The nonprofit savior complex: How good intentions can erode trust - Gina Lattuca, SPCA Serving Erie County

Summary

Podcast Summary: RKD Group: Thinkers

Episode: The nonprofit savior complex: How good intentions can erode trust
Guest: Gina Lattuca, Chief Communications Officer, SPCA Serving Erie County
Host: Nipa Eason
Date: July 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Nipa Eason interviews Gina Lattuca, who has overseen communications at the SPCA Serving Erie County (NY) for 36 years. The conversation centers on the dangers of the “nonprofit savior complex,” how good intentions can unintentionally erode trust, the changing landscape of animal welfare, lessons in strategic communication, and the importance of staying grounded, adaptive, and transparent. Through Gina’s rich personal stories and insights, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own motivations and approaches as nonprofit professionals.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Gina’s Path to the SPCA and Early Challenges

• Landing the Job (00:58–02:37): Gina explains her transition from college studies and radio to nonprofit work. Her first day involved crossing a picket line. Parental advice and her early experience with crisis set the tone.
  • Quote: “You drive right in and you walk in there and you tell them why when you start working at the SPCA, people won't be picketing it anymore.” – Gina’s father (01:22)
• Growth over the Years (03:14–05:39): From being the 32nd employee to 120 today, Gina reflects on the blessing and excitement of growth, evolving from typewriter-era communications to AI and social media.
  • Quote: “The only typical thing is that the day is going to be atypical.” (04:22)

Adapting to Technology and Managing Modern PR

• From Solopreneur to Department Head (06:03–07:50): Gina discusses her long solo stint running communications and the eventual growth to a team. She emphasizes the need for strategic, not scattershot, communications in a noisy world.

The Shift in Animal Welfare: Pet Retention vs. Traditional Models

• Evolving Mission (07:50–11:16): The SPCA’s role has transformed from primarily animal adoptions/rescue to a focus on pet retention—helping families keep their pets by addressing underlying barriers.
  • Quote: “90% of the time, of course, people are saying yes” when offered help to keep their animals. (10:08)
  • Pet food, veterinary assistance, and crisis support are increasingly part of animal welfare.
  • The challenge: overcoming the community’s outdated expectations that pets are “disposable.”
• Overcoming Unrealistic Expectations (12:02–12:45): Gina notes the “impossible” bar set for their agency—being seen as responsible for every animal everywhere.

Media Relations: Building Trust and Telling the Truth

• Enduring Media Partnerships (13:10–14:51): Gina emphasizes always being accessible and honest, never saying “no comment,” and finding creative ways to be transparent even in crises.
  • Quote: "The phrase 'no comment' was not a comment I ever said, because we always had a comment." (13:40)

Sustaining Motivation in Nonprofit Life

• What Keeps Her Engaged (15:32–19:08):
  • Dedication to animals and community.
  • Outstanding, visionary leadership, past and present.
  • Enjoys seeing how data-driven innovations (like offsite adoptions) once controversial, now shape the industry.
  • Quote: “We became the pioneers with off site adoptions. ... Because of that vision that Barbara brought to the organization.” (16:45)

Educating the Community & Fostering Sophisticated Conversations

• Raising the Dialogue (19:20–20:09): SPCA’s role in informing the public about current issues (e.g., animal contraception, puppy mills, dog fighting) and observing an increasingly knowledgeable community as a result.

Advice for Building Responsible Partnerships and Avoiding the Savior Complex

• Embrace Change and Honesty (20:27–22:21): Adaptability and transparency are non-negotiable.
• Dangers of the Altruistic Identity (22:21–25:57):
  • The “savior complex” can lead to mistrust. Policies rooted in the belief that only staff are truly virtuous can make the public feel alienated.
  • Quote: “You almost allow your compassion driven work to become a source of self-importance.” (21:41)
  • Real-world example: Their onerous past adoption process actually disqualified 95% of staff, revealing systemic distrust.
  • Quote: “It’s harder getting a pet in western New York than it is to get a mortgage.” (23:05)

The Importance of Humility and Emotional Well-Being

• Avoiding Erosion of Trust (25:57–26:28):
  • “People are intuitive. They can read the room... now not only can they read it, but communication is two way now.” (26:02–26:07)
• Managing Emotional Toll (26:28–31:24):
  • Gina shares her spiritual faith as a source of strength and argues for carrying—rather than walling off—the pain of animal cruelty; using it to fuel advocacy and change.
  • Quote: “If I don't allow myself those tears for a month, I'll forget the significance of it.” (27:12)
  • Camaraderie and mutual support within the “family” of SPCA are essential for resilience and finding meaning even in the hardest moments.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On embracing discomfort for the mission:
  • “You know, why do we love animals the most? ... It almost was that altruistic, ‘I work for the SPCA, I love animals a little more than you,’ and it led to this mistrust.” (23:49)
• On public transparency:
  • “The line becomes blurred and they start seeing the organization as you. ... They might assume that’s how the agency is. ... So it could be very dangerous.” (24:14)
• On emotional resilience:
  • “I don't want to separate from it. I want to take it and use it to stop it from happening again.” (27:00)
• On community progress:
  • “Now we'll be out in the community, and the questions we receive are about immunocontraception in animals, very sophisticated questions.” (19:34)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Gina’s career beginnings and first big challenge – 00:58–02:37
• Growing with the SPCA and technological evolution – 03:14–06:03
• Modern communications challenges in a nonprofit context – 06:03–07:50
• Transition in animal welfare philosophy (pet retention) – 07:50–11:16
• Communicating evolving roles to the public – 11:16–12:45
• Media relations and honesty – 13:10–14:51
• Leadership, vision, and the role of data in transformation – 15:32–19:08
• Advice on avoiding the nonprofit savior complex – 22:21–25:57
• Navigating emotional toll and fostering community – 26:28–31:24

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Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, reflective, and honest. Gina’s voice is empathetic and candid, frequently emphasizing humility, lifelong learning, and the importance of relationships—with people, animals, and the broader community.

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Three Key Takeaways (as summarized by host, 31:51–End)

1. Change is the only constant: Adapt to technology and community needs as they evolve.
2. Use data to expand your mission: Let research and results guide new programs and organizational pivots.
3. Build relationships with honesty: Transparency within the organization and with the public builds lasting trust.

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For further engagement, listeners are invited to share their thoughts via email: [e-mail]

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Arcady Group Chat Podcast, where we bring you behind the scenes of nonprofit life. We shed light on the compassion and purpose behind the individuals solving the world's most challenging problems. I'm your host, Nipa Eason. Today we're talking to Gina Latuca with the SPCA serving Erie county in New York. Gina has been with this organization for 36 years, leading communications through the advent of fax machines through to the era of AI. She's seen it all. As a chief communications officer, she oversees the organization's storytelling and how that messaging reaches audiences. Let's chat. Gina, I'm so excited to talk to you today about your decades of experience with spca. It's incredible. Talk to me about how you even got to work with spca. Like, how did you even kind of make that move?

[B]

Yeah, it, you know, it's very interesting. In college, I had majors, concentrations in communications, public relations, journalism. Started working at a local radio station. And, you know, I knew I wanted to work with the media, but not necessarily in the media as a media representative. And at one of the radio stations, I worked at a few, and at one of them, they found out that the public relations director of the SPCA serving Erie county was going to be moving on to a different job elsewhere. And one of the representatives at the station, one of the members of the on air talent, called and said, you know, this might be a great job for you. And the next day I sent in my resume, was called for an interview. And so now we're talking 1990. And I still remember driving in for my interview. There were picketers picketing rspca. And fortunately, I was very early and I drove past and I remember calling my parents and saying, I don't know what to do. Am I supposed to cross a picket line? I have my interview. What should I do? And I remember as over yesterday, my dad saying, you drive right in and you walk in there and you tell them why when you start working at the spca, people won't be picketing it anymore.

[A]

So that's such great advice. Yeah.

[B]

And then July 24, 1990, was my first day. So it worked because we haven't had picketers since July 23, 1990. So.

[A]

So you, you fulfilled your promise, doing something right.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

No, that's amazing. That's such a great story, too. And also totally intimidating. I would also call my dad, I'm sure, in a moment like that. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I mean, I was in my early 20s. I didn't know there was a big Thing going on in Buffalo at the time with people crossing picket line, I think it was. I can't remember if it was a telephone union of picketing or if it was something with local media. I can't remember what the picketing was, but it was a little, I think it's like you said, intimidating. It was a little intimidating, yeah.

[A]

But you did it. You got through and you did the interview. You used it to your advantage. That's amazing.

[B]

Yeah. Boy, number 32. And we now have about 120 employees, so.

[A]

Wow. And you've seen all of that growth too. So tell me about that too. Like, because scaling up an organization in general is challenging. And I can imagine in nonprofit world that's even harder to scale up like that. So how has it been, watching the growth?

[B]

Oh, well, I mean, I thank God every day for this job. It's been so exciting. If you told me back in 1990 that we would be in a campus like state setting in a more central part of our community, I never would have believed it. So it's been incredible to watch the growth. It's been incredible to position and represent an organization that has brought on people and that has had such a vision that it has remained exciting for almost 36 years. And I know that sounds like it's just something to say for the sake of a podcast, but I know we were talking before about maybe what a typical day is, and I think the only typical thing is that the day is going to be atypical. It's been incredible to work for people with amazing vision. I've been blessed to work with some amazing executive directors and Now President and CEOs. So it's been so exciting. It's been exciting to watch the staff grow, to watch different departments added, to watch the different ways that we're helping animals in the community. And now we're helping so many more people in our community. So I can't say enough. You know, I'm coming from an era where when I started here, just to put it in some perspective for the people who are my age or older, fax machines were new. So we're going all the way back to when I started. I had an actual typewriter with the carriage that I had to move manually. So just moving from a typewriter to a word processor was exciting. Then you start adding computers, and then you add the Internet, and then you add social media. And all of a sudden the field of public relations isn't just one way anymore. All of a sudden, public relations is two way. And with the advent of social media and what some of the PR professionals call the age of offense. And it's full blown when it comes to communication. There's people waking up every single day looking for reasons to become offended. So in public relations we have to be on our toes every single day and expect that no day will be typical.

[A]

Right. I mean, and that's, you know, that's a good point. The technology journey that you all have, you have seen, right? Going from fax machines to social media now, and now we have AI Also, how are you feeling about. Because you lead the PR department at this point and communications department, how has that been, watching that progress and how are you feeling about the state of communications now?

[B]

Well, I was a one person department up until about the year, I'm going to say 2018, 2017, I was a one person department. So for decades the organization was growing around me. And I don't mean because of me, but the organization was growing, which of course added to my task list. And finally I had assistance part time. Up until two years ago, we were able to bring on Social Media Manager. Now we're a department of three. So it's been exciting to find the different ways to position the spca. And as we added services, as we added programs, you know, we would have maybe one event to advertise. So we would of course give it a lot of social media exposure, a lot of traditional media exposure. Now we're at an organization where at the same time we're juggling 12 different things and the temptation is to put the news out to everybody, all the time, in every way possible. Well, anybody in the field of communications knows that's the quick way to failure because you just can't do that. You really need to be strategic about their promotional calendar. So that's what's been interesting. Fortunately, I surrounded myself with two incredibly knowledgeable employees and they're helping to balance and juggle a very, very full task list. Right now we've got about eight different things that we're putting out to a very small community in a region that is competitive when it comes to animal welfare. And we're doing an excellent job. So watching that and learning about that is another thing that keeps this exciting. Nothing is boring in this field.

[A]

How do you feel like animal welfare is changing at this point or that it has changed? I.

[B]

Well, it's not. Okay. I have to answer it this way because for people not in the animal welfare field, I think if you said to the common person who doesn't work in this industry, Whatsoever. What do you think animal welfare is? Or what do you think the SPCA serving area county is? I think that you'll receive one of two answers, animal adoptions. And hopefully you'll hear animal cruelty investigations and animal rescue. And it's wonderful. We have been positioned like that, and we're the second oldest humane society in the country. So we've been positioned like that for almost 160 years. We're one of the oldest nonprofits in Erie County, New York, formed in 1867. And we actually were the first animal protection agency, and we were the first child protection agency back in the 1800s. So we have been established for a long time, is an animal adoption agency and an agency that tries to help animals and prevent animal cruelty. But if you take a look at the data nationwide, if you look at humane societies, now we're watching animal welfare organizations doing so much more to help people in the community in addition to animals. And one of the platforms that we adopted a couple years ago is pet retention. We realized what was happening is as we keep taking animal surrenders, and people had to surrender their animal for a perceived reason. No matter what it was, we would accept that animal. We had a waiting list. We would bring the animals in as often as we could. And what we realized we were doing was adding to the problem. Instead of asking these people, wait a minute, why are you surrendering your animal? Is there something that we can do to help you keep that animal? Rather than have you feel that you need to surrender that animal, would you take us up on it? For instance, if somebody said, my animal needs an emergency surgery, I can't afford that surgery. I have to surrender it, we now come back and say, if we could help you with that emergency surgery, would you keep your animal? If we could help you with pet food needs right now, it's very expensive. The cost of living is very expensive throughout the nation and in Buffalo, if we help you with pet food, if we can get you pet food for the next few months to get you by during the start time. If we could work on pet retention and remove the need you feel to surrender the animal, would you keep your animal? 90% of the time, of course, people are saying yes. So we are moving in that direction of trying to keep families together, trying to direct more of our resources toward that. Because if we don't, essentially, what are we doing? We're taking animals that are being surrendered, in most cases by loving families. To do what? Adopt that animal out into another loving family. Right. So why do that? Why don't we work to keep that animal with its family where it's surrounded by love? Just help them get through whatever it is that makes them think they have to surrender that animals. So that's the direction we see animal welfare going in. It's challenging to communicate that to the public because we have a community that, like I said, for more than 150 years was used to being able to just drop off a dog because they're moving. And we never thought about the dog, but we can't bring the dog. And so we're moving at 6 o' clock tonight, so we're going to drop the dog off to you at 10 o'.

[A]

Clock.

[B]

And they were starting to treat pets as very disposable commodities, which they're not. They're parts of the family. So for the people who don't quite understand that, we take different measures to position the SPCA and explain that, because when we, when we first started changing our methods of animal admission, there were a lot of questions. Unfortunately, we came through it without picketers.

[A]

Without picketers.

[B]

If that's my bar, I consider that a victory. I'm going to call it a win.

[A]

No, that's a total win. And this is in such an incredible way to look at, look at what you're seeing, the data that you're seeing, and how to, how to shift your model to accommodate that. Right. And that's, that's such a great way to look at that. I love that. That's incredible.

[B]

Well, you know what we found? There are some unrealistic expectations, and I don't just mean of this organization. I mean effective animal welfare organizations throughout the country that engage in law enforcement. Not all humane societies engage in law enforcement. Not all take care of several different kinds of animals. We have domestic animals, farm animals, exotics. We have fully outfitted wildlife rehabilitation center. We realized that because we do our job so well, it seemed that in Erie county, the expectation became the SPCA is responsible for every animal everywhere. And of course, that's not realistic. So, you know, we're doing what we can to keep things balanced.

[A]

Right. And that's, and that's such a hard thing to, to communicate. Like you said, like, how do you talk about this particular piece of animal welfare that you're, you're navigating and dealing with? I'm guessing you work closely with media representatives to tell your story. How is that still working the same way as it did years ago? Or does that change too, that kind of pr, traditional media model?

[B]

Oh, it's changed incredibly because the media field has changed dramatically, especially with streaming platforms, now with podcasts. So has the level of interest from traditional media outlets in the SPCA changed? No. If anything, because of those changes with traditional media outlets, it's increased their interest in our organization. You know, we've always had a wonderful relationship since I've been here. I can only speak since 1990, but we've had a wonderful relationship with the media. So they were always interested in us. You know, the thing with the media and the thing with this job, when I started, we had absolutely no advertising budget, and that only changed two years ago. So up until two years ago, anything advertising wise was donated by local media representatives. Which means if you're relying on them 100% of the time, you need to be available 100% of the time with open, honest answers. So the phrase no comment was not a comment I ever said, because we always had a comment, even if it was about an open investigation that I couldn't comment on specifically. I could find a way, even if it was two in the morning and we were at the scene of a cruelty case, I could find a way to say, well, I can't talk to you about this, but I can tell you situations similar to this in the past, this is what it involved. This is how it turned out. This is how we try to help the people. You know, it's not that we're there kicking doors and seizing animals. We're there to help these pet owners navigate some very difficult situations. So the media has relied on us as much as I have relied on them to support the spca.

[A]

That's also amazing and probably why you have no picketers, because you don't say no comment and you answer in an honest and authentic way. That's, that's incredible. Um, what do you think? Okay, so I, I will say the perspective of a lot of our listeners, they're not always staying at one organization for as long as you have. What has kept you there, especially as you said, you were doing things kind of by yourself for a long, long time before you got the support you needed. And I'm assuming that was through a lot of growth stages and a lot of changes, and you're navigating all of this by yourself. What, what helped you stay. Stay there for 30 years?

[B]

Well, I mean, I'm going to start with the obvious answer. The animals. Yeah, you know, I mean, I've been collecting for animal welfare issues since I was 6 years old with a coffee can up and down the street. So the animals, of course, number One. And the mission of the organization, number one, the people, not just the people with whom I'm blessed to work, because I work with the most incredible group of people here. And I know in today's language, you know, we're supposed to say it's a wonderful team. I still go back to this being a family, so I still use the word family. But I have to also say the people in the community who I've been blessed to help and work with and speak with, even the people who call with some very challenging but fair questions about our organization. I've learned a lot from them the way they learned from me. So those are the obvious answers of what's kept me here. I think the fact that I have been so fortunate with the leadership in this organization. The. The person who hired me, our executive director, Sunny Bagley, was just such a wonderful woman who gave me some good grounding for the first three years. And then she retired and Barbara Carr came out as our executive director. The vision that she brought to this organization, she was never afraid to take a look at data and research about how our animals adapted. What's the difference between how a dog is adapted versus how a cat is adapted? What can we do to increase our adoptions based on that research and data? Even if it wasn't the most popular decision in this community? Let me give you an example. Off site adoption. Now, today, in 2026, people think nothing of walking into maybe a PetSmart or a Petco when you see animals available for adoption there. Back in the mid-90s, this was unheard of. And when Barbara started reading data and details about bringing animals off site into the community, she started seeing some adoption numbers of shelters and much larger communities piloting these types of programs. She immediately jumped on board. Now we're in Buffalo, New York, a very conservative city, very small, very conservative. And like I said earlier, there are a lot of animal groups here, a lot of smaller rescues and smaller animal organizations. And I vividly remember a phone call with a representative from one of the smaller groups only dealing with cats in this region. And I remember being able to hear her yelling in the phone at Barbara, saying, how can you bring animals off site? If people adapt them off site, it's going to be all impulse adoptions and all those animals will be returned. And Barbara didn't back down. And we became the pioneers with off site adoptions. We became the pioneers with mobile adaption units with different types of housing for animals. Because of that vision that Barbara brought to the organization, Barbara retired in 2017. When we moved into our new location, Barbara, we now have a president and CEO who has been with us since 2022, Kate Daly. And I see that same kind of light. I see that same kind of fire. She's looking at data, she's looking at research, and she's encouraging a vision that is so exciting to support. So I have to say, that kind of vision, being able to share that with our community, seeing it help animals, seeing it help people, I think that is equal to the animals and the people with which, again, I'm blessed to work.

[A]

Right. And it's supporting the mission, maybe not in, like, the way that people traditionally think of. Right. But in a way that is moving it forward, expanding what your goals are.

[B]

Yes. And, you know, we're bringing the community along because I remember going back into the early 90s, I remember the question that I received a lot when I would do community presentations is a lot about how animals were euthanized and do you still use decompression chambers? And they were very valid questions, but they were a little outdated. Now we'll be out in the community, and the questions we receive are about immunocontraception in animals, Very sophisticated questions. And I think that we had a little bit to do with that, teaching people what the current issues are. Here are things to be concerned about. We want to hear what you're concerned about. Let us share with you other things that we all need to be concerned about. Puppy mills, dog fighting. Let's talk about some of these issues. And we're seeing it come back to us with the questions that were asked.

[A]

Oh, that's so. That's so beautiful. Right. That partnership is such a beautiful thing to. To strive for. And I know a lot of our nonprofits want to be able to do that, too. How do you even. What kind of advice could you give a nonprofit that's trying to build these partnerships with their community?

[B]

Again, I have to start. There are the obvious ones that you would hear, maybe at a commencement address, that you have to not only am, embrace change, but learn to love it, because change is the one thing that you can depend on. So if you are a person who struggles with change, you're in trouble. You know, that's something that's quite obvious. 100% honesty at all times. That's one of the obvious things I think I would have to say. You know, when you compare nonprofit and for profit, some of those things, there's really not too much of a difference because it really doesn't come to what the tax status of your organization is, becomes more of the person's commitment to the work that they're doing. So whether it's nonprofit or for profit, what is the character of the people you are working alongside? If I were to talk specifically to those in the nonprofit sector, I think the biggest piece of advice, and this is just based on those years of experience working with other nonprofit representatives, we, and I, I am guilty of this as well. I think that I've seen some nonprofit professionals tempted toward this altruistic identity, so to speak. And it's almost that I help people in this way and I help animals in this way and I make these sacrifices and you know, I'm not getting rich out of that and I'm more virtuous is the implication. And I think that you start believing that your work carries a greater moral significance, if that makes sense. And even if you don't say the words the way that I'm saying them, you almost allow your compassion driven work to become a source of self importance. I don't know if that's making sense,

[A]

but no, it is making sense. Yeah. And I can see that because we're

[B]

all, we're all tempted to be that. Here's the problem with that. It could lead to some very ineffective policies that are rooted almost in mistrust of the people you're serving. And I'll give you an example of that. When I started our adoption policy, it was very different. It was a five page application and a lot of questions and answers and an interview that lasted two hours and okay, we're going to call your landlord, we're going to come out to your property, we're going to make sure your fence is high. We're going to make sure. And I remember being up behind our adoption desk and hearing somebody say to one of our counselors, it's harder getting a pet in western New York than it is to get a mortgage. And I remember turning around and walking right back to our executive director, Barbara. And I said, barbara, this is the truth and it shouldn't be. And why don't we trust these people who we're adapting to? Why do we love animals the most? Like out of all of western New York, we love animals the most. So Barbara did an experiment and we all had to fill out our own adoption applications. And I think it turned out something like 95% of us would have been turned down for an adoption based on what we were expecting of our potential adopters.

[A]

That's so eye opening.

[B]

It almost was at altruistic. I work for the spca, I love animals a little more than you. And it led to this mistrust of the people that were asking to come to us and give our animals a home. So it could. That. That elitist mentality could be very dangerous when it comes to ineffective policies and procedures. The other danger of that is if you're in public relations, if you are the spokesperson or if you're involved in development in any way, if you're involved in donations, you could be distancing the people who you're trying to impact. Even if they can't quite put their finger on why they don't like you. Is there a coldness? Is there that verbal head pat? Is there that they're picking up that little bit of elitist mentality or altruistic or self important tendency? Even if they can't put their finger on that, if you are the representative of the organization to them, the line becomes blurred and they start seeing the organization as you. And if you are coming off with that sort of attitude, they might assume that's how the agency is. I can't put my finger on why I don't want to donate to that organization, but I just don't. I don't want to. So it could be very dangerous. I think that we're all tempted to go in that direction because let's face it, the work we're doing is very important. But so is the work of people who work in banks and people who work in other for profit organizations. So we have to be very careful. It's more about the relationship we have with the jobs in front of us and why we're doing that job. Rather than nonprofit versus for profit, but nonprofit specifically. I think we have to be careful with that altruistic identity and keep it in check if it starts creeping in as it sometimes does, especially here when we're on the scene of a really bad cruelty case and you think, oh my gosh, why am I doing this work if I'm still going to see these animals dead and I'm still going to see this? You start thinking that way, we're all guilty of it. And I think we have to keep that in check in the nonprofit sector.

[A]

Yeah, I think there's a erosion of trust that can happen with that.

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

And people are intuitive. They can read the room if now

[B]

more than ever, more than ever. Because now not only can they read it, but because communication is two way now. It's not just the messages we're putting out, but it's what people think of the messages we're putting out, they are the first ones to call us on that. They just want to get on tv. They just want. And sure enough, that picks up steam, it picks up an audience. So you have to be careful with that.

[A]

So you mentioned seeing these cases with cruelty, with just these hard, hard moments that I'm sure you've experienced many, many times in the last 30 years. How do you take care of yourself emotionally during those moments? Like how do you separate, I guess a little bit from what is happening in front of you and not carrying it with you all the time?

[B]

I can only speak for myself, so I can't speak for my wonderful co workers. I'm a Christian and so I have found that the key for me is not separating myself from it. I pray about it. I try to use those experiences and I ask Jesus to try to really help open that door for me. How can I stop this from happening again? Because I'm so afraid that if I don't allow it to really seep in and if I don't allow myself those tears for a month or I'll forget the significance of it. So I don't want to separate from it. I want to take it and use it to stop it from happening again. I don't want history to repeat itself. So I ask the Lord, you know, what can I do with this? Help me keep it and show me that open door where I can bring this back to the community and say, this is why it has to stop. This is why this is what's happening. Don't fool yourselves into thinking that if this young person harmed an animal, this young person is not capable. There is absolutely no chance of this young person going forward and hurting a person. We have to keep drawing that comparison because violence is violence is violence and we need to bring that to the forefront so I can't really separate from it. Or. And again, there may be communications professionals and representatives who need to just to face the next day. I rely on God's strength. I keep going back to scripture that I read in Colossians. And I'm working with all my heart as though I'm working for the Lord. And so that's how I get through it, is through my prayer and my faith.

[A]

And I love that because like you said, it's so important to not forget the significance of what you're experiencing and to bring that forward and to draw attention to it. And maybe separating is not the right word. Maybe it's more like how do you manage to still find joy in the Other things that you're doing. Right. Like, how does it not bring you down every day? Right.

[B]

And, you know, I have to say, it's the same answer. My joy is endured. But I have to say, when these situations come up, and unfortunately, because we are an organization that deals in law enforcement, these situations are not infrequent. And have some of our representatives just two days ago been in situations where there were deceased animals laying all over and they had to step over them to rescue the ones who they could. Yes. I have to say that when those situations happen and we're here until midnight and we're working just to bathe an animal or groom an animal, there's some beauty that comes out of that. And it's hard to imagine not being in the setting, but there's something that brings us together in those moments. So in the face of this tragedy, and I think you see it even in the world, in the face of tragedy, you see communities coming together. I mean, right behind me, I don't know if you can see. This is right after 9, 11. And this is one of the dot here. Let me see if I can point to it. This dog right here was from Niagara County. That dog is no longer with us. But there was one of the dogs they brought in. This was October 11th of the same year. And they. They had switched from a search and rescue mission to a search and recovery mission. And we were down at the scene. A lot of local dogs were down there. And in the face of these tragedies, you see people coming together, and that's kind of what happens here. That's how we get through. We get through it together. Do we have to take days off sometimes? Yes. Are we forced to take days off? You know, sometimes you're in that groove and you think, I've got to get in the next day and check on this dog and check on that dog. And has my boss come in and said, I don't want you here tomorrow? Like, I'm not allowing you to come in tomorrow? And have I said that to my staff? Yes. There are days where you do have to kind of take control like that, but it brings us together. And there's a joy in that. That might sound backwards if you're not in the field. There's a joy in coming together like that in the face of that tragedy to say we're working together again. I'm using the word family. You become like a family in that.

[A]

Oh, I love that. I think this is such a great place to end our conversation. Gina. I really appreciate you sharing all of your experiences and knowledge from the last 30 years and sharing the changes that you've seen both in your organization and in the way people communicate. And I will keep this with me for a long time. So thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you so much. Thanks for giving me this opportunity. I really appreciate it.

[A]

This was such an insightful chat. Here are three takeaways I got from our conversation with Gina that I would take back to my nonprofit one. Change is the only constant. Gina has seen the change in technology and how we communicate over 30 years and this is what has gotten her through all of the shifts. 2. Using data from your organization to help expand your mission is critical as an organization. Gina has seen how the leaders with vision can impact growth and the ability to pivot as needs in the community change. 3. Build relationships within your organization and with your community. Communicate with transparency and honesty and this is how you can avoid the picketing. Want to chat with us? Email [e-mail] I hope I hear back from you. Either way, I'll chat with you soon.