We believe our staff is the most compassionate, hardest working group of people there is. They go above and beyond for our animals and we are grateful for them! Scroll through the galleries below to see our staff in action.
Executive Director
Kirsten VantWoud has been working with BCHS since 2019 and brings over 30 years of experience from her training as an RVT to animal shelter administration. She’s had the opportunity to work as an animal control officer and in high volume s/n surgical facilities but spent most of her career in the largest shelters in the state. Kirsten enjoys the benefits of smaller shelters because we can offer much more personal service to the animals and humans who love them! She’s spent the last 3 years expanding programming, improving animal and patron environments within the shelter, and adding staff to attend to the needs of our shelter animals!
Canine Team
These ladies can have it RUFF (see what we did there?) because their domain is hot/cold, wet/dry, noisy, fuzzy, stinky - but they wouldn’t trade any of that for getting to work with our shelter dogs every day! These ladies offer our dogs a clean place to live, tend to their nutritional needs, and offer enrichment and training to their days. Our canine team gets to help dogs transition from the stress of intake into a kennel setting to a successful adoption appointment and the opportunity to have a forever life with a new family. We’re so grateful for their constant attention to the changing needs of our shelter dogs!
Feline Team
Our feline team consists of some of the most compassionate cat ladies you will ever hope to meet! Our team has years of experience but is constantly working to improve the living conditions our shelter cats need to share. We have an open housing room for cats to roam freely and host about two dozen community cat outdoors on our shelter grounds! These women strive to know details about our shelter cats so that we can help potential adopters get a cat that fits with the dynamic in the new home; they are always matchmaking! When you stop in for your appointment, you’ll often see these fine ladies giving love and attention to the cat in need.
Medical Team
BCHS is fortunate to have been able to add a veterinary technician to our staff roster! Amber Wimmenauer has worked in animal shelters and veterinary clinics for most of her career and our shelter animals benefit from her experience and her network of veterinary professionals. Amber attends to every single animal that enters our doors, over 900 in 2022, to ensure that we are providing them with the best medical care we can provide. She has developed tele-medicine opportunities with veterinary doctors so that our animals never go without anything they might need.
Customer Care Team
Customer care is the face of our organization. It’s so important to have a leader in this role who is compassionate, thinks outside of the box and can still be confident enough to know the limits of our programs.
We have that person in our Customer Care Manager, Terry Turner! When you call our shelter, he is the voice you’ll hear and we are grateful for his broad knowledge of our organization and his willingness to help humans and animals in need. Terry also coordinates Thor’s Food Pantry for BCHS.
