Press Kit

RVHS is a no-kill, not-for-profit shelter serving the Rogue Valley region of Southern Oregon. Its uniqueness lies in the wide scope of high-quality animal services it offers, and the resources it has deployed to maintain a track record as a trailblazing organization. RVHS is the only shelter in the state with a neonate kitten nursery, and in Southern Oregon it is the only shelter with a clinic and a part-time staff veterinarian, a trained emergency response team, a pet food bank and a humane education program.

It has four full-time staff members, 22 part-time staff members, 111 active volunteers and a five-person Board. Its staff includes an in-house veterinarian and a certified vet tech. RVHS owns its 12-acre facility, with capacity to house 25 dogs, 12 puppies, and 90 cats and their kittens. In addition to what we mentioned above, the facility has whelping rooms, a thrift shop and private meeting areas for prospective adopters or those who have to surrender a pet. A tiny house was built to help RVHS’s in-house trainer teach abused dogs how to live in a family home.

Executive Director Margaret Varner regularly contributes her expertise and advocacy for animal welfare issues on a broader scale. For example, she collaborated on the unlawful tethering law, and on the house bill that would stop the sale of puppies at stores (HB 2915). RVHS’s staff actively participates in regional and national conferences and forums, ensuring they stay up-to-date on best practices and industry advancements.

History

RVHS staff circa 2014.

The story of RVHS is the story of a rural community that has cared enough about companion animals to persist in their advocacy through the decades, and in the face of relentless economic and stewardship challenges.

Early Years
In 1920, residents of the Rogue Valley recognized the need for a formal organization dedicated to the protection and care of animals and founded the Rogue Valley Humane Association. However, by 1965 homeless animals in the Rogue Valley still faced a death sentence if no one adopted them within a few days. In the small back room of a Grants Pass veterinarian practice, a group of animal lovers filed for a name change and incorporated it as a non-profit public benefit corporation. That back room was the first location of the Rogue Valley Humane Society.

The Society later purchased a building located in Grants Pass, closer to Redwood Ave. It had a rental unit but it was a very small space for the many animals that they took in, and years later the Board started looking for a larger location. Back then, the Society was an all-volunteer membership organization and the shelter was run by Board members and volunteers.

Crisis
A local couple donated a 12-acre property located at NW Scenic Drive. The property had a mortgage and was a former dairy farm with a barn and some small outbuildings. At that time Krum Theodoroff and his wife Marylin were the Board members making day-to-day decisions. The couple did not enforce adopter screening protocols or standard hygiene practices. They accepted so many animals that even after the main building was completed, there was still too much overcrowding.

Margaret Varner was a former Animal Control officer when she moved to Grants Pass from California. She first noticed the lack of hygiene and overcrowding when became a volunteer in 2005. As she transported animals to be spayed or neutered, she saw the dark, dirty shelter had no running water for the dog kennels, or gas line for a dryer. Dogs were chained. After Margaret joined the staff as a kennel attendant to change the situation, she made suggestions to fundraise to improve the shelter. But they were met with resistance. That’s when she joined the group of volunteers, staff and community that challenged the Theodoroffs with a lawsuit.

The Theodoroffs lost their stewardship of RVHS after this group documented the poor conditions in which the animals were held and showed evidence to the courts. After the litigation period was over, RVHS was paid periodic visits by Animal Control and received supervision from the Josephine County Shelter. It remained a board-run membership organization, but a shelter manager was hired and limits were placed on the number of animals it could accept.

Recent Years
Eventually Margaret was promoted to Shelter Manager, and in 2010 became its Executive Director, ushering the organization into a period of significant growth, innovation, and impact. Her first projects were aimed at improving the quality of life of animals and strengthening the organization’s infrastructure.

One of Margaret’s priorities was to enhance the shelter’s facilities to provide a safer, more comfortable, and enriching environment. The main facility building, built in 1980, got new floors, skylights and a gas line. A former closet became a medical room for intakes. They removed the dog chains and fenced outside areas for free play. Doors got kennels with doors and cats got catios, so they could go outside. The building got sun tunnels that brought natural light to the dog and cat rooms. Shortly after, the mortgage was paid.

In 2013 the Canine Care building (for nursing moms and their newborn puppies) was built after a successful fundraising campaign. The gazebo was erected as a memorial area for meeting and greeting with pets. Later, a teaching garden became a space to grow healthy food for animals. Volunteers and staff disposed of 10 tons of trash stored at the barn, and restored its roof so that tours and staff could meet there. The storage container, the garage, and barn all became part of the food bank storage.

Forging alliances with animal control, the county’s shelter, local businesses, community organizations, and volunteers enabled RVHS to expand its outreach programs, increase their adoption rate, and offer a wider range of services to low-income residents. They partnered with the Josephine County Shelter to alter some of their community cats. Their Food Bank program began in 2015 with a Grants Pass resident in charge. Later came Animeals, a food delivery program for seniors and people with disabilities. The shelter began offering school visits, tours and a summer camp and word got around that there was a spay and neuter voucher program for low-income families.

Another goal was the improvement of medical and rehabilitation facilities. The former rental unit was turned into a thrift store that generates some of the revenue used for the medical programs. In 2018 Redhouse -the shelter’s brand-new clinic- opened, and an in-house veterinarian together with a certified veterinary technician joined the staff. RVHS became the only shelter in southern Oregon that provides in-house veterinary care, spay/neuter services, vaccinations, and medical treatment for pets and community animals in need. In 2021, RVHS opened a neonate ward for kittens, the only one in the state.

Pandemic ordinances forced RVHS to close its facility and reduce its staff for almost a year. Almost all of the mostly senior volunteers stopped their in-person participation. RVHS’s staff and foster program shrank considerably, and so did its rate of spay and neuter surgeries. This reduction forced the shelter to temporarily limit the number of animals it could safely accept.

Adoption Program

Happy RVHS alumnae!

At the heart of RVHS’s mission is its oldest program, dating back to the beginning of the organization in the 1960s. After an intake process where the health the rescued animals is assessed, their behavior is assessed as well. A staff member summarized the pet assessment protocol: “Within 48 hours, we are able to find out commands that a dog knows, their bathroom habits, and any destructive tendencies. Then we then work to correct anything that needs to be fixed before adoption.”

A match is then attempted via various tools: an application form, home visits and an interview of the prospective adopter. The staff talks with prospective adopters at length about potential considerations and changes they might need to make before taking a dog home.

Dogs are prepared for adoption through a program that includes basic obedience training, grooming, proper nutrition and lots of exercise to reduce the pent up energy. Because trained dogs are more adoptable and have better chances of joining a forever home, RVHS’s staff provide daily enrichment activities and teach them basic commands using positive reinforcement. They reward silence with kibble rewards, and use enrichment, treats, and smells to induce good behavior.

Cats and kittens are socialized prior to adoption by the staff and volunteers. The shelter has a cat room with toys, scratching posts and climbing structures, where they can feel safe and gradually adjust to new experiences and the presence of humans. Staff and trained volunteers gradually introduce gentle handling as well as various stimuli and experiences, using treats, praise, and gentle petting to reward and reinforce positive behavior.

Post-adoption support includes counseling and and training resources via a partnership with a trainer.

Animeals Program

The Ani-meals program helps to feed the pets of the 24 homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities who cannot make it to our facility. RVHS’s loyal volunteers make sure pet food deliveries happen without interruption. This program started in March 2015. It was a time when local seniors, veterans and housebound people with disabilities worried about who would help them take care of their pet’s meals.

This program was patterned after the much older Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Animeals program, which Margaret had studied during a visit. Volunteer Mark Hansen and Margaret began talking about how it could work at RVHS, and roughed out their ideas in two or three notepads. Using this program description, Margaret wrote and obtained a $5,000 seed grant.

Finding out who was housebound and in need of food was next on the agenda. The best way was to do this through a partnership with a program that already delivered food to people in need, and they reached out to Food and Friends, the only Meals on Wheels program serving the Jackson and Josephine counties. Eventually Food and Friends agreed to pass out survey flyers to their clients. Soon Animeals started receiving applications and selected four recipients with a total of eight pets as the first cohort. By their first-year anniversary, Animeals had doubled in size. Today, they serve between 25 to 40 individuals.

Little by little, Mark and the delivery drivers figured out coverage: how often to go, how far to go, and how much to send. Cave Junction, for example, is 30 miles down the road from Grants Pass. Animeals goes there once a month, but those living in Grants Pass get a delivery every two weeks. Mark adjusts the amounts depending on how often they go.

Almost as soon as Animeals started, volunteer delivery drivers began helping with tasks that went beyond bringing in pet food regularly and without interruption. Sometimes seniors in transition need assistance with their cats or dogs, or their animals need medical attention. Depending on what they see volunteers will provide information or resources, or will ask a RVHS staff person to visit.

Programs like the Food Bank and Animeals can also be an opportunity for advocacy. Senior Charlotte Willard, for example, reached out to RVHS. Feeling very upset, she explained how she was moving, but was going to have to surrender her beloved cats because her assisted living center wanted a $1,000 deposit. Margaret paid them a visit, persuaded them waive the deposit, and Ms Willard was able to move in with her cats.

Food Bank Program

Cody and Jim get ready to go to Riverside Park.

Daven Glover, Hank and Margaret.

RVHS runs the only donated pet food bank in Southern Oregon with the purpose of supplying dog or cat food when low-income families or individuals cannot make ends meet. This program relies on donations from businesses and the public and is designed to supplement the pet food pet owners already purchase during the month. RVHS feeds an average of 170 pets (approximately 800 lb) each month. They reach out to the community with volunteers, go to homeless encampments and bring food and other supplies their animals need.

The program began in 2015 when Margaret began noticing people coming to the shelter looking for pet food and surrendering animals because they could not feed them. After Margaret met volunteer Mark Hansen and learned more about his business background, she began asking him for ideas on how to develop or improve some shelter operations. When she began thinking about a pet food bank program, she went to Mark and asked him for his opinion. Margaret also studied other food banks, visiting them and talking to their key people.

Many pet food banks have restrictions on how often they can be used, but RVHS does not have them. Why? Margaret does remember a time when RVHS used to have stricter rules. But it was during professional development sessions the staff attended at conferences that they came to the realization that questions and restrictions discourage repeat visits. “They make people feel embarrassed,” says Margaret. These days the shelter sees food bank visits as an opportunity to do outreach about adoption vs buying, low-cost spay and neuter vouchers, and other services low-income families might need.

Specialized teams trained to address wildfire evacuations is another way in which our food bank serves the Rogue valley community. RVHS has the only county level emergency response team specializing in reuniting the victims of disasters with their pets. During wildfires our staff sets up a station at evacuation center where we distribute cat, dog, horse, chicken and rabbit food food and provide information for families.

Humane Education Program

One of the Critter Camp’s cohorts, 2023.

Grants Pass High School students take a tour of the facility to learn about animal welfare careers.

The abuse cycle can only be broken by educating future generations, and RVHS’s humane education program strives to communicate to young and old the enormous impact that responsible ownership and awareness can have in our community. It does so through three different initiatives: Critter Camp, facility tours and community visits.

Most of the children attending Critter Camp are low-income elementary students who receive scholarships after being nominated by local schools. Staff designs engaging indoor and outdoor lessons that together with interactions with our friendliest pets comprise the curriculum. Through interactive experiences, children and their families learn about the need for population management, the interconnectedness of our environment, how we take care of the animals we rescue, how to identify animal abuse, and what humane societies do to help communities.

For a modest fee, the shelter also hosts year-round facility tours. Schools working with children and community organizations working with disabled and neurodiverse adults can schedule an interactive visit where staff presents animals as sentient beings to whom we have a collective responsibility. Facility tours have three goals: 1) show what humane societies do for communities and their connection to animal and human welfare, 2) model what it means to treat animals humanely and with respect 3) encourage our visitors to get involved. Tours groups led by staff members gather at the shelter’s restored barn and have a chance to visit the garden, gazebo and free play areas.

Community visits are short, engaging and may include visiting pets. RVHS staff visit schools, senior centers, hospitals, other non-profits and businesses. They choose one or more topics from the organization’s short list of the most critical animal welfare issues for the region: the importance of developing empathy for all sentient beings, the need for population management, how we take care of the animals we rescue, identifying animal abuse, and what humane societies do to help communities.

Spay and Neuter Program

Terry Scaggs and Maria Beckett.

Carey Janzik

The program began in 2011 but it was not until recently that Red House, RVHS’s clinic, began performing in-house spay and neuter surgeries. Before that animals spent a longer time at the shelter before getting adopted, waiting for openings in the surgery schedule of partner veterinary practices. Staffed by a part-time in-house veterinarian and a certified vet tech, Red House only alters rescued and community animals, but the shelter also has a voucher program.

RVHS’s voucher program allows the dogs of low-income families to get spayed or neutered at participating vet practices. Each year RVHS distributes more than 363 vouchers through Kitty Quick Fix, its Spay and Neuter program for cats. After applying, they receive an automated email listing our partner veterinarians, the current voucher amounts, and the process to claim a voucher for their upcoming spay/neuter appointment.

RVHS also collaborates with local rescue organizations to assist with the altering of community cat colonies, depending on how much funding and surgery slots are available at Red House, its on-site clinic. The shelter continues to partner with veterinary hospitals when they have an unforeseen need for these services, such as hoarding situations.

Thrift Store Program

Barbara Rankins, one of the thrift store volunteers.

Located in a building owned by the shelter, the Rogue Valley Humane Society Thrift Store generated more than $120,000 in revenue in 2022. Two local residents and several volunteers comprise its staff. All of its revenue supports RVHS’s adoption, spay and neuter and other shelter programs. Our thrift Store store offers discounts and free items to displaced and unhoused members of our community.

Trap Neuter and Release Program

photo of orange tabby released from a carrier

An altered Grants Pass resident kitty returns to the wild.

Trap Neuter and Release programs work to reduces cat overpopulation by trapping and altering community cats, which are then returned to the field so they can continue to decimate the rodent population. Almost 250 community cats per year are altered and returned to the field by RVHS staff or volunteers.

RVHS’s TNR program began in 2015 and today bears the majority of the cost of spaying and neutering community cats in our region. In 2023 that figure was $35,000. 85% of the funding spent on altering community cats comes from individual donations.

The county shelter receives more than 1,000 cats every year, but together, Animal Control and RVHS can only house 120 cats. This is why RVHS needs to alter as many community cats as it can, as much as 40% of all the cats altered by RVHS during a year.

RVHS staff assess behavior, keep track of the traps, and train community members and rescue group volunteers on how to use the traps. RVHS provides sick feral cats with vaccinations when funding allows, and bears the cost of getting the friendly ones adopted. RVHS’s standards are high, and visitors from neighboring counties come to study our programs and protocols.

Volunteer Program

Yvonne Rogue, one of the thrift store employees, chats with Barbara Logan, a volunteer.

RVHS had 111 active volunteers in 2023, contributing almost 2,000 hrs of labor. Some of which have been at RVHS for a long time, helping with animal socialization, performing clerical work, supporting special events, doing housekeeping duties, providing IT support, training or transporting animals, staffing adoption events, stocking the food pantry, fostering, and working at the thrift store. Most volunteer time is spent on office assistance, keeping the facility clean and maintaining the 12 acres where the facility resides. One of the staff members coordinates the program, ensuring they all are recognized for their contributions.

Animeals Volunteer Spotlight: Mark Hansen

Mark is a Grants Pass native who earned a Bachelor’s in business administration from the U of Portland. After college he spent 14 years in insurance sales, then another 14 years working in IT at Harry and David’s. But many workers were replaced by automation, and he was laid off from the gourmet gift company. Afterwards he felt as if he was “going crazy,” with no way to feel productive. He had been working continuously since his college graduation and it was difficult to switch gears.

One day while he was at the Growers’ Market, Mark met the RVHS volunteers and Executive Director. They invited him to visit and he began volunteering shortly after. Mark quickly learned “how much there was to be done.” Soon he found himself volunteering at RVHS 30 hours a week, doing general cleaning and laundry, and socializing the animals.

Mark so thoroughly enjoyed volunteering at the shelter that he brought up a potential animal welfare career switch to Margaret. She gave him “nothing but encouragement,” and at age 53 he applied to a Certified Veterinary Assistant (CVA) program and was accepted. There were “a lot of science classes,” but he enjoyed them. CVAs learn science because they administer medications, run lab tests, collect blood and urine samples, and write reports for the vet. After he earned his certificate Mark started applying for jobs in the area.

An animal hospital hired him a year after he finished his studies. Mark started out taking care of the kennels first, providing routine care to animals such as feeding, cleaning and exercising the animals. Along the way, he also learned the hygiene protocols that can prevent an outbreak.

He did such good work at the kennels that he was promoted to surgery assistant after a short time. In this role he prepares the surgical suites, sterilizes instruments, and monitors the animals’ vital signs. He also helps with pre-operative and post-operative care, such as administering medications and monitoring recovery.

When the pandemic came around, a lot of colleagues were laid off, but not Mark, because he had made himself essential. It was clear he was enjoying his work immensely, but Mark thinks the hospital kept him because he successfully transferred the skillset from previous jobs into his role at the animal hospital. He incorporates efficiencies and systems that help run the hospital and support its vets, and uses his experience with inventory control to order and keep track of medication and supplies.

As a person with autism, Mark feels much more fulfilled now than when he was facing a monitor all day, or when he had to sell a service. Doing a “little bit of everything” is the nature of the job as he explains, so no two days are alike. This is one of the things he likes the most. The other? His interactions with people and animals, which happen at a pace he enjoys. Mark communicates with the staff, but it’s no longer under the pressure of constant deadlines. He confesses he looks forward to each day now, because he gets to interact with animals “all day long.”

Food Bank Volunteer Spotlight: Cody Cote

Cody is a life-long animal lover who has always lived “surrounded by animals.” He and his wife Verna are residents of Riverside Park. Originally from California, Cody has lived in Grants Pass since 1972.

He has a dog, Zeus, that he and his wife Verna adopted after he showed up at his doorstep. The 35 lb dog was “skin and bones” and was slowly brought back to health by the couple. They also trapped and fed a “very skinny” cat they later named Skippy, who has lived with them for several years now. Their two other cats, Chase and Tigger, complete the family.

After a neighbor moved, Cody began taking care of a colony of feral cats living in her yard. He has also trapped, spay or neutered and returned most -if not all- the neighborhood cats, which he feeds. He’s seen how people regularly drop off cats in his neighborhood, so he keeps tabs on the new arrivals until he can arrange for their surgery. The ones who have gone through RVHS’s TNR program have one ear clipped.

While Cody has been collaborating with RVHS for close to 15 years. In the beginning he was coming to the food bank to bring food to the cat colonies he was helping. it wasn’t until a few years ago that he began to drop off pet food at the homeless encampments in Baker Park, West Holm Park, Morrison Park, Riverside Park, Tom Pierce Park, Schroeder Park.

More recently, Cody recruited his friend Jim to help him with this task because they are safer together and can cover more encampments. They are both vets, Cody is an ex-marine and Jim is ex-army. Jim rides around with Cody, carries the quart-sized bags of pet food and talks to the people they encounter two and three times a week. When the encampment people see his truck, “they know Jim and I are here to help and not to harass or judge them.”

Something that always stays on his mind is how hungry the pets living in encampments look. He’s seen how “a hungry dog is a mean dog.” Hungry cat hunt more birds. “The homeless truly have no food to give them,” he points out. He constantly sees people suffering from burned feet from walking on sweltering sidewalks and streets, “people who have no place no other place to bathe than the river.”

But seeing the smiles on their faces, and listening to the thank yous and praise, that’s the biggest satisfaction Cody gets from this work. “Knowing they don’t have to struggle to feed their pets, that’s why I do it.”

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