Today we’d like to introduce you to Denice Bain and Mary Priddy.
Hi, Denice and Mary. I’m so excited to have you on the platform. Before we ask about your work life, you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
We (Denice and Mary) have loved animals for as long as we can remember. Our first encounter with animal welfare groups was during the Bastrop County Complex Fire in 2011. We began assisting with various pleas, asking for assistance evacuating animals in harm’s way. The experience made us fall in love with the organizations that showed up to help our community. After the fires, we continued to volunteer with several of the groups we met, and we have been dedicated to supporting animal advocacy organizations and emergency response ever since. After much thought, planning, and urging from our friends, we formally co-founded DenMar’sDenMar’s Animal Refuge Network (a 501(c)(3) non-profit) in 2019. We currently have 6 active programs: Emergency Response, Inter and Intrastate Transporting, Litter Quitter, Community Cat Colony, Community Engagement (Education and Support), and Momma’s with Babies.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has had its ups and downs. You have to put in some real work to get approved for non-profit status. And when you specify one of your classifications as ”disaster response,” you add scrutiny to your application. We get it; it has been our experience that natural disasters bring out the best and the worst in people. Then, lastly, building any business takes money. We have amazing responses and support for specific events or animal cases we sign up for, but raising money for supplies, storage, insurance, etc, is much more difficult. Our Board follows the old saying, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We both currently work for the City Of Austin and have a very eclectic background. My (Denice) first real job was as a ranch hand, and then I got into the restaurant/catering industry and ended up retiring from a long-time governance role with Dell Inc. I recently took a governance role with the City of Austin. I am a massive advocate for volunteerism and have more than 45 years of experience raising money for non-profits and charities. Mary was accepted into a vet program and learned rather quickly that she was too affected by an animal’s suffering to make it a full-time career. She was a science teacher for about 4 years and then went out on tour as a comic. When she stopped touring, she went to work for Dell (that is where we met, and the rest is history!), then went to work for the City of Austin, where she has been ever since.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I (Denice) have always been very into music and loved performing. When I was young, I played violin with the Northeast Symohonic Orchestra, then played percussion in our high-school band, and was a guest player in the Mid-Texas Symphony right after graduating high school. Mary is a huge sports fan, and her favorite memories are of her father taking her to her first golf outing and fostering a lifelong love of the game that she still shares with her Dad and wife!
Pricing:
- We don’t charge for any of our services.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.darnnetwork.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/denmarsanimalrefugenetwork
- Facebook: facebook.com/DARNNetwork
