Defend Transparency

The 13 Board Members behind The Humane Society of Pensacola Florida, Inc are suing former department heads of the animal shelter in excess of $30,000 claiming false and damaging statements were made by the department heads against the Board to the media, the Board are suing for everything from sharing articles on their private Facebook pages to donating to a volunteer ran GoFundMe to pay for a forensic audit that 7 of the Board of Directors agreed to on 12/12/22 in a staff mandatory meeting that fosters/volunteers also attended. This meeting was legally recorded, and Rick’s Blog has been playing episodes of this meeting for all to hear. The exhibits from the Plaintiff of Case No: 2023 CA 000114 consist of a release sent out by We The Organization, articles from Pensacola News Journal, WKRG article, Inweekly article, Facebook posts of a defendant sharing another department head’s comments (note the one commenting is not being sued), a screenshot of the GoFundMe that 4 of the defendants donated to among other screenshots. The Board has yet to release PHS financials or Board minutes.

The defendants shed light on misappropriation of restricted funds, mismanagement and violations of bylaws.

All 5 department heads mentioned below are paycheck to paycheck, two are currently pregnant (one due on 2/15/23), one is a single mom, and one has 3 children and is still unemployed. This fundraiser is to assist in paying a retainer for lawyers to defend this lawsuit.

Any funding over the amount needed for this defense will be donated to create a Board and Train Partnership Program for Escambia County Animal Shelter as no program currently exists for their canines.

Full transparency will be provided to all that contribute with updates and financials.

About 5 of the Department Heads being sued by PHS.

Manda started at PHS in July 2020, as the Director of Development (a position created for her by then Executive Director Jennifer Bitner) and stepped in as Interim Executive Director three separate times. At PHS received a multitude of grants totaling hundreds of thousands in funding from state, foundations, and grantmakers (PetSmart Charities, Best Friends, Sunday’s Child etc.), raised both restricted and unrestricted funding totaling over a hundred thousand dollars from private donors, created Fielding Dreams RTF program with a partnership with Escambia County Animal Services, Louie’s Love Fund, Greater Good, Bud’s Backyard, The Talley Group Shelter Clinic, The Rotary Club of Pensacola Foster Pantry, received a partnership grant with Five Flags Rotary Club and Pensacola North Rotary Club for a portable ultrasound machine, awarded Sunday’s Child grant to purchase the first X-Ray machine in history for PHS, was nominated for her work on behalf of PHS and won the Nonprofit of the Year award from EntreCon in 2021, and lobbied on behalf of ASPCA for the State of Florida. Manda holds a Bachelor of Science in RPTS from Texas A&M University, has 22 years of nonprofit experience, is a recent graduate of the Pensacola Chamber LeaP Class of 2022 (longest class ever), has sat as a Board of Directors on other local nonprofits and is an active Board Member of Gulf Breeze Rotary.

Melissa started at PHS in 2015, as a Vet Tech, setting up the Barbara Grice Memorial Spay and Neuter Clinic, she worked within the clinic from 2015-2019 when she was transferred to the shelter side of the organization as the Director of Shelter Health/Animal Care. Melissa helped establish the shelter becoming Fear Free Certified, created protocols for medical assessments, created new cleaning protocols and supervised all Animal Care Staff. She assisted in thousands of surgeries as head vet tech including working 5 days consecutively during Feline Frenzy where 500 cats were sterilized and attended the Jackson Galaxy training program. Melissa holds a Vet Tech degree from Hinds Community College and has been Vet Tech certified since 2015.

Alysia started at PHS in June 2020, as a Foster Coordinator, quadrupled the foster program in size of available fosters, created protocols for all neonates, created from top to bottom foster booklet, re-worked the foster contracts, oversaw the PHS Foster Facebook Page, was on call 24 hours to her fosters and would constantly be giving her time/expertise with younger staff. Alysia revamped and restructured the Save Me A Plate program and Jingle Paws where all shelter animals are in a foster home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Co-created the Kitten Carnival where all kittens were adopted and created a foster give-back program to honor fosters. She was promoted to Director of Operations in 2022 while mentoring a foster coordinator as her replacement. Alysia was a featured speaker on Fostering for Maddie’s Fund and has 11 years of experience in animal sheltering.

Jess started at PHS in 2017, she volunteered first then was hired on as an Adoption Counselor, in 2018 was promoted to Assistant Bookkeeper, she worked directly with the Executive Director with check creation, and she worked tirelessly with the Executive Board Treasurer to keep on top of the financials meeting weekly for reconciliation, was actively at every major event held, provided reports when asked and took the best minutes for Department Head meetings. Jess holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of West Florida.

Raina started at PHS in June 2020, as a Kennel Tech/Adoption Counselor, in 2021 she was promoted to Volunteer Coordinator, revamped the volunteer system by implementing new technology programming, grew the volunteer program by almost double the active volunteers, created a new volunteer program where all ages from toddlers to senior citizens had a way to volunteer to assist the animals, oversaw the PHS Volunteer Facebook page and was learning from local animal behavioralists/trainers to create a system for more experienced volunteers to receive training to assist with behavioral issue animals so they could become adoptable.

All five women fostered partnerships with local veterinarian offices, businesses, local sports teams, animal rescues, donors, and all 3 county shelters and fostered animals in their homes consistently.

All five loved PHS and believed strongly in the mission.