The Puppy Mill Rescue Team has been going on for many years now. We started with just a handful of rescues based in NY state, and have expanded to over 30 rescues, across several states, some are multi-state rescues, and some are even National breed specific rescues. Together, we have saved hundreds and hundreds of puppy mill dogs, and even many shelter dogs and owner surrenders we have been asked to help with as well along the way! To date, we have NEVER left a dog behind that has hit our lists!
We started out with one vet clinic sending us discarded mill dogs, and now have 2 vets! It started with just Deb Bodenschatz coordinating, then 2+ years ago Meghan Williams was added as Deb’s mill team partner and co-coordinator, and now we are adding to that, as we have continued to grow and the need to adjust to that growth is here!
In keeping with our continued growth, we have now expanded to have an actual Puppy Mill Rescue Team board! Deb Bodenschatz and Meghan Williams are on the board of course. Deb will still be doing the majority of the posting of the mill dogs and keeping track of who goes where. Meghan assists with that too, and she is also the treasurer for the team, taking care of the money raised, paying bills, etc.
Please join me in welcoming the rest of the Puppy Mill Rescue Team’s board to you now, below! (Alphabetical order)
Deb Bodenschatz: Deb started this team with the vet and staff of Danville Clinic, and just a few Buffalo & Rochester based rescues that she knew and trusted. Deb has been involved with several different aspects of animal rescue for many, many years, mainly in the Buffalo area as she lives in a small town outside of Buffalo. Because fostering dogs is still important for Deb and her family and they didn’t want to stop when Deb took the team on, Deb has been staying on as a “float foster” for rescues on the team, because the team itself has become Deb’s main “job”, along with being a long time member and on the events board of NYS Citizens Against Puppy Mills. Saving puppy mill dogs and stopping puppy mills have become Deb’s main goals and focus since the beginning of this team a few years ago.
Tiffany Grover: Tiffany is a volunteer with more than one rescue on the team. Over a year ago, Tiffany, who lives in the Buffalo area, jumped in with both feet and has been helping with all of the puppy mill transports for the dogs that are going past Buffalo, which has been a tremendous help! In addition to the team’s transports, she is also actively involved with numerous other transport groups coming through the WNY area. Moving forward, Tiffany will be taking over much of the transport coordination for the team.
Lisa Jackson: Lisa Jackson is a long time team member, and was among the first rescuers that started the team. Lisa lives in the Rochester area, and has many years of rescue experience, including having fostered many, many dogs and puppies from puppy mills. She has been at work trying to get her foot in the door with the growing number of puppy mills that are in NY too, so the team can help dogs from there as well.
Meghan Williams: Meghan is a long time member and foster for a couple of the rescues on the team, and also has been a volunteer and foster for the City Of Buffalo Animal Shelter for many years. Besides her being Deb’s partner and co-coordinator for the Puppy Mill Rescue Team for over 2 years, she is also a licensed animal groomer and is currently managing a large kennel/doggy daycare business in a suburb of Buffalo, and Meghan herself lives outside of Buffalo too. Meghan brings to the team a deep passion for saving animals.
Jamie Runevitch: Jamie is a member of one of the rescues on the team from Ohio, she lives in a suburb of Cleveland. Jamie has an incredible amount of passion, drive, and seems to have an endless stream of energy, I wish I could steal some! Jamie is our tech and marketing guru. Jamie created our logo, a fantastic website for the team, and is doing all the mountains of work with our promotional sales to raise funds for the team.