah..

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And we're so lucky for the volunteers

we have because we just have so

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many truly amazing humans who go

above and beyond for our animals.

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And Carol, is one that tugs at all of

our heartstrings, she gets multiple

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car rides every week, pupccinos, lots

of like special outings and trips.

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Just because so many of our

volunteers do, love her so much.

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So we do try and do the

best we can for her.

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Dixie: And what about CAT resident?

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What is the oldest CAT

resident that you have?

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Jessica: Oh goodness.

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Nowhere near that I don't even think

right now we have any cats that

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they've even been with us for a year.

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We don't have any like very long

term cats right now, honestly.

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Our cat adoptions have been wonderful.

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Dixie: That's great.

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Jessica: Our cat adoption team who

are all volunteers are amazing.

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And they've been really successful in

helping to place like a lot of our kitties

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with, medical or behavioral issues.

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Yeah, I think like maybe six to eight

months, maybe one of our long term kind

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of ongoing medical cases right now.

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But that's it.

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And that's baby . He has just actually

had an abdominal ultrasound today.

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'cause we're trying to figure out some

issues that have been ongoing with

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him.

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Dixie: Yeah, that, that's wonderful though

that you're doing so well with the cats.

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'cause usually it's the cats

are little harder to adopt out.

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Jessica: Yeah, absolutely.

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Yeah, knock on wood, they've

been doing a great job.

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Dixie: Do you do any transports?

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Jessica: We do not do

transport from our shelter.

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There, honestly, we just have

never really had a need to do it.

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Typically, transport's kind of

come into us so yeah, that's just

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not really part of our mission.

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Dixie: And I do understand

y'all have a new facility.

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Jessica: We do.

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It is amazing.

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It was a labor of love for sure

and many years in the making.

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We spent years fundraising and

checking properties out until

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we were able to purchase a.

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Property.

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And then we spent, a few more years

fundraising and campaigning to do all

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of the construction and to, get all

the equipment and everything we need.

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So we just moved in this year,

the second week of February.

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And we will actually be having our

grand opening on June 28th from 2:00

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PM to 5:00 PM and that will be open

to the public for us to do tours

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and show everyone our new space.

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Dixie: After the grand opening, are

you open to the public if somebody

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wants to go in, or do they have

to make an appointment with you?

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Jessica: People from the public

have to make an appointment with us.

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Our adoption team is all

completely volunteer, so we do

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everything with an appointment.

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Dixie: You mentioned some of the

programs that you're involved with.

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You said that you do disasters,

neglect cases, and you help out

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individuals to keep their pets.

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And you mentioned the low cost program.

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So what are the qualifications

for the low cost program that

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help people keep their pets?

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Jessica: Yeah, so our community

assistance program is income based.

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So we have a vetting process that

is done by one of my directors.

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But typically it's just based

off of income is how we do that.

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And that helps to provide food

preventatives and then necessary

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medical care for these animals.

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And.

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We are always taking in, new

people into this program.

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So if there's anybody you know that

needs assistance or wants to see if

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they qualify, they can contact us at

info at animal rescue new orleans.org

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that will connect them with our director

who oversees this program and she

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can get the process started for them.

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Dixie: Is that like a long

term or a short term program?

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Jessica: Either or.

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It depends on the needs of the individual.

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So we have some people

that we help long term.

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We have some people that just need

help, for a short amount of time.

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We do both just dependent on

the needs of the individual

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Dixie: For the neglect, cases that you

work, do you house the animals for the

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authorities or how does that work exactly?

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Jessica: Yeah typically it's with

national groups when they ask

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us to assist with any cases that

they're working on or situations.

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Most recently we just assisted Animal

Rescue Corps this past Friday in

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Bienville Parish for a criminal.

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case, which was a cruelty case

involving over 30 animals in a home

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that was running itself like a rescue.

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And we've worked on several cases like

that with the Animal Rescue Corps,

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with Bissell Foundation, and with

Best Friends and other organizations.

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As situations have arisen in

our community or in the area.

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Dixie: Do

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you

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physically go out to the property to

help or do you just take in the animals?

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Jessica: Yeah, so we

physically go out to help.

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We usually go out to help with handling,

extraction behavior, assessing if

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just because everybody has to be

vetted, before being transported.

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And then in certain situations we take

animals, if that's what they're asking

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for, help with the case on Friday.

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They had placement for

all the animals with them.

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So they all were all transported

back to their facility in Tennessee.

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But we worked other cases where we've

taken animals from the site , it's

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probably more typical that we're

there working support during the

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case and that we typically will also

pull and leave with the animals.

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Dixie: Can I ask how the national

groups get involved with that?

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Cause I, usually here, it's like a local

authority that would go in and take

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care of that or like a local shelter.

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Jessica: A lot of times it's that.

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Either the police department or the

shelters are reaching out to them.

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Typically it's because it's something

outside of like the capacity of

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what that local shelter can handle.

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For this case on this past Friday,

I believe one of the shelter

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managers in the area is who

contacted the group that came down.

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And connected them with the sheriff's

department for them to take over the case

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or to take the animals from the case.

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Dixie: I'd like to talk a little

bit about natural disasters too.

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What are the more recent

disasters that you have worked?

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Jessica: Hurricane Ida was really the

last kind of big thing in this area.

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Dixie: For disasters, do you

typically just stay in Louisiana then?

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Jessica: Typically we shelter

in place for our animals here.

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We've provided support.

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We've driven out supplies and different

things out to and there's been other

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hurricanes outside of New Orleans.

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But yeah, when it's here in New

Orleans, we typically will shelter

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in place and take care of the animals

at our shelter and help deal with.

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Strays and found animals which is

very frequent during these situations,

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especially when there's extended power

water outage like there was with Ida.

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I think we were at 12

days in our area with out.

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So yeah, we just help as we can within

our ability with that kind of stuff.

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We also, had people black water

certified with the parish.

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So we'll work on call or with

LSART if needed for like water

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rescue and state response as well.

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That is all really based on

just like personnel though,

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sometimes we have times where.

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we have enough personnel, that we

can help, other times we don't have

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enough and we just have to focus,

on our own shelter and our own

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needs.

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Dixie: And what certification was that?

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I've never heard of that.

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Jessica: Black Water Rescue.

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It's a type of water rescue,

specifically for animal rescue

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responders, so for animal water rescue.

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Dixie: Hurricanes, of course, you just

touched on this a little bit, that we

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have power outages do you have a backup

generator for the shelter, or how do

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you combat these power outages with all

these animals that you're sheltering?

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Jessica: Yeah, so we do

now, which is so exciting.

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We have a natural gas

generator at our new shelter.

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That was one of our big,

non-negotiables when we moved in.

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Like we're designing, this new shelter.

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But before that we had gas run

generators, and we typically had

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five to six to run the whole shelter.

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Whenever anything weather related, that

we had notice on, we would always put

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out like a lot of posts and emails to

try and move as many of our animals into

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foster as possible just to try and keep.

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The amount of animals in the shelter

as low as possible, which has also

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been our saving grace with some of

these more extreme weather conditions.

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Dixie: Can you tell people what

should they have for hurricane

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season coming up for their own pets?

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Can you go over what, a good disaster

kit would be to have, or a hurricane kit?

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Jessica: Yeah, absolutely.

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What I keep for my personal animals

every year is I always make copies,

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updated copies of their vaccine records.

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I put those in.

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Ziploc bags.

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I also take a picture of those.

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So I have it on my phone as well.

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Easily accessible.

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I make sure I have about a week's

worth of food for each of my animals,

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a month's worth of any medications for

'em, and then a week's worth of water.

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I also keep on hand some over the

counter, calming supplements for 'em.

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And then, of course, I always keep

marked collars on my dogs because those

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are the anti-slip collars and leashes.

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I also keep a roll of dog bags in their

go bags, and I also keep popup water bowl

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and food bowls for them both as well.

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So I have a little.

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Go bag for my animals for disaster

stuff and I repack that, every

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year usually at the start of June.

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Dixie: That's great.

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And why do you do the copies

of the vaccine records?

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Jessica: Yeah, just in case

anything ends up being more

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catastrophic than we realize.

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And we have to evacuate or if I need

to go stay with a family member out of

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state, I just wanna make sure that I

have, proof of their vaccines, their

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rabies vaccine and their microchip

on hand and ready to go, especially

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if I'm moving them over state lines.

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Dixie: Yeah, that's definitely

a great thing to have.

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Everybody should have that.

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Jessica: Absolutely.

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Dixie: And everybody should have some

kind of go bag, like you said, ready

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to go that you can just grab and take.

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And get out the door if you have to.

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Jessica: Yeah.

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I do like my own, disaster kit

for my animals every year in June.

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And I just find too, I it just gives

you a peace of mind when things happen.

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You don't have to scramble,

you don't need to be stressed

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because you know you're prepared.

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And that way, you can

focus on other things.

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And I'm sure that's kinda

like the military in me.

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I'm a big, planner, being

prepared is very important to me.

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Yeah, I highly recommend

to everybody out there.

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Dixie: Yep.

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And hurricane season is coming up, so

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Jessica: Yes.

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It is

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Dixie: not fun.

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Jessica: No, especially not with animals.

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It definitely adds on some more

layers there when you have animals

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or kids, just when you have

any sort of dependent, right?

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Dixie: Yeah.

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And it, it's stressful, especially

for me 'cause I have cats, so like

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it's different with cats and dogs too.

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Jessica: Yeah.

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It's tough.

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Dixie: I try to keep 'em in their kennels.

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I don't take 'em out of their kennels

until we get to the destination

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and then I'll have these bigger

popup things that they can go in.

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Jessica: Nice.

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And do you use the the

feliaway spray at all?

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Dixie: I will for the ones I have

that get a little bit stressed out,

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luckily most of mine are, okay.

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They might meow for maybe 15, 20

minutes and then they calm down.

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Jessica: Okay.

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So they're like, we've been through

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this before.

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Dixie: They're not too bad.

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But I know there's people that

have to sedate their cats,

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Jessica: oh, yeah.

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Dixie: What strategies have proven

to be the most effective in terms

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of successful animal rescues

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Jessica: I would say probably, building

trust with people in the community,

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with other organizations, with the

shelters we're pulling throughout

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from I think, fostering community

building those relationships within

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our community is key to anything that

we do in animal rescue because when.

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People know that they can trust

you when they know that you're

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gonna do the right thing.

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When they know that you're,

you will offer, support.

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I think it just makes everything easier

because other open intake shelters know

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that you're resource that they can contact

when they need help with certain animals.

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Members of the community, know

that they can reach out for help.

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:

When they need it.

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And, even other rescues, know that if

they, need help in a situation or, maybe

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there's an animal that needs help and

they don't have space at the moment.

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They know that we're a

resource that they can call.

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:

So I think yeah, that's probably been

one of the biggest, parts of our success.

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:

Helped us to, stay successful doing rescue

is just fostering those relationships and,

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:

building trust like within the community.

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Dixie: And on the flip side, have there

been any approaches to rescue that

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:

haven't worked as well as anticipated?

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Jessica: I think a lot of things

are trial and error just in general.

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:

Like with anything.

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Maybe the things that are the

least successful for us is

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:

when we overextend ourselves.

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Just in general, being

mainly volunteer driven.

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Having enough people to do all the things

we wanna do and to do all the things

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:

we wanna do well can be challenging.

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Maybe overcommitting ourselves, to events

and different exposure things, which,

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:

ideally would be a great thing, but

when you don't have enough volunteers

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:

to, man the event, bring animals to the

event or, to the, these things, then

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:

they ultimately are not successful.

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:

So I think that would be probably the

biggest thing is just over extension.

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:

Dixie: Could you discuss your process for

screening potential adopters to ensure

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:

animals go to safe and loving homes?

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Jessica: Yeah, absolutely.

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:

So it starts off with our

application which is on our website.

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Once an application is filled in,

that's gonna go over to one of our

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:

volunteer adoption team members.

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:

They are gonna read through that, which

the application really just covers

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:

lifestyle experience and kind of the

person's expectations for pet ownership.

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:

Then we're gonna do a virtual home check.

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:

This is mainly we're, checking the

yards for, issues with fencing,

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:

poisonous plants, that kind of thing.

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:

And then if the person has owned

a pet before, we are going to,

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:

call the vet just to verify, that.

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Vaccines were done, preventatives

were done, that kind of thing.

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:

And then lastly, if they rent, we do

always call the landlord to ensure

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:

that, the tenant has spoken to them

and gotten approval for the animal.

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:

We do try and make our process

more kind of a conversation

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:

as opposed to a checklist.

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And one of the things I think is really

neat about our adoption process is

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that you get paired with an adoption

counselor and their whole job is just to

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:

help find you, the perfect pet for you.

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:

And they really go above and beyond,

in doing that, which I think is

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:

really special and really cool.

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:

Dixie: And are people open to that?

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:

When you help them find the pet

for them as opposed to just

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:

picking out the one that they want.

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:

Jessica: Yeah, certainly.

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:

Some people they see a picture, a video,

or they meet an animal at an event and

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:

they fall in love and that's totally fine.

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:

We have other people that, maybe

the animal they chose or have an

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:

adoption application and goes home,

or, maybe the animal they chose after

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:

they meet them isn't the right fit.

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:

And in that case we have, our

staff who our staff does playgroups

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:

every weekday at the shelter.

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So the majority of all of

our dogs in shelter are

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:

playgroups every day with them.

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So that team really knows

the behavior for the dogs.

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Best.

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:

So they'll work with dog adopters.

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We have these questions we go through

with them about what they're looking

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:

for, their lifestyle, this, that,

size, any of those preferences.

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:

And then our slate group team will

help pair 'em with they'll make a short

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:

list of dogs that they think match what

they're looking for and will do meets.

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:

And then we do the same

thing on the cat side with.

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:

Our cat leads who will we don't play here

for the cats, but we have, cats in our

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:

cat condos who are, co housed with other

cats and some different things that'll

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:

help us determine best fit for people.

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:

Dixie: What about first time adopters?

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:

If they've never had a vet,

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:

Jessica: We just usually ask

for a professional reference.

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:

Or typically we'll ask them to call a

vet and just get an estimate for some

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:

of the basic services for the year,

just so they have an understanding

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:

of what they're looking to pay

out of pocket with pet ownership.

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:

Dixie: Do you offer any kind of

post-adoption support or resources?

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:

Jessica: Oh yes.

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:

We do a ton.

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:

So we always check in and we

provide a lot of resources and we

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:

always make ourselves available.

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:

We will help with, training.

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:

We'll follow up if there's any

medical issues and help with that.

461

:

If there's any supplies that we think,

will help the animal adjust better, help

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:

cope with any issues, we'll supply those.

463

:

So we really always wanna make sure that

our adopters feel very supported and

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:

they don't feel like they just got stuck.

465

:

And if something doesn't work out,,

we always take our animals back.

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:

No judgment.

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:

Whether it's been a week or a year or five

years since adoption, and that is part

468

:

of our contract that if it doesn't work

out, our animals always come back to us.

469

:

Dixie: Do you have any successful

adoption stories that you could share?

470

:

Jessica: Yeah.

471

:

A ton.

472

:

I will I'll talk about one that's.

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:

Close to my heart.

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:

And that is about our black lab

in a wheelchair named Titan.

475

:

He was found when he was about 10

weeks old, dragging himself down the

476

:

side of the road out in Lafourche.

477

:

They didn't know if he was, truly

paralyzed or if there was just

478

:

inflammation that was causing like a

temporary paralysis in his back legs.

479

:

We ended up taking him, not knowing

what his future was gonna look like,

480

:

but we just knew that we had to try.

481

:

So we took him, put him through,

physical therapy around the clock here.

482

:

He needed multiple surgeries.

483

:

And now he's doing great.

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:

He is thriving, zooming around

in his wheelchair goes to a

485

:

dog park multiple times a week

is out and about all the time.

486

:

And why it's close to my heart is

because I'm the one that adopted

487

:

him after I fostered him for a year.

488

:

Yeah.

489

:

So I wasn't looking for another

dog, but he was just, the right one.

490

:

So I have.

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:

Two kind of special

needs dogs at my house.

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:

My other one is also an ARNO alum.

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:

And her name is Brynn.

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:

She's nine now.

495

:

I adopted her eight years ago.

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:

She was found, dumped in a plastic crate

with her mom in the middle of the night.

497

:

And she was about 11 months old.

498

:

She had really bad neuropathy, which is

like a nerve disorder and semi feral.

499

:

So it was actually when I first

started at ARNO and she just

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:

hugged up my heartstrings and

I started working with her.

501

:

And once I built up, her trust,

I took her home to foster

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:

her and I just fell in love.

503

:

So those are my two foster fails.

504

:

Dixie: I think everybody in

rescue has some of those, and I

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:

always say I have the reject cats.

506

:

Jessica: Oh yeah.

507

:

Dixie: I mean they're not really it's

like the ones that nobody else wants.

508

:

Like I have one, she doesn't

have any eyes, so she was born

509

:

completely blind, no eyes.

510

:

And then of course we have a tripod.

511

:

And he doesn't know that he's

missing an arm and she doesn't

512

:

know she's missing eyes.

513

:

Jessica: It's amazing how they

adjust so quickly, like they're

514

:

animals are just so resilient.

515

:

It's just truly amazes me,

516

:

Dixie: It does.

517

:

And it's a shame that the special need

ones are overlooked because I think the

518

:

special need ones, they're absolutely

amazing when you spend time with them.

519

:

Jessica: I agree.

520

:

Yeah I agree wholeheartedly and I think

they just make your life so much richer.

521

:

I know, my two over here I couldn't

imagine my life without Now.

522

:

If you'd asked me, five years ago

if I thought I would have a dog in

523

:

a wheelchair, I'd probably be like.

524

:

What, so it's funny, with doing this work

does make us I think, more amenable too

525

:

to giving these special guys a chance,

526

:

Dixie: Yeah.

527

:

They're amazing.

528

:

Absolutely amazing.

529

:

The things that they can do.

530

:

I think everybody should see

531

:

it.

532

:

It

533

:

really is amazing.

534

:

Jessica: Yes,

535

:

I agree.

536

:

My one's staring at me right now.

537

:

Yes, we're talking about you.

538

:

Dixie: So how does Arno engage with the

local community to raise awareness about

539

:

animal welfare and promote adoptions?

540

:

Jessica: So it is a lot of,

social media these days.

541

:

We post a lot on our Instagram,

our TikTok, and our Facebook.

542

:

We try to post the kind of work

we're doing, the kind of things we're

543

:

seeing, the things we need help with.

544

:

What I enjoy about the way that we

do this is that, we don't do a lot of

545

:

angry or shaming posts, I think we do

a pretty good job about, staying like

546

:

upbeat and honest and letting people

know and like the ways that we need help.

547

:

And we also do, a lot of events as

well where we're out in the community,

548

:

showcasing ARNO and the animals and

talking about the work that we do.

549

:

We also have, our needs out on like

volunteer match with kind of the

550

:

help that we need to for, this.

551

:

And yeah, I think that probably,

encapsulates it of what we

552

:

do the majority of for that.

553

:

Dixie: What message would you

like to share with our listeners

554

:

about the importance of animal

rescue and animal welfare?

555

:

Jessica: Ooh, so

556

:

rescue ultimately is about second chances.

557

:

And not always, just for the animals.

558

:

Adopting and fostering and

volunteering I think can be

559

:

transformative for the people as well.

560

:

Doing something that matters, caring for

those who can't care for themselves is.

561

:

Really special and important.

562

:

And I think it, changes something within

us making the world a better place.

563

:

So yeah, I think it's, really special

all around for us and for the animals,

564

:

Dixie: For those who wanna

support Arno, what are the most

565

:

impactful ways they can contribute?

566

:

Jessica: Yeah.

567

:

Volunteering.

568

:

Volunteering giving your time is

always the best way to help ARNO.

569

:

There are so many ways you can help

by coming, helping with animal care

570

:

events, volunteering or fostering.

571

:

We have other volunteer positions

like administration ones as well.

572

:

And then of course, if you're able to

donate, especially monthly support really

573

:

helps us plan out and respond quickly.

574

:

Every little bit helps us truly.

575

:

And then, helping to promote us.

576

:

If you see one of our posts, on

social media, please share it.

577

:

Please like it, please interact with it.

578

:

That helps us, if you have a friend

or family member looking to adopt

579

:

or volunteer send of our way.

580

:

So those are probably some of

the most impactful ways that

581

:

people can help support us.

582

:

Dixie: And what is your website too?

583

:

Jessica: It is

www.animalrescueneworleans.org.

584

:

Dixie: Thank you.

585

:

And before we end the call, is there

anything else you would like to add?

586

:

Jessica: Oh, for anybody in the

immediate area, we would love to see

587

:

you come out for our grand opening.

588

:

That is going to be on Saturday, June 28th

from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM we will have a lot

589

:

going on, including we'll be giving tours.

590

:

And if you do come by,

please come meet me.

591

:

Again, my name's Jessica and I'd be

happy to give anybody who comes a

592

:

tour of the new facility and talk

to you about Arno more in depth.

593

:

Dixie: That sounds like fun and

congratulations on the grand opening too.

594

:

It's very exciting to

have that in the area.

595

:

Jessica: Yeah.

596

:

Thank you so much.

597

:

Dixie: All right.

598

:

Thank you for taking the

time to speak with me today.

599

:

I appreciate it.

600

:

Jessica: Yeah, thank you for having me.

601

:

It was a pleasure.

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About the Podcast

Animal Posse
A look inside the world of animal rescue
Dive deep into the world of animal rescue with heartwarming stories, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes insights. From heartwarming adoptions to daring rescues, we'll explore the incredible bond between humans and animals.
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