Scarlett Dombrowski

The Humane Society of West Michigan embraces a wonderful atmosphere, helping all kinds of animals in need.

When Feb. rolls around, counselors begin coming to classes to talk to the freshmen about their future careers. Personally, I’ve always heard the typical career paths being thrown around the most: a doctor, a lawyer, maybe an engineer. However, the Humane Society of West Michigan (HSWM) has opened my eyes to so many more options than the stereotypical ones.

Ashley Dahl, the director of community programs, never particularly saw her path veering towards working with animals. She grew up with the typical puppies in newspaper adoption sites and never gave too much thought to pursuing a career in animal welfare. Except that one day, listening to the radio unexpectedly changed her entire life.

“One of those Sarah McLachlan songs came on,” Ashley said. “I was like, ‘I like animals.’ I thought I’d give it two weeks. I’d go walk some dogs, and then I would go back to my life. And once I came here, I just fell in love with the mission and fell in love with what the [Humane Society of West Michigan]  did.” 

HSWM has been operating for over 140 years, helping animals throughout the area and even outside of state lines. As a non-profit organization, they don’t receive government funding and are entirely based on community donations and interest. During winter, things tend to operate a bit differently from other seasons.

As the director of community programs, Ashley helps keep animals from being surrendered by their owners, offering resources to improve their home life and make it easier for them. As most people who live in Michigan know, more problems begin to arise in winter because of the freezing temperatures and large amounts of snow. Preaching the fact that they can help those who need it, rather than only offering the surrender of animals, greatly decreases the number of animals coming to the shelter, too. So, in winter, HSWM navigates to help those specific circumstances.

“[We become] concerned about the people that are living on the streets and we’re concerned about the pets,” Ashley said. “So, we want to be a resource for individuals, especially in this colder weather, so that if they need extra blankets or supplies to keep themselves and their pets safe, we’re here for them.”

Ashley especially emphasizes how important it is to ask for resources if they’re needed. When animal surrendering is at its peak, whatever they can do to keep more pets in homes is what’s strived for. There is a goal to keep a community, one that can reach out for each other in times of need, and this is just one factor in the big scheme of it all.

“I want people not to be ashamed or afraid to reach out because anybody who works at a nonprofit isn’t doing it to make money,” Ashley said. “So we understand the struggles of rubbing two pennies together to make it work. I just don’t want people to ever feel ashamed to ask for help.”

The community has always been a huge part of the HSWM. With the plethora of programs they offer, volunteering opportunities, and overall welcoming atmosphere, the interaction every day brings joy to its members. As someone who goes there themself to help out, it’s amazing just how much the community lifts everyone around them up. It’s truly a safe space.

Lydia Mehlhose, the volunteer and foster coordinator, meets with people every day to discuss potential options for improving animal livelihood. She is one of the many who build the community up to be what it is. She interacts with the people who help out through the kindness of their hearts, and that’s one of the most beautiful things about this organization.

“Community engagement is my favorite part,” Lydia said. “Just being in contact with the volunteers in the community and people who want to help out is my favorite part. Simply [being able] to talk to people day to day. Seeing animals and foster come around and have this wonderful transformation and get adopted is amazing too.”

Being the volunteer and foster coordinator also means training folks who want to help out with no prior training in working with animals. During the snowy season, it’s harder to train as many people with the conditions outside and find new people to help out, as some of the busiest times are currently. They need to discover consistent volunteers, who are trained during the summer, that will come in during winter, experienced and ready.

“There are still people who are interested [in volunteering during winter],” Lydia said. “However, I just try not to [train new people] because of the holidays, since everybody’s busy. Plus, with the weather, it’s not ideal to train dog walkers in that season. After the holidays, [volunteers] really want to get involved.”

One of the biggest ways to engage in the HSWM is through hosting the kids’ camps throughout the year. Currently, the junior volunteer club is the camp that happens weekly to bring in children to learn and engage with animals. Though it might seem surprising, it’s one of the best ways to get information out to the public. Kids take in valuable information about animals and can change the world with the extra knowledge they gain.

Amy Heddy, the humane education coordinator, runs the camps year-round. In the winter season, it’s a great way to bring new people in and teach precious lessons.

“We will teach a lesson for [our different] camps, and kids are crazy, so you never know what they’re ingesting or not, as far as information goes,” Amy said. “So [when we do activities] like chalk drawing, we say to draw anything you learned this week, and they’ll say, for example, don’t put your dogs in the hot cars, make sure you play with your animals. When they tell you back the stuff that you taught them that week, it’s incredible.”

The humane education program goes beyond the simplicity of bringing in new people. It’s influencing the new generation to be better than the previous one. With every child taught there, it adds one to the surplus who knows just that much more than the normal person.

“These guys are basically the next generation of animal welfare advocates. So to me, this is our future. Generation Alpha, they are the ones that will save us all,” Amy said.