We have a new team member! Suzanne joined our team in early May, but we kept her so busy, we haven't even had a chance to introduce her properly. As our Marketing and Communications Team Lead, Suzanne will oversee the marketing functions in GAP including our GAP shop. Here's a bit more about her in her own words:
"I am thrilled to join the GAP team from my home by the beach in Papamoa, Tauranga. My background is mainly marketing leadership roles in the commercial and not for profit sectors. The latter includes stints with Breast Cancer Foundation NZ and Givealittle. I’ve also volunteered as a pitch coach for charities participating in The Funding Network and as a board member for YWCA Auckland. I’m currently the Chair of Creative Bay of Plenty which reflects my love of arts and culture. I can’t play an instrument (and you don’t want to hear me sing!), but I love film, theatre, live gigs and collect works that feature birds by New Zealand artists.
I was born and bred in Tauranga but lived in Auckland for twenty years before returning with my husband, William and our domestic tyrant of a cat, Sooty early in 2017. One of the reasons we chose Papamoa is we plan to get a dog to join our household. It’s just us two and Sooty and it should be a walk in the park to adopt a dog, right? Wrong! It’s been three years and we are at stalemate.
Neither of us have ever owned a dog before but we’re animal lovers and want to rehome an animal as we did with Sooty. The challenge is deciding what dog to get. My husband wants ‘a dog with character and personality’ while I want one that is easy going and can adapt to the rhythms of our home with two working adults and a regular influx of weekend visitors over Summer. While we both exercise regularly, Will just doesn’t get that some breeds need a LOT of attention and exercise while others will go with the flow.
The other factor is the cat. While he can be a handful, neither of us would want anything to happen to him and would break our hearts if he ran away or was injured. So, we’re reading and researching online about introducing dogs to cats and what I’ve come to understand is that every dog is different.
Our close friends in Auckland have a middle-aged Jack Russell with attitude named Biscuit and an elegant and affectionate, steel-blue retired greyhound named Stella. They both lived harmoniously with an ancient wee ginger cat, Mrs Boots until she passed away eight months ago. While I love them both for their unique personalities, my preference is for a greyhound. There’re quite a few lucky hounds who have found forever homes in Tauranga and my plan is to expose my husband to as many as I can, so he learns how loving, loyal and clever they are!
When the right hound comes along who can get along with Sooty, we’ll be ready to welcome him or her into our home. While I wait, I can make a difference by amplifying GAP’s marketing, communications and fundraising channels to make sure we double the number of rehomed greyhounds to 600 a year in 5 years. To do this I need your help. To find a home for every hound, we need your stories and photos that show that people of all ages, stages, mobility levels and housing types successfully adopt greyhounds. You can email me at suzanne@gap.org.nz with story ideas or follow us on Facebook at Greyhounds As Pets NZ and get in touch that way."