Marleen works with the University of Washington Alumni Association engaging alumni outside of the Puget Sound. She’s worked in the non-profit sector for 14 years and loves to plan community centered events. She is an avid animal lover and rescue advocate. She volunteers at Forever Home Rescue and adopts 2 pups from their rescue. She enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, walking her pups, and spending time with family. She lives in Seattle with her husband and rescued pups, Sarge and Sansa.
Avery Fukeda is a seasoned fundraising professional with over a decade of experience in fundraising and events across a diverse range of organizations. His career has spanned sectors including affordable housing, children’s museums, historic performing arts venues, higher education, and social services. He has also had a love for animals and remembers his first interaction was with his grandparent’s corgi in Hawaii.
An active community member, Avery is dedicated to making a positive impact through his volunteer work and philanthropic efforts. He is involved with several organizations here in Seattle and was heavily involved in Hawaii holding various leadership positions. Avery’s commitment to service and community engagement continues to drive his work and passion for helping others.
JJ Lee is a corporate affairs specialist with more than a decade of experience leading PR offices in the U.S. and overseas. She has worked with clients in the tech, philanthropies, and healthcare sectors in communicating their mission and bringing communities together through partnerships.
She is excited to join the Board as a member of the Marketing Committee. JJ has a passion for animal rehabilitation and training. She spends all of her free time gardening, crocheting (mostly likenesses of her dogos!) and discovering new places to eat.
Audrey is a recruiting professional with over a decade of experience. She has recruited in tech, healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace and is very excited to be helping the SAF!
She moved to Seattle 15 years ago from Chicago immediately becoming a dog walker and sitter for rescues and fosters. She was most recently working with Chewy where she developed a love for pet puns and had the opportunity to volunteer with the Seattle Animal Shelter.
In her free time, she is an avid cyclist, loves cooking and is hoping to travel more. She lives in the Green Lake area where you will often find her asking if she can pet all the dogs.
There’s an agency in Seattle that can help with your animals if you’re in a crisis, will support you in an unsustainable situation with your pets, and offers resources and supplies to underserved communities.
It’s called Animal Control.
Seattle’s Animal Control is a world away from the stereotype of dogcatchers and “the pound.” They focus on outreach and safety, and work to keep families together.
“This role has evolved so much over the last decade and the decade before that and the decade before that. If you look at the horrible history of where this profession started and where we are now, it’s unrecognizable,” said Animal Control Officer Patrick Lynch. “The role is going to continue to change. That’s part of the reason we need to be innovative, to adapt in a way that’s helpful to the community. As the community needs change, we’re going to change as well.”
The approach to calls is always on finding positive outcomes.
“Our goal is always to keep pets and people together, and when that’s not possible we have services. We encourage people to come to us when they need help,”
Seattle Animal Shelter Deputy Director Jocelyn Bouchard.
The Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s biggest fundraiser, Furevermore, this year funded a new SAS initiative called “The Best Chance” program, which will support continued outreach to underserved communities through the sharing of care, information and resources with the goal of creating more open, trusting relationships – and keeping animals safe with their families.
“Our primary focus is animal welfare and public safety,” Officer Lynch said. “Those are the two most important things. There’s a lot of overlap between those two issues.”
Animal Control responds to calls about everything from a barking dog to alleged abuse cases. Officers talk to complainants and try to get clarification, “try to see what they are seeing,” he said.
A recent case Lynch handled involved a man who lived in an apartment with 10 dogs. His original pet was unspayed, and one litter led to another, which led to him struggling to take care of more dogs than he had the capacity to. Because of issues including barking, he was on the verge of getting evicted. He needed help but didn’t know where to turn.
“He’s been told no his whole life. Why would anyone say yes to taking care of his pets?” Lynch said.
It took a while to build trust but Lynch eventually was able to get the man to agree to surrender seven of the dogs and keep three, which were spayed, microchipped and vaccinated, and returned, and also got him sufficient supplies. The other seven dogs were adopted.
“At the end of the case, every single person said, ‘I never thought that this kind of outcome was a possibility.’ Even the apartment managers who were actively trying to evict this person. They weren’t going to call Animal Control because (they thought), ‘That’s going to be far worse than what I’m trying to do.’ ”
These kinds of cases and interactions have a deep impact on the wellness of the community.
“That man had an eviction hearing and didn’t get evicted. He was able to show he was capable of making these big changes. He understood that if something comes up he can rely on SAS to give him that compassionate outcome he would need,” Lynch said. “For other parties, they all now know moving forward that we can make a positive difference in a way that is beneficial to everybody. And hopefully as time goes on … when a person wants a dog, he’s not going to get an unfixed dog from the internet. He will adopt from us.”
In Officer Lynch’s mind, these small interactions are the foundational stepping stone toward bigger change.
“Something that I try to do, and I can only do it case by case, is change people’s minds as to what we are here to do and how we can help.”
The Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation funds programs and services that support animals in need like this throughout our community. To donate, click here.
For Sagan Lain, starting a career in animal welfare felt like “turning on a light switch in my being.” “After graduating college I was wanting to work in a helping field, but not exactly sure what that would look like with an English lit degree,” they said. “I found a job posting for a high-volume spay-and-neuter clinic. I was an animal lover but hadn’t considered working with animals as a profession. I instantly fell in love, getting to support animals and people in need.”
After pursuing their passion for more than a decade, Sagan has found a home as the Foster Program Coordinator at Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS).
“There’s something incredibly beautiful for me about getting to serve animals that are between homes and in that need, and getting to support community in that work. And I love volunteers! I truly feel so blessed to have worked with volunteers in all my roles in animal welfare in the last decade. It fills my heart, getting to support people who dedicate their time, their labor, their care, their skills to pets.”
The Foster Program Coordinator role is new to SAS, made possible by the funding of the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s fundraiser Furevermore. The goal of the position is to provide much-needed support to foster parents, and to have someone be the consistent communicator between them and the shelter, according to SAS Animal Care Manager Tracy Bahrakis.
“We should do better by them, but in the current structure we just don’t have capacity for it,” Tracy said last year.
Now, thanks to so much generosity, they do.
Sagan is currently focusing on building processes and updating resources around those communications needs, ensuring there is more consistency and collaboration. Beyond that, Sagan and other shelter leaders are currently reviewing a consultant’s recommendations for the program, noting “we are on the precipice of making some changes that are incredible.”
And Sagan knows something about transformational changes.
“I was very happy and comfortable with the work I was doing (before moving here), but also was never going to have fewer responsibilities in my life and was ready to spread my wings and come to the most beautiful place I’d ever been to. I also knew that this region had a robust and well-founded animal welfare community, so I was excited to get my feet wet in a different region.”
They certainly have done that. Sagan is fully immersed in their role and is excited to be part of the progress that’s supporting this community and all its animals.
“The future of sheltering is so dependent upon foster programming. In the history of sheltering, we thought that keeping animals in shelter between homes was the most humane thing. But we really have found that the stress that an environment like this inherently entails is not conducive to helping pets heal and grow.
Foster is the future. It makes total sense that the Foundation would identify that, and want to support the animals of SAS by increasing their foster programming.”
If you’re interested in supporting the work and special projects of Seattle Animal Shelter, consider donating to the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation and attending the next Furevermore Auction & Gala.
If you want to get to know more about the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation, Josh Herrington definitely wants to get to know you.
As the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation’s new Development Director, Josh brings people who care about the shelter’s work together with the right opportunities for contributing, whether financially or with their time or through another mechanism.
“I look at myself as more of a connector of people in the community to a nonprofit organization’s mission. I help connect people to a mission through philanthropy, and I’m a steward to help people learn more.”
Josh’s philosophy focuses on deepening donor relationships to help them achieve their own goals, which means really getting to know them.
“It’s about learning who they are, learning what motivates them. If you can reach someone’s head and their heart, that’s success. Show them it’s a smart investment in the community.”
Josh came to this role having worked in nonprofit development for 20 years, in public radio, the arts and an organization working to end homelessness.
“I couldn’t do this work at an organization where I didn’t feel a strong connection to the mission,” he said. “I always had a passion for animals. I’ve always had a dog or rabbits or birds.”
And almost something more exotic.
“My mom worked part time and also volunteered as a docent (guide) at the local zoo. She came home one day and said, ‘I would love it if we could adopt an orangutan.’ We would have had to convert half the house into an orangutan enclosure! I was around 9 or 10 years old, so maybe that was her answer to me getting older. Needless to stay, my dad put a stop to adding a primate to our family!”
While the shelter focuses on taking care of more … approachable animals, Josh is focused on supporting the “amazing” volunteers, committee, and board members he’s working with. Currently, the Development Director is the Foundation’s only staff position.
Josh’s vision is to both expand the donor base and strengthen donor relationships, which in turn will support an increase in revenue. He also wants to emphasize different channels of fundraising opportunities: monthly giving, stock, planned giving, events and one-time gifts, which can diversify the Foundation’s donor base.
“These funds will help the Seattle Animal Shelter accomplish what they do best: provide care and homes to our community’s most vulnerable animals.”
You can reach Josh Herrington at [email protected]. If you are interested in making a contribution to support the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation, visit https://seattleanimalfoundation.org/donate-today.
Jennifer Warner Jacobsen has been Adopt-a-Pet.com’s Director of Shelter Programs for the past 15 years, supporting the organization’s animal welfare, adoption, and pet owner outreach initiatives. She has written thousands of published articles and pet care guides, presented workshops at conferences on pet photography for sheltered pets, optimizing social media for shelters and rescues, and more. Previously, Jennifer held a variety of positions in animal and human welfare at the Pasadena Humane Society, the United Nations, and UNICEF.
Outside of work, Jennifer is passionate about… helping animals! She has been volunteering for SASF in social media and is excited to now be on the SASF Board! She enjoys volunteering, pet photography and videography, and studying pet behavior, health, and nutrition. Jennifer and her husband Jeff relocated from Los Angeles to Seattle in 2021. They share their home with two dogs Iggy and Pops, two “foster failed” cats Geo and Helen Rose, and a rotating cast of foster pets.
Denise Lin is a talent acquisition professional with a focus on DE&I and candidate experience. As someone who cares deeply about animal welfare, Denise is thrilled to be leading recruiting efforts for the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation. Denise can often be found exploring restaurants and coffee shops in her West Seattle neighborhood, spending quality time with her husband and their families, and taking walks with her mom’s dog, Butters. She has also recently signed up to become a foster parent for the Seattle Animal Shelter and looks forward to welcoming furry friends into her home.
Megan Nadan is a senior project manager who has spent most of her career working for education nonprofits. She is excited to combine 10+ years of event and project experience with her passion for animals. She holds BFA in Graphic Design from Central Washington University and a BA in Political Science from The George Washington University. A northwest native, Megan grew up in Olympia and graduated from River Ridge High School. She is an avid baker, and she and her husband Jay love to travel and spend time outdoors whenever possible. They share their house with Abby a feisty rescue cat and Maya a sweet but energetic Newfoundland/Lab mix.