October 2018 by Gina Knepp and Bobby Mann

Audience: Executive Leadership, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers, Veterinary Team

Video Length: 31:56

Viewers learn how a small municipal shelter attracted over 2,000 volunteers who give over 100,000 hours of service annually. Leave your fear behind! This presentation shows you the tremendous value of taking risks and trusting your community to achieve incredible results for both the animals and your staff.

Areas of focus include: showcasing exclusively managed volunteer programs, volunteer program oversight and culture, the anatomy of our volunteers and why they keep coming back. This presentation was given at the Saving Nevada's Pets conference and made possible by the Dave & Cheryl Duffield Foundation and supported by Maddie's Fund®.

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About Gina Knepp

Gina Knepp is the Animal Care Services Manager for the Front Street Animal Shelter - City of Sacramento. Relatively new to the animal industry, she transformed what was once the worst performing shelter in town, to one of incredible lifesaving. Through the development of creative and zany programs, Front Street was rebranded and has flourished under her leadership. Community partnerships and relationships with Sacramento's residents and businesses have resulted in making Front Street a household name.

Serving the city limits of Sacramento, with an animal intake of 12,000 critters per year, the State's Capitol shelter is now a vibrant hub of activity, energy and success. Gina's motto in life is: try anything once, twice if feels good, the third time it's policy! Gina is married, has a lovely daughter, 3 dogs and 1 cat. Her background includes 311 and 911 management. Her motto is we are all responsible for both ends of the leash!

About Bobby Mann

Bobby Mann is the Communications Manager for the Front Street Animal Shelter. His duties also include oversite of the customer service team, licensing initiatives, offsite adoption events, satellite adoption center and public/private partnerships.

Bobby's incredible expertise and creativity is particularly evident by the success of Front's Streets use of social media platforms. Bobby took Front Street's Facebook from 600 followers to over 175,000 followers, developed several stories that went organically viral and developed a strong community engagement platform that has resulted in increased adoptions and donations.