By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
There are some new top dogs — well, humans — at Wanderers’ Rest Humane Association in Canastota. After a mass exodus of staff in September 2016, Wanderers’ Rest has welcomed Jim Baleno as shelter manager in October and Heather Daley Saxton as director of marketing and communications in January.
In the wake of the CNY SPCA embezzlement scandal and Wanderers’ Rest losing several staff members last year, Baleno and Saxton, who said they made fast friends upon Saxton’s arrival earlier this month, have some big goals for Wanderers’ Rest.
“Our goal is to rebuild old relationships, build new ones and show people that we have the passion to create a safe space for animals before they find their forever homes,” Baleno said.
Baleno said he walked into a tense environment in October. Many staffers at Wanderers’ Rest were feeling burned out, he said, and the organization needed restructuring to distribute duties more fairly. Now, Baleno said things have improved with the staff, who “held that place together for almost two months without a manager.”
“We’re in a place where the staff enjoy coming to work, and that’s a huge plus,” Baleno said. “If you enjoy going to work, especially in a shelter-type situation, you cut down your burnout risk — compassion fatigue. I don’t want to lose people. … I don’t want people to think it’s not worth it.”
Baleno said his staff is invaluable.
“If I didn’t have such a great staff, I would still be in the middle of the muckhole digging us out,” he said.
Saxton said she noticed the new positive vibe at Wanderers’ Rest’s recent staff Christmas party, where the board made a point of thanking the employees for everything they do.
“There’s a special relationship among everyone at Wanderers’,” she said. “Sometimes when you have a board and the workers cleaning up poop, doing the dirty work, they don’t mix. … For that to be the very first thing for them to acknowledge the workers was really special.”
A friend to the community
While they have been trying to rebuild connections with local businesses, suppliers and volunteers, Baleno and Saxton said they want to regain the public’s trust as well.
“[What happened at the] CNY SPCA really tainted people’s thoughts [on shelters],” said Saxton, who moonlights as a DJ and graphic designer at country radio station WOLF 92.1.
“We’re trying to increase our transparency,” Baleno said. “It’s tough when the other big name in the area got cleaned out by the person that was supposed to be running it.”
Baleno has ramped up Wanderers’ Rest’s Facebook presence and is looking into grants to fund a spay and neuter program.
“One of the things I’ve heard is since I’ve been aboard, our Facebook has exploded,” Baleno said. “My big thing is community engagement. They feel like they have ownership of the process — even if it’s just visiting the animals once a month.”
Saxton said she is looking into updating the website and wants to parlay her radio personality into a wider reach for Wanderers’ Rest. As a radio host, she has plenty of experience coordinating events and has participated in walks and runs for nonprofit organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association and the American Cancer Society.
“I’ve created this name for myself in the community and I can use my contacts [to further Wanderers’ Rest’s mission],” she said.
“We want to be a friend to the community,” Baleno said, “whether they need information about their cats and dogs, or whether they’ve had a rough week and lost their job and need [pet] food for a few days. We have a food pantry for animals.”
Caesar’s road to recovery
Currently, Wanderers’ Rest has 67 cats and 12 dogs waiting for their forever homes. Recently, Baleno has been cheering on a literal underdog named Caesar, who is estimated to be about 7 years old. He recently appeared on NewsChannel 9 to share Caesar’s story.
In November, a skeletal mutt was found chained to a tree behind the Little Caesars pizza shop on Upper Lenox Avenue in Oneida (hence his new name). He had been there a while, and Baleno said if Caesar had waited one more day to be rescued, he wouldn’t have been able to walk on his own. An arrest has been made in Caesar’s cruelty case.
“He was severely emaciated, and when we got the ‘crime scene’ pics, [we saw] he was on about three feet of chain that was wrapped around a tree branch,” Baleno said. “He is either a [Great] Dane or a mastiff mix, so his weight should be in the buck-and-a-quarter or buck-thirty range.”
When he was found, Caesar weighed only 50 pounds. Thanks to a special diet and some TLC in a foster home, he’s now up to about 90 pounds. Once he is cleared by vets, Caesar will be ready for adoption.
“This is why I started working there — the success stories,” said Saxton, a lifetime dog-lover whose first opportunity to actually own a dog didn’t come until adulthood.
“Hopefully, we can help more animals and educate people on how to treat them,” she said.
In addition to solidifying Wanderers’ Rest’s place in the community, Saxton and Baleno are working to plan fundraising events and are hoping to secure a second facility for the shelter. The current location would become an intake facility to prepare animals for adoption, and the new location would be an adoption center.
“That’s definitely the big goal,” Saxton said.
Wanderers’ Rest is located at 7138 Sutherland Drive in Canastota. To learn more, call 315-697-2796 or visit wanderersrest.org.
