Meet Karen Martiny | Executive Director, Animal Rescue of the Rockies

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karen Martiny and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karen, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Animal Rescue of the Rockies helps communities, families, and individuals by providing companion animals (dogs and cats) that we rescue from overcrowded shelters and from abandonment situations. When someone adopts a rescue pet, they receive the reward of a loving furry family member to share their home with. We all know that pets have been shown to increase happiness, reduce depression and loneliness, and add health benefits such as lower blood pressure. In addition to providing these benefits to people Animal Rescue of the Rockies also helps our communities by reducing the number of unwanted pets by spaying and neutering every pet in our care prior to adoption. We also help reduce the number of stray cats in neighborhoods by trapping them, getting them spayed or neutered, and finding homes for friendly cats & kittens or returning feral cats to their colonies.

What should our readers know about your business?
Our nonprofit, Animal Rescue of the Rockies, has always been proud to rescue dogs and cats who are overlooked in shelters and are in danger of euthanasia. Rescuing these vulnerable pets who have been abandoned by their previous owners is the best reward! We love helping pets who need a little extra TLC – for example, “average” looking dogs, senior pets, three-legged pets, those with only one eye, etc. These types of pets often linger in shelters because they’re not highly sought after, but they still deserve love and have so much love to give. Those success stories mean the most to us.

We’ve been rescuing dogs and cats for 21 years, and when we started, we really operated on faith and determination alone. Over the years we’ve learned a lot, but we’re always open to learning more and to trying new ways of doing things to improve operations. I worked as a professional administrative assistant to CEO’s of successful businesses for 20 years before starting ARR with a group of close friends. My background in marketing, customer relations, and administration helped get ARR off the ground and we’ve continued to grow over the years through the addition of talented volunteers and employees.

It’s important to delegate tasks and roles to others who are better suited for certain things and not try to take on everything yourself. I used to try to do way too much by myself until I learned how nice it is to hand tasks off to other willing volunteers who enjoy helping in those areas. Now we have an incredible team of people who work together to save as many lives as we can each year. I enjoy delegrating roles to others now and recognize that their contributions to our success are essential.

I would love to encourage anyone who is thinking about starting a business to do their research first and have a good, solid business plan before taking that first step. Knowledge and advance planning will save a lot of headaches and stress later. Be willing to learn and to be open to new ideas and suggestions. Just because something has “always been done this way” doesn’t mean it’s the best way for you or your business. Listen to others who have an interest in your success and if one idea doesn’t work out, make adjustments and try another. You always have options!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Denver offers so many opportunities for both indoor and outdoor fun! I would love to show off some of our great museums, along with the Denver Zoo, the Butterfly Garden, the Molly Brown House, Lodo, RiNo, and Larimer Square at night. So many fun breweries have outdoor patios and live music to enjoy. I would take my friend to a sampling of these in different neighborhoods since they all have unique vibes.

So many dining options abound – new and exciting eateries seem to crop up weekly! It would be fun to explore some of these new restaurants and try them out.

Outdoor adventures would definitely include hiking in some of the area’s nearby parks and open spaces, a trip to the mountains for some high-altitude adventures, and a drive down to Colorado Springs to visit Pikes Peak.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to thank each and every one of our wonderful volunteers who so selflessly help save the lives of abandoned dogs and cats. Our foster parents and other volunteers give their valuable time to help care for these pets and make sure they find their forever homes successfully. We simply couldn’t do what we do without them!

I’d also like to thank Best Friends Animal Society for helping us start our rescue and mentoring me throughout the years. After attending their “How to Start an Animal Sanctuary” workshop in 2003, I came away armed with so much helpful information and truly wouldn’t have been able to start Animal Rescue of the Rockies without their guidance and support.

In addition, Landmark Education gave me the confidence I needed to and empowered me to make decisions regarding starting a nonprofit as a community project!

Website: https://www.arrcolorado.org

Instagram: ARRColorado

Linkedin: AnimalRescueoftheRockies

Twitter: ARRColorado

Facebook: Animal Rescue of the Rockies

Youtube: Animal Rescue of the Rockies