Name: Alyssa Budock

Position: Social Media & Outreach Specialist

What you were doing before you came to ARL: Before coming to the ARL, I was an assistant wedding photographer with a few random jobs! I graduated with a communications degree in 2020.

Pets at home: I have two male cats, both from the shelter! Jupiter is a 6-year-old brown tabby, and Jolly is a 6-month-old black long hair with one eye!

Tell us about some of the roles you and your team take on to help the animals under our care.
Before my current role, I was working directly in animal care, cleaning, and taking care of the animals! I love seeing this other end of it now too, where I can really advocate for the animals and promote them directly to the public to get their stories known through social media!

How long have you been working in animal welfare for? What made you want to work in this field? 
I officially started working in animal welfare here at the ARL 2 years ago! I’ve always had a background with animals because my family was known for rescuing a lot, but what really got me into the field was my community service work in college! I was in a service group in which I got 60 hours of service each semester, and I kept finding myself spending most of those hours at the dog kennels! 

An animal you’ll never forget.
There are so many that I struggle to pick from, but one of my favorite stories has to be that of my own little kitten, Jolly Roger! Jolly came in as a week-old kitten in really bad shape, covered in lice, with his eyes swollen and crusted shut. Our foster coordinator, Lexy, took him into her own home and worked with him for months to get him back to health. I shared an office with her and would see her take care of him daily. Regardless of how bad of a condition he was in, he quickly learned how much he LOVED any human attention. He has the loudest purr and just had to be snuggled right up against your face. Seeing his turnaround in those 4 months just really shows how hard our team works day and night for every animal so that’s definitely something I’ll never forget. He became a staff favorite in his time here, and once he became available for adoption, I just knew I couldn’t see him go!

What is your favorite memory at ARL?
One of my favorite memories would have to be of a dog named Little Mama! She was one of our longest-stay residents and once she finally got adopted, she ended up getting loose at her new home. This was worst-case scenario for a dog like her because she was so scared of new people that we knew she would just continue to hide/run away from anyone trying to catch her. So many community members & staff joined together to search for her for days. We hung posters, searched through the night, and everything until finally, our staff member Rachel saw her and was able to get her to come right to her! The fact that a dog who would run from practically anything was willing to come right up to Rachel just shows how much we are a family for these animals until they can find their own! Seeing everyone work so hard to find her and get her home was an amazing sense of community and a heartwarming story of getting her back home. 

If you could cross one thing off your bucket list right now, what would it be? 
Honestly, any crazy hiking views are on my bucket list, right now I’m obsessed with looking at photos from Banff National Park! I would also absolutely love to go to Iceland again, too! I studied abroad in Iceland and it’s truly another world and probably what made me obsessed with the beautiful hiking views!

What is one thing you wish people knew about your job? 
I wish people knew how many animals we work for every single day! That’s one of the most shocking things I realized when I started here was truly how many animals come through these doors. There are so many animals in our community that need help and you really can’t understand the numbers until you see them here!

Any last words of wisdom?  
I’m a cheesy quote girl, so here’s one of my favorites from my favorite self-help book : “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile” -Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project. Now, this could mean so many things, but most importantly, I take it as do something you truly care about/love to do every day!