Glimmer of Hope with Bari Mears

Are you an animal lover? If so, you're going to love this episode. We have an extraordinary guest joining us. Get ready to be inspired. Our guest today, Barry Mears, is the president and founder of PAC 9 1 1, a nonprofit organization dedicated to a mission that will warm your heart. In this episode, Bari will share with us the incredible story behind PAC 9 1 1 and provide invaluable ways and how you can get involved.  Barry is a true trailblazer and a beacon of hope and a voice for the voiceless, she is literally the leader of the pack.

Connect with Bari Mears Mission  by links below:

PACC911 Website
Glimmer of Hope Car Raffle
Glimmer of Hope 2023 and Sponsorships 

Transcript

Theresa Cesare: 0:06

Hey guys. Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Teresa Caesar. My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the. are you a pet lover? If so, you're going to love this episode. We have an extraordinary guest joining us. Get ready to be inspired. Our guest today, Barry Mes, is the president and founder of PAC 9 1 1, a nonprofit organization dedicated to a mission that will warm your heart. In today's episode, she'll share with us the incredible story behind PAC 9 1 1 and provide invaluable ways and how you can get involved. Barry is a true trailblazer and a beacon of hope and a voice for the voiceless. I welcome to the show, literally the leader of the pack.

Bari Mears: 1:06

Thank you so much, Teresa. It's my pleasure to be here. I always love to preach my gospel and get other people who love animals to know what's going on and to know how they can help because we need not a village. We need not a city. We need a universe to help all the animals. We really, really do. Oh, I love that. We need a universe to help all the animals.

Theresa Cesare: 1:33

Barry, go ahead and introduce your mission and story. of Starting up, PAC 911?

Bari Mears: 1:38

well, I spent a good part of my career in broadcast, and I was first in radio, then TV, and all the while, loved animals, and was the only person who seemed to find strays. Other people would say, I don't see them. Well, I saw them everywhere. And I knew they weren't going home, so I would take them in and try and find places and network them as best I could. And it was through all that, years and years ago, that I met people in the animal sheltering business. Because back then, there wasn't really that much rescue. Very few rescues existed. And as I became aware of them, I thought, They all hated each other. Nobody worked together. Nobody helped one another. There was, there was no harmony. And I believed that together we could be stronger and be a louder voice for the animals. And so I started PAC 911. It was back in 1999. And, we were small and then we simply, I brought them together saying, put aside your differences and let's find our commonality, which is our love of animals and everybody does things a little differently. That's okay. We're not here to judge or say one way is better than another. We're going to work together. So we started doing adoption events way back then. And maybe I would have 15, rescues present at a at a function. And we would do these at churches or businesses, parking lots. And, and I realized as early in the beginning of all of this, that people flocked to come to pleasant places where they could see animals because the shelters, the county shelters were very depressing. And so they Didn't go there. They went to breeders instead. They didn't realize the great need and all the animals suffering in the big shelters and so we brought the animals to them and it worked and 15 groups attended back then and today we've had as many as a hundred tents up at some of our big events So we continue to do the adoption events. They are a big part of PAC 9 1 1 and we've grown from Then 15, 20 rescues, whatever existed at the time to having about 140 rescue partners with a waiting list of others that want to join us. So, and we do sometimes dismiss a rescue or sometimes they go out of business. So we do continue to take in more, not, not throughout the whole year, but generally we'll have an open, time where we'll. review applications and involve more rescues. So, that's what we started out doing. We still do, but we grew to address many other needs. Back in 2012, I had just Gone to bed with a horrible cruelty story that was on the news right before I went to bed. Animal cruelty. I, and I couldn't stand it. And so I said that next morning, we have to address this, and I made one phone call to a possible funder, and I said, would you give me money to start a fund? to help these animals who have been victims of cruelty, abuse, or serious medical neglect. And she said, yes. And she said it so quickly. I said, so will you fund it for five years? She said, yes. So I got a good commitment. to get this program started. And initially we called it the Lulu's Angel Fund. And the very first year we were able to help 12 animals and we thought that was pretty darn amazing because none of them had ever been able to be helped before that. And the second year we helped 26 and the next year we doubled it again. Fast forward to 2022, we helped 1200 animals that year. This year, January through June, we just did our numbers and we were already at 925. So the need is growing and we have to keep raising the money. This doesn't come inexpensively. Last year for the 1200, we paid out 420, 000. So we have to raise that kind of money. And we do, but we need everybody's help. That's where everybody can come in to help animals. Um, you can donate to our, to PAC 911 and say you want this money to go to the critical care program. That's one way. You can become a foster home because the rescues... can only take in as many animals as they have room for. So they really need wonderful people who will offer to be a foster home. And some fosters say, well, I can't do that because I have dogs. I have cats. Yes, you can. there are, they will help you manage it and they won't let you take in more than your household can manage. So there are so many animals in need. That's a, it's a fabulous way to help the problem. And the problem is growing in leaps and bounds because we all know how our state is being inundated as people leave other States where they have too heavy taxes, too much crime. Arizona looks really appealing. And we are the fastest growing state in the nation and we have morphed in our population and with people come more animals. But get this, our shelters haven't been updated for capacity in decades. And so all the major shelters are on what they call limited intake by appointment only. This means that our rescue community, which are largely PAC partners, well, there's a bigger community than PAC. But we have the premier partners and we have 140 of them. There are other rescues and I don't, I don't know all of them. But, the pack partners had to step up and last year the intake combined all our partners. We intook close to 30, 000 animals. Now this really, those big numbers are really the job of the the shelters, the major shelters that are funded through government, we don't have that kind of funding, we don't have the facilities, but our partners stepped up to do this. And therefore they're all bursting at the seams needing fosters terribly much. We need donations, we need fosters, and here's a fun way to, join us. We have a raffle going on right now, PAC does. The Valley Toyota Dealers. Love Pac 9 1 1. We do many of our adoption events at Toyota dealerships and they gave us a 2023 RAV four glimmer of hope raffle to sell tickets, and we started sales in May. And the tickets are only a hundred dollars each. Or they can buy three tickets for two 50 and There is a QR card. You have it, Teresa. And I don't know if you can put it up on your,

Theresa Cesare: 9:25

I can. It'll be a clickable link. So anyone that listens can go to the show notes and click.

Bari Mears: 9:29

we will draw the winner at our gala event, which is called glimmer of hope, and people can go on the pack website and they can buy tickets for the gala and they are 175 a ticket. And it is a luncheon with a fabulous, fabulous silent and live auction. but then the program is what All your listeners will really love because it's the animals, some of the animals that we have helped through the critical care program. And you see the before and after. And the stories are rags to riches, sadness to joy. And, they're memorable. So I think everybody who is a real animal lover should try and attend. The, event will be at the Camelback Inn. In Scottsdale, November 12th from 11 to 2. So we don't take up your whole day. Although most people leave that event saying, I want more. we hope listeners will participate in that way. And they can do so while becoming a foster. And while helping in other ways too. So, I'm just giving you some options because the animals truly need us. They are the voiceless. And it's up to us to take care of them. Too many people are now abandoning them. Because they can't get into the shelters. They find a stray. They want to do the right thing. And they don't know about us at that point. So they call the shelters. The shelters say, let the dog, let the cats go back out. Because we can't take them. Not for two weeks. And people often can't do that. Then they find out about PAC. We do everything we can to help, and sometimes we're successful, but not always, because the need and the situation is far greater than any one organization. So, there are an awful lot of animals being euthanized and out in the heat, burning their paws with no water. Because they are strays and nobody's able to help so thank heavens for the work We do because we we help many I wish we could say we help all but we we just don't We can't but maybe with a lot more support financial Physical, who knows we can, we can tap into that group that we haven't been able to help. Check out our website because We have other programs as well. We have a food bank for animals. We have a senior program for people in, in nursing homes that are part of mercy care. and we have a fabulous store. Anyone who can make it up to the Phoenix area, we have a store called Rescued Treasures, which is actually a thrift store, so the prices are thrift. They're the same as Goodwill, but the store is magnificent because our big donors all donate their clothes, designer, couture, wonderful household items. Antiques and some animal products that we get. It's a wonderful store. It's at 40th street and Thunderbird in Phoenix it's worth a trip up. You can come up and spend the day having lunch in the valley visit the store all proceeds from our store go to the critical care program. It's just another one of our fundraisers. Everything we do. goes to the critical care program.

Theresa Cesare: 13:06

Wow. Your mission is amazing. I am so touched and, inspired. I'll be sure to drop all the links and your website in the show notes well, to wrap up this episode, I'm going to ask you three ending questions. And so the first one, what is your favorite animal book?

Bari Mears: 13:22

Well, it's called the Lost Dogs it is a book that details and chronicles the story of. The dogs that Michael Vick had in his fighting rings for years, they were tortured, they were brutalized and of course they were all pit bulls and they were rescued and most of, even the big organizations at the time said they all need to be euthanized, they are not redeemable. Well, People at Best Friends up in Kanab, Utah thought otherwise, and they took in a number of these dogs, and they did rehabilitate them, and The book is the story of those rehabbed dogs and I loved it. It was a wonderful, wonderful book. And it, you know, it just pursues our mission as well love conquers a lot and kindness. And these dogs were turned around because they were never bad dogs. They were brutalized. So okay, next question. Thank you. Yes, the next question. What is your favorite quote? That's easy. Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight. Albert Schweitzer. Say it again. Think occasionally Of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight. It definitely makes you want to say that more times. Yeah. Wow. That was powerful.

Theresa Cesare: 14:57

And the last question. What do you want to be remembered for?

Bari Mears: 15:02

I want to make people realize that animals are part of their family, that they are not disposable, that they deserve everything that the family has to offer from life to death. And when you adopt an animal, it's a lifetime commitment.

Theresa Cesare: 15:29

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Also, be sure to visit my theresacesare.com to check out my inspirational merch, connect to my social accounts, and much more may you continue to be filled with wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Otherwise, friends, I will be back in two weeks for another episode of Heart to.