Get Inspired! Project–Jennifer Long

Listen to the interview here!

Jennifer Long

Toni Reece: Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project. I’m Toni Reece, and today I am with Jennifer Long of the Humane Society. Jenn, would you take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jennifer: Yes. I’m Jennifer Long. I’m with the Humane Society of Berks County. I’m a Berks County resident. I’ve gone to school here, and graduated from Albright College. I’m thrilled to be involved with a nonprofit in the local community.

Toni: Let’s go right into the first question for you. What does inspiration mean to you?

Jennifer: Inspiration for me can be someone, something, somewhere that basically stops us in our daily routine of life and makes us think and motivates us to chase after something – chase after a passion, become more focused, and just energized to go after something.

Toni: Can you give me an example of when that might have happened to you?

Jennifer: I tend to get inspired by all kinds of things. I can get inspired from being out on a hike where my mind is free and I can become more creative. It can be a person I run into, a conversation. With animals I can be inspired. There are so many different things.

Toni: Or just as an example, with the work that you do at the Humane Society, have you been inspired there?

Jennifer: Oh, so many times. It can be an interaction with one of our clients that is having hard times and we’re able to assist them in one way or another. It could be an animal that comes in. It could be a hard case where they’ve been neglected and we’re able to help them, or it could be an animal that isn’t necessarily neglected, but goes to a really great family in an adoption. Those are all feel-good things that we’re able to help and inspire us to do more work.

Toni: One of the ways you described what inspires you is that it actually stops you in your tracks.

Jennifer: Yes.

Toni: Those are pretty powerful moments. Can you recall a time, whether it was at the Humane Society or personally where you were like, “Wow – that was inspiring!”

Jennifer: Yes. We’ve had folks again that may come in and they’re at the end of their rope. They have to surrender a pet because they have no other options. Maybe they lost their housing, or financial reasons, and when we can actually come in and provide assistance that they can continue to keep their pet – situations … for instance, Katrina, when we were able to send volunteers down to help during that time. We were able to not only assist, but we also brought animals back and got to see them get placed.

Toni: You brought animals back from Katrina?

Jennifer: Yes.

Toni: Really?

Jennifer: Yes.

Toni: That’s amazing. I had no idea.

Jennifer: It’s time likes that, particularly in animal sheltering, you do see a lot of heartache, but there’s a lot of good that comes out of it.

Toni: Alright – that leads beautifully into the second question of the Project, which is, how do you put that inspiration into practice in Berks County?

Jennifer: Basically, it’s my motivator, knowing that we’re going to face challenges in the line of work of animal welfare, but those challenges give us the motivation to work harder, to try and reach more people and reach more animals. To see the positive that can come out of our work is what is the reward and what pushes us forward to tackle more.

Toni: I would imagine that there’s a lot more going on as far as what inspires you, in addition to placing animals and as you said, animal welfare, but for you personally, how do you, when you have those “oh my gosh, I’m incredibly inspired at this moment” – have you ever put a personal thing into practice in Berks County, where something moved you and it moved you into action?

Jennifer: I think with my personal experience with my animals that I have at home, we have a lot of behavioral problems with our pets, and it’s been extremely challenging over the years. I since have gone to school to become a certified dog trainer. I’m constantly reading about behavioral issues with dogs, knowing that there’s a lot of people out in the community that have challenging pets as well. It’s kind of added a new branch to my career as far as wanting to help animals specifically with behavioral needs as well as the families that have to live with these pets; that can be very difficult.

Toni: So it really has gone into a ripple effect into the county?

Jennifer: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

Toni: Who in Berks County inspires you?

Jennifer: It’s hard to narrow it down to one person or one animal, being that animals are a big part of my inspiration. For me, it’s … I get very inspired by people that are facing challenges and animals that have challenges, and knowing that their lives are a little bit harder than mine, and that basically if they can do it, I can do it, and I have perhaps that extra that I can add to it to help them and maybe bring more people to the awareness of the challenges that folks in our community as well as our animals face.

Toni: Do you have a recent example that you have just gone through something like that?

Jennifer: I have a good friend, Chris Kaag, who is the owner of Corps Fitness. He is disabled and just every time we go bike riding with him or working out at the gym, he’s always an inspiration, because he’s facing a lot harder things, but yet he still goes out and does it. It just kind of puts you in check that, “I can do it too – let’s just work a little harder.”

Toni: How does that translate into the work you do with animals?

Jennifer: I just always look at it as I’m very fortunate with the life I have. I think everyone has challenges and difficulties, but I think if we put them into perspective, there’s always somebody out there that has something a little bit harder. If we accept what we have and use our abilities to push further and be advocates for other people and other animals, I think we can just chip away at making things a better world.

Toni: What do you want your legacy to be?

Jennifer: I never really thought about having a legacy. I’m a more behind-the-scenes person and not one for the spotlight. The work I do and the things I’m passionate about, I do them because I believe in them, and not for any kind of recognition or to have people stop and think about me personally. I’d rather they think about the work that I’m helping to do. But I think if people did think about me, it was the fact that I’m just very hardworking, passionate about my beliefs, and just very caring of other people and animals, and that type of thing.

Toni: Again, I think this is going to be pretty prevalent in a lot of the Get Inspired! Project interviews, but you’re already working your legacy. The legacy that you’d like to leave is one that you’re already living, from what you’ve already described, so thank you so much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.

Jennifer: Thank you.