Glimmer of Hope: Changing the Face of Rescue with Bari Mears

Get ready to be inspired by Bari 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.  Bari is a true trailblazer and a beacon of hope and a voice for the voiceless, she is changing the face of rescue for critically injured homeless pets.

Connect with Bari Mears Mission  by links below:

PACC911 Website

Glimmer of Hope Car Raffle

Glimmer of Hope 2024 and Sponsorships 

Glimmer of Hope : A luncheon to benefit critically injured homeless pets

Sunday, november 3, 2023

11am-2pm

Transcript

Theresa Cesare: 0:05

Hey guys. Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare 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. Today. We have a very special guest rejoining us. Barry Mears, the inspiring president and founder of PAC 911, the Phoenix animal care coalition. Barry is known for making incredible strides in uniting the pet rescue community. Bringing together over 140 rescues under one umbrella to create a powerful force for animal welfare. In this episode, Barry is going to share her mission and shed light on the current state of animal welfare. She'll discuss the challenges facing our furry friends and how you can make a difference through PAC 911. Barry, welcome to Heart to Talk once again. Thank you so much, Teresa. I started PAC 911 25 years ago. And at that time. I absolutely had no vision that I would be sitting here today, 25 years later, talking about the world that has opened up to me and to others because of that small idea that I had at the moment, which was to fulfill a need that had gone unfulfilled. And that was that there was no rescue community and wouldn't it be smarter to bring together everyone involved from the smaller rescues and 25 years ago, there were only a few and the big shelters and let's work together. So that's how this started. And at the time I was in broadcast. I was not just doing nothing. I had a full time job. So, uh, that little idea, 25 years later, has morphed to be the most important thing that has happened in animal welfare in the state of Arizona. And, uh, I say in the state of Arizona because we keep it to that, but we have been asked to travel and spread what we have done elsewhere. I wish I had time to do that. I've had phone conversations with people in other states, and hopefully some of the ideas will germinate and spread. And they'll take off and do some things similar, but, this was just a journey that happened. It unfolded as it needed to. It wasn't a written plan and it wasn't even anything I conceived in my head to be what it is today, as I said. So we brought together the, the small rescues at that time. We worked in tandem with the county rescues, with the humane societies and, Mainly what we did back then was have adoption events and everyone was welcome because people normally, the public hesitated to go to the depressing shelters, so we brought the animals to them in pleasant venues and parks and businesses where we could and people came. If you build it, they will come right. And here we are today from a very small fledgling. Idea, a fledgling organization, all volunteer, of course. today we have 140 rescues under our umbrella and I have a staff. So what, what, what is PAC 911's mission? Well, initially our mission was to unite the pet rescue community. And we did that many years ago and grew on that. Today, we've more or less changed the mission statement and basically we say, changing the face of rescue. And let me explain that in the beginning we were fluff, the big shelters, the humane society, they were the main players and we were the fluff today. Is the main deal. And let me tell you the situation today for the animals is worse than it's been in decades. Here's why our population in the state of Arizona has morphed. Maricopa County has become the fastest growing county. In the United States. Now I'm saying this from records a few months ago. We're looking at the fastest growing County in the United States and a sheltering system that is totally inadequate. For the numbers of animals that are now residents in our state. The growth is so enormous that we too are full. We can continue to grow because the rescues can always engage by getting additional foster homes and so forth. We don't live between our walls as they do, because the shelters are full, if we can't, they will call on us to take their euthanasia list animals. I get lists every day from almost every county. Pima, Pinal, Maricopa, and the Humane Society. They're all good people trying to save the animals in their systems. These animals are going to die. We don't want them to. Can you help? So we spread that word to all of our partners. Appropriately, I'm not going to send the Chihuahua people the pit bull need, but we send it to the appropriate rescues and hope we can save some, but as I said, now that we are full, there's nowhere for many of these animals to go. There are solutions, I'm sure. I have a few in mind to try and implement moving forward, um, trying to help our rescues expand their capacity by offering, money to them if we can, you know, so that if each partner could take in 10 more animals and then adopt them out, take some more, that can help. That's one little idea. Um, there, there are many ideas floating in my head. I haven't, haven't had time. To address the whole issue. Be good Samaritans. you know, take in the strays, try and find places to put them, offer to foster. A key ingredient is spay and neuter and spread the word of spay and neuter. The last thing we need are accidents and, and more animals because they're being born to die. And that's the truth. But you know, if you have the thought you want to become a rescue, look into it. Maybe you can make that happen. And, and the more rescues we have, the more chances we have to save more lives. Last year, to give you some numbers, collectively, the PAC 911, 140 rescues took in, to their rescues, 36, 000 animals. And we were, as I said, we were the fluff way back, 36, 000. The county last year took in 16, 300. And so that's what I'm saying, that what has happened in animal welfare. And we said, changing the face of rescue is our new motto because it is. And. We have, we have changed the face of rescue because if we counted only on, you know, the big shelters, look at all the animals. That would not have been saved. And I'm not talking about those euthanized out there. These are the ones saved. And unfortunately there's a big number we couldn't save, but we did. We did good. Barry, you all have this incredible annual event that really allows all of us listeners to join and really connect with you, connect with others, the same passion and make a big difference. Tell us about your event. what it does and how we can participate. Oh, I would love you all to come. Our event is called Glimmer of Hope. And I think it's a very appropriate name. Looking back over the years, we have been the Glimmer of Hope. And so the event will be this year at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale. On November 3rd, it's a Sunday and it's always a luncheon. So, uh, it's, it's a delightful day. Come have lunch with us. We have a fabulous silent auction and an even more fabulous live auction. And the presentation. Is amazing. Um, and for those new to PAC, it tells you who we are and you, you can't help but leave and feel that you haven't learned something and you haven't been touched because you will be, I guarantee you will be tickets are 175. A table is 17. 50. Uh, right now we're about half sold out and we're two and a half months out. So there's time to get either tickets or a table and join us. I promise you, you will have a wonderful, wonderful experience coming to Glimmer of Hope. And at the event, we want to talk about our Toyota raffle. The Valley Toyota dealers love what we do. And last year was our first, time ever getting a vehicle from them. And they were so pleased with our performance and selling tickets. They gave us a better vehicle this year. Last year, we had the RAV4, which we were so excited about. And this year we have a 2024 4Runner. To raffle off at the event and tickets can be purchased starting now. We actually started selling them a few months ago. and the drawing will be right on stage in front of everyone. So it's real. It's very legitimate. Um, last year, one of the rescue people won and that was fantastic. Um, the, the winner can either choose the 20, 24, four runner, or they can choose 25, 000 cash if they don't want the car. So. Your ticket price is 100 or, the best deal, 3 for 2. 50. You have three chances to win and you're paying a little bit less. And I say look at it this way. You're making a donation to the most important animal welfare organization in the state. You're making a donation and you might win a car. I can't promise you will, but you might win a car. I can promise with your donation, every penny goes to our medical program, which I do want to tell you about the medical program. Um, we take no admin costs out of that at all. So every penny of your hundred dollars goes to the program. And That program is called the Critical Care Program and that was started in 2012 because at that time any animal that came into the big shelters who were sick, injured, hit by a car, any, any kind of serious injury, or even not so serious injuries, but injuries that couldn't be treated quickly by the, the shelter medicine, those animals were always euthanized, always euthanized. They were not offered treatment. up for alternative placement at all. In 2012, the Critical Care Program was a program to help the rescues with veterinary expenses, allowing them to take these animals before the cost would have been prohibitive to the smaller rescues. Our program started in 2012, and that year I had a 10, 000 grant, and we saved 12 animals. For the first time ever. The second year, 24 animals. We got more grant money. We grew. Come to 2012, 2022, we had saved 1, 200 animals. And last year, in 2023, we saved 1, 800 animals. 1800 animals that would have not had a chance without this program and without the PAC partners. So, um, in the glimmer of hope, you meet some of these animals who have been saved. We have videos of several of their stories. So you see where they started and the horrible condition they were in and the happy endings. And they'll be there to meet and greet people and kiss them and love them. It's heartwarming. It truly is. So, uh, Buying the ticket is another way to help. It's a small way, but it's Greatly appreciated last year that car brought in eighty nine thousand dollars in ticket sales And i'm hoping we can meet that this year or exceed it. That would be wonderful, but at least to meet it Um, so we really encourage people to buy their tickets and you're going to ask me how to do that So you have to go to our website Which is PAC911. org and I'll spell that for you. P A C C 9 1 1 dot O R G and If you click, I think when you first open it, she's got the raffles all over the place. So, or, or otherwise you'll click on special events and it'll bring up Glimmer of Hope and therefore the raffle as well. So you can come to the event. You can buy the raffle tickets all from our website and be a part of the solution by supporting PAC 911 and supporting the raffle. And you might drive off in a beautiful new car. Well, that sounds amazing. Thank you so much. And I will be sure to include your, what you just shared in the show notes. It'll be clickable. So anybody listening, if you go to the show notes, you can directly land on the page to buy your tickets. I love it. Now, can you just do the raffle if you don't come to the event? Yes, you do not have to be present. You can buy the raffle ticket. Anybody can buy a raffle ticket. Well, I qualify that they must be over 18 and they must be an Arizona resident because since it is a car raffle, it's considered a lottery and we have rules to follow. So they must live in Arizona and they must be over 18. When you fill out your raffle thing, it says register and you have to register. That gives us your phone number, who you are, so that we know how to contact you if you are the winner. I love it. I love it. Well, thank you for the work you do, thanks for coming on again. And I wish just so much increasing success to keep up with the increasing numbers of need. I just love everything you do. We love animals. I'm an animal lover myself. I know so many listeners of this show as well. Love our furry friends. I'm going to go ahead and pivot to our ending questions. So Barry, the first question I'm going to ask you is what is your favorite affirmation that helps you stay motivated? Well, it's kind of the starfish story. You know the starfish story. I think most people do, but it was the one starfish that I could save, because you can't save them all. We know we can't save them all. But we try and focus on those we do save and can save. As I said, last year we helped 1800, so I get lots of my starfish stories, so we, we have to stay positive. I love that. And the next, what is your favorite book? It's called The Lost Dogs. And, A, I didn't have time to read in between this year and last. So it's the same book. Nothing's been more touching to me. Since that one. And this is the story about 12 of the dogs that were saved from the fighting rings that Michael Vick had years ago. And most of the major shelters had recommended that they be evacuated. And the only shelter that said, no, we want to try and rehabilitate them because they were all trained to fight, was Best Friends in Utah, who we work with. And, this book is the touching stories of these wonderful, sweet dogs who wanted nothing but peaceful, beautiful lives and were forced into something that wasn't what they wanted. And it's the. Journey of each of them. And it's, it's a touching, touching story. The lost dogs. I'm sure you can still find it on Amazon. Thank you for that. And the last question. What are you most proud of? I'm most proud of the critical care program that we established in 2012. And I'll tell you why. As I said, all of the animals prior to then were euthanized if they had illnesses or. injuries that were serious. And the then director of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control said to me a couple years into the program, she said, you know Barry, your program changed the culture of animal welfare. in, in our county. And I said, how so? And she said, the critical care program made all the difference. Everything's changed because of it. Because now those dogs are offered out to the rescues with your help and they have a chance at life. 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.