Written by Karel Minor, Humane Pennsylvania President & CEO
Twelve years ago, when (what was then known as) the Humane Society of Berks County was asked by the Humane League of Lancaster County to take over management of their organization, I first met Aida May. At the time, she was a non-management kennel technician, and she had already been working there for a few years. I remember the reaction of the Berks management team was basically, “Who is that and why doesn’t hasn’t she been promoted?”
Aida presented herself with a calm, even-tempered demeanor and a quiet competence. Quiet tends to be overlooked, if not ignored, but I took note. When the two organizations underwent the extremely rough birthing process of formally merging to create the new Humane Pennsylvania, Aida stuck around. She kept stepping up to more and more and was promoted to a Coordinator position and ultimately as Manager of Adoption Programs at Humane PA.
This may seem like light praise but it is not: throughout she was an unflappable presence. Animal welfare is a business that tends toward maximum “flappability.” It’s high-stress, high-emotion, life-and-death stakes, and often tends to gather to itself people who may…how can I say this gently?…get along better with animals than people. Aida is a rare person who is kind and compassionate with animals and with people.
So, when she announced it was time for her to move on to a better work opportunity, the news brought mixed emotions for all of us. We all want her to do what’s best for her and her family, but it is also hard to figure out exactly how the place will function and will “feel” without her presence. Aida has been part of Humane PA for more than half the time I’ve worked here, which is twenty-one years this July. While we all know that 125-year-old organizations like ours have a longer life span than any one employee, we also know that without people, we’re nothing.
Aida is one of the people who has made the lifesaving work HPA does possible, and has gotten us through good times and bad. She was there when we merged. She was there when we implemented the radical new approach to community animal health called the Healthy Pets Initiative. She was there when our vet hospitals were certified by the American Animal Hospital Association, the first in PA and among the first in the nation. She was there during COVID, when we kept our doors open and did not lay off a single staff member. She made good times better and made bad times less bad.
We will miss her and we send her our appreciation and love. We hope you will do the same.
Despite news stories and animal shelter full-tilt freakout press releases to the contrary, the war on pet overpopulation and needless shelter euthanasia has been a wild success. In 1970, up to 26 million cats and dogs entered animal shelters, and up to 20 million of those were euthanized. To put that in context, in 1970 there were only 65 million cats and dogs in the U.S. So, in 1970, as much as 40% of the cats and dogs alive in the U.S. passed through shelters, and as many as 1 in 3.25 pets alive at the time were killed in animal shelters every year.
What the heck does this have to do with dog adoptions in Lancaster? Everything. The animal shelter infrastructure in Lancaster and Berks County, where Humane PA has adoption centers, was created in the 1970s to handle 1970s realities. As recently as 20 years ago, the combined shelter intake for the Humane League of Lancaster County and the Humane Society of Berks County was 21,000 cats and dogs a year. Over 14,000 of those animals were euthanized.
Not surprisingly, the greatest risks to pets are found around the home. Plants, foods, human medications, cleaning supplies, and automotive products are responsible for the vast majority of pet poisoning cases reported to veterinarians and poison control centers.
garlic, onions, yeast dough, and any processed foods containing the sweetener Xylitol.
In Case of a Pet Poisoning Emergency
While the one-million-pound goal was reached this past year, Humane Pennsylvania is also tackling systemic challenges beyond food with initiatives like low-cost veterinary services and community education.
After 16 incredible years with Humane Pennsylvania, we are celebrating the retirement of Gloria Hill, Humane Veterinary Hospitals Receptionist. As she prepares for this next chapter, we sat down to reflect on her time with HPA, her favorite memories, and her plans for the future.
animals and their caretakers.
What are your plans for retirement? Do you have any fun adventures or hobbies that you are looking forward to?
We thought it was great when our communities donated 440,000 pet meals to our pet food donation campaign in 2023. That was so great we took the brazen step of raising our sights – a lot. In 2024 we asked you to help us meet a Million Meal Challenge. You came through. As I type, we are up to 1.47 million meals donated, and counting! That’s nearly triple the previous year!
We also know that time and travel are two major hurdles for those struggling financially. So we have begun installing Spike’s Pet Food Pantry Kiosks in our Adoption Centers. These are SPP “light” with a more limited selection but open seven days a week, making access easier.
donor generosity isn’t being abused. Fortunately, the vast majority of people are good, and our data shows that most people only use this program for a short period. Those who need more help get direct, intensive support. The exceptionally small number who are scammers get booted and banned. I’m glad to know that this program is there for any of us who might need it in a pinch.
Not familiar with that location? It’s new, too! In order to add space needed for all our programs and distribution work, we purchased a warehouse in Lancaster County which gives us the extra space we need to receive and sort large donations arriving by tractor-trailer. It’s one of the ways we have been able to expand capacity without having to add staff or overload existing space.
I hope that chair is comfy because there’s so much more! In 2024 HPA added a new affordable community service: Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort, PA’s first affordable, non-profit pet boarding service! We were hearing from our community that they were getting priced out of swanky boarding facilities, often having a boarding bill that was more expensive than their vacation. Why should someone have to choose between traveling with family or having a pet because of the cost of boarding? With Spike & Tilly’s Pet Resort, they don’t need to. Pets of all kinds can stay safely with HPA, affordably and comfortably, with all the bells and whistles of a fancy place if you want them, but without the mandates and restrictions now so common. Not all dogs like playgroups, and some pets need special handling and care. We are literally the experts with over 100 years of experience. With online booking and two locations (Reading and Lancaster), we began booking up and are now expanding to meet the growing need!
As soon as it warms up a little, we will be excited to have the public rededication of the center in honor of two of our very best friends and supporters, Betsy & Ted Lewin. Betsy is a legendary – yep, I’m going with legendary – children’s book illustrator and has been one of the longest-donating artists to our Art for Arf’s Sake Auction. You’ve probably seen her art, and if you have kids you probably have her books in your house right now. I am honored that she is allowing us to recognize her and her late husband, Ted, for their generosity, kindness, and the joy they have given to so many for so long. Stay tuned for the invitation to join us this Spring!
the secret sauce to achieve success. It may come as no surprise but it boils down three big factors we thought we could cover:
Instead, we offered all available surgical slots to a single colony manager, along with assistance and training for mass trapping, to allow us to get as many in at one time as possible. We also went the extra step of ensuring that any that were missed could be funneled into our regular surgery schedule to get any stragglers. We’d also push in any new cats that wandered in the colony in the future. Once we got them all, we’d move on to the next. Did it work? Boy, did it ever. Between March 2023 and November 2024, about 75 colonies ranging in size from just a couple to dozens of cats were fully sterilized. That’s an accomplishment that has never been achieved in our region before and we subsequently found out that this approach is now being taught in advanced trainings as the way to actually overcome the breeding cycles of free-roaming cats. It turns out we figured it out on our own while others were!
A drowning man may be forgiven for not reflecting on the size of the body of water in which he’s drowning. After all, drowning in the ocean, a lake, or a bathtub is still drowning. The volume of the body of water is irrelevant when you’re inhaling it and trying your best to survive.
Dr. Alicia Simoneau’s 15-year journey with Humane Pennsylvania has been marked by a deep commitment to animal welfare and an unwavering passion for her work. As she celebrates this milestone, it’s clear that Dr. Simoneau’s contributions have been pivotal in shaping the compassionate and dynamic environment that defines Humane Pennsylvania today.
What’s one thing you’re learning now, and why is it important?
Creating a legal will is an opportunity to craft intentional plans that protect your loved ones and eternalize the values that have guided your life, like compassion and caring for animals in need. Legacy support is an easy way to be a part of the solution for years to come.
After spending over 30 years in the animal welfare world, Humane Pennsylvania (HPA) President & CEO Karel Minor knows a thing or two about helping animals and their caretakers who love them. As the second longest-tenured leader in animal sheltering in Pennsylvania, he is looking back at the progress made and strides taken over his 20 years as CEO of Humane PA.
be done, usually with no real data to back it up, just opinion and gut feeling. Animal welfare felt hopeless and fatalistic and if you suggested we could save animals’ lives and help people try new things, our peers looked at us like we were stupid. If you suggested adopting cats at Halloween, waiving adoption fees, or adopting at Christmas, people thought you were insane. Twenty years ago, when I started at HPA, which was known as Berks Humane Society at that time, I met a core of staff, board, volunteers, and donors who were willing to be open-minded. They saw that what we had been doing wasn’t working- at least not for the 4,000 animals being euthanized each year- and they took the risk with me to try new and even taboo approaches. It worked, we kept it up, and we helped spread that attitude around the country.
My greatest influence in animal welfare is Dr. Michael Moyer, who hired me at my first shelter 32 years ago. Back then, he was the extremely rare executive director who happened to be a veterinarian. He approached animal welfare like a scientist, used data, and encouraged me to do the same. However, my biggest professional influence is my wife, Dr. Kim Minor, who was one of the extremely rare educators who is a genuine genius, uses data and genuinely cares about doing what’s best for kids, even when it’s hard or personally risky. There is a bizarre similarity to how the education system writes off a lot of kids just like many animal shelters do with animals. Her example of doing what is right for each individual child and how that improves the well-being of children as a population has always motivated me to do the same for animals and the families they are attached to.
have been with HPA ranging from just one year to nearly twenty years. One person can’t succeed alone and we have built a group who take their work seriously and know they can make a concrete positive difference for the animals and people in our community.