BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) — Animal shelters in the Albuquerque metro and essentially all over the country have been dealing with overpopulation since the pandemic. On Wednesday, a volunteer with Bernalillo County Animal Care Services (BCACS) looked to decrease some of the stress the shelter faces by presenting them with a $10,000 check.
Lyssa Hansen has volunteered for BCACS for about a year and was inspired to do more after seeing the work the shelter does. “I just saw how impactful and how hard the employees and the team here work. I wanted to do a little bit more and see if I could make an even bigger impact than volunteering and fostering,” Hansen said.
When she’s not volunteering or fostering animals—10 so far, according to Goodman—Hansen works as a senior communications manager for T-Mobile; which, has a grant program through the T-Mobile Foundation. “The grants are called ‘Volun-T Grants;’ they’re a part of the T-Mobile Foundation’s grant program, and every T-Mobile employee can nominate their favorite non-profit or organization once a quarter, so on a quarterly basis, and they get awarded a range of funding,” Hansen explained.
Hansen applied for two grants from the program with the intention of giving the funds to BCACS.
“I submitted twice; so, two times, and I received two $5,000 dollar grants for them,” Hansen said. Wednesday, she handed over the giant check for $10,000. “It’s a huge deal because we need money to be able to operate our programs which support animals not only here in the facility but in the community,” said Misha Goodman, director of BCACS.
Officials said this showcases how important it is to have dedicated volunteers: “Without animal care services staff, volunteers, and fosters, countless animals will face lives of suffering or even death on the streets,” said Bernalillo County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada. “$10,000 means a lot to this facility, and you know if there’s more grants out there, please, apply for them, ’cause I think you’re good at grant writing.”
When asked if she’ll apply again next year, Hansen answered with a resounding “yes.”
“I’ve met such a great community of people that volunteer here, and we all have a few things in common: we love animals, we don’t mind the dog hair, and together we’re making a difference,” Hansen explained.
BCACS said it doesn’t know exactly what the money will pay for yet, but said it will certainly go toward keeping the facility up and running. “The managers will meet and we’ll discuss it, and we’ll put it to the best use we can for the programming that we currently operate,” Goodman added.
