A Historic Day

Written By: David Stroud - Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society | Issue: December 2023

Jodi Henkel with baby Silas and doggie Abby

December 10th was a historic day for women.

On that day in 1869, John Campbell, governor of the Wyoming Territory, approved the first law in U.S. history explicitly granting women the right to vote. On December 10, 2007, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was sworn into office as Argentina’s first female elected president.

December 10, 2013, was a great day for the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society, because that’s the day I had the honor to begin working with one of the greatest young women I have ever known. Jodi Henkel started that day as a kennel technician. Celebrating her 10th anniversary with CHHS this month, Jodi is now our Assistant Manager.

She’s also founder and director of our immensely popular Critter Camp program. More on that later.

As a lifelong animal advocate, Jodi joined our team as she was beginning her junior year at Western Carolina University. We immediately realized what a compassionate and dedicated professional Jodi was, and we were happy to work around her demanding college schedule.

Upon graduation in 2015, Jodi joined Team CHHS full-time. As Assistant Manager, Jodi is responsible for scheduling and supervising the Animal Care Specialists on our staff who take care of an average of 120 animals on a daily basis. But as in any workplace, there are illnesses and planned days off, and Jodi never hesitates to fill in to help feed the shelter pets, administer medicines and preventatives, answer phones, and transport animals on our weekly “vet runs” for routine and urgent care.

Jodi is oftentimes the first point of contact for our multiple community outreach programs and to help initiate new volunteers. Speaking of community outreach, Jodi envisioned, developed and directed something in 2019 that was literally life-changing for the children in our community.

Jodi created Critter Camp. For the past four years under Jodi’s leadership, elementary school-age children have experienced a week-long summer day camp at CHHS to learn about responsible pet ownership, humane education, first-hand interaction with animals of multiple species and the endangered habitat that we all share. Jodi has a dream that someday, with more resources, Critter Camp can be all summer long and expanded to more age groups.

“Teaching children and seeing their enthusiasm for learning about animals is incredibly rewarding,” says Jodi. “And just as rewarding to me is our rescue work where we first find animals at their very worst, and then we find for them the very best of happy endings.”

There have been many other rewarding moments, too. Too many in 10 years for the space in this article. Like serving on the front lines of puppy mill raids and hoarding cases.

And being the primary caregiver for animals like Mizuno, a tiny abandoned kitten bottle-fed by Jodi who became the unofficial mascot for the Blue Ridge High School Volleyball Team, traveling to all the games, the practices, and even on all the bus rides.

And of course there is Abby, who Jodi adopted from CHHS in 2019 and as she lovingly describes as “the best kind of dog, a mutt of all mutts.”

Rewarding moments would not be complete without mentioning Silas, Jodi’s first child, born in January 2021. Bringing a child into this world is challenging enough, without the joyous event happening in the midst of the health care crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“CHHS was very supportive while I was out on maternity leave,” says Jodi. “And when I came back, I realized that CHHS is also a great place to work while raising a child. We’re not co-workers here, we’re family. We are a work family that cares about each other’s personal family.”

Ten years. Jodi is the second member of our management team to celebrate a 10th anniversary at CHHS. Two more team members will celebrate their 10th in 2024. That speaks volumes to the strength and stability of the organization dedicated to serving as the voice for the voiceless on the Highlands-Cashiers plateau.

“I can’t help but be excited for the next decade at CHHS,” says Jodi. “I’ve seen so much positive growth and change in the past 10 years that it’s going to be hard to top. But I know with the best team here at CHHS and the most caring animal loving community behind us, we will continue to do wonderful things!”

Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare organization located at 200 Gable Drive in Sapphire, one-and-a-half miles east of the Cashiers Ingles in between Cedar Creek Club and Lonesome Valley on Highway 64. For more information, call (828)743-5752 or visit us online at chhumanesociety.org. Tax-deductible donations in honor of Jodi’s 10th anniversary and our lifesaving work can be mailed to: CHHS, P.O. Box 638, Cashiers, NC 28717.