Retired Columbia High School principal Dennis Patton has traded in the sunny Florida skies he’s enjoyed the past seven years to temporarily lead Helping Strays here in Monroe County.

After the previous director left, Helping Strays found itself operating without a director for a while. Knowing Patton was back in town and had a wealth of leadership experience, the board reached out to him. 

“I was talking to a friend of mine who was on the board here and she said, ‘Would you be interested in helping us out? We don’t have a director, and we need a lot of administrative improvements made,’” Patton explained. “So I had an interview (two weeks ago) before the entire board of directors and we just talked about the shelter and my experience with volunteer organizations and they offered me the job.” 

Patton was sent to the no-kill animal shelter with specific instructions. 

“My directives were to work on staff camaraderie, staff development and leadership traits, and to work on trying to make the financial system run better and work smoother,” Patton said.

Patton said he will not be the only one finding ways to do this, as bettering operations is a team effort. 

“I think one of my strengths is I get along really well with people, I like people, and my style of administration has always been to ask people for suggestions for improvement and then if there are issues that need to be addressed, whether they’re working conditions or people maybe need to improve in their work,” Patton said. “I like to sit down with them and talk about ways we can do that and try to come up with a shared vision of improvement.” 

Working together is essential to ensuring the animals get the best care possible, making staff camaraderie very important, Patton said.

“The other day, a cat needed attention. It needed fluids and it takes three people to do that – one person can’t do it alone. You have to have people monitoring the animals to make sure they notice something like that and … the vets are not here all the time, so some days the other staff members have to pull together and work together,” Patton explained.

Prior to his arrival, all records were kept by hand in an unorganized fashion and technology was outdated. Patton said he hopes to solve the problems that can arise from this – such as potential oversights – by bringing the shelter into the 21st century. 

“I’m amazed at how much there is to keep track of,” Patton said. “You have to keep track of every animal’s shots, their records, how often their cages have been cleaned (and more). All records had been kept by hand rather than by computer where you can look at them and analyze them easily.” 

He has already enlisted the help of a retired computer specialist to update all the systems. 

“We are just trying to bring the shelter into more higher-tech times. I think it will make everybody’s job easier,” Patton said. 

One of the staff members Patton will be working heavily with to ensure the shelter implements efficient practices is facility manager Brittney Reilly. While Patton is handling everything administration – such as payroll, scheduling, paying bills and more – Reilly handles everything hands-on with the animals, Patton said. 

“In her position, she’s making decisions all the time. She’s asking me to use my experience to share with her some things she might be able to do to make her job easier,” Patton said. “Delegating is very tough to do, and a lot of us are highly motivated and want to do everything ourselves but you can’t do that. That’s something she tries to do, so I’m going to work with her on that.”

As the fundraising chairman for Oerter Soccer Park and for the Sand Bank School restoration, Patton is no stranger to one of the most crucial parts of his new job. 

“Fundraising and handling the finances in a not-for-profit that relies on donations and fundraising is of primary importance,” he said. 

This is the largest endeavor of the sort Patton said he has faced. Yet, he is confident he will succeed. 

“I think anybody that can survive 25 years of being a high school principal can handle anything,” Patton said with a chuckle. 

Perhaps the largest requirement for Patton’s new position is being an animal lover, and he certainly meets this criteria. 

Oddly enough, it is one of the reasons why he has not volunteered at shelters in the past. 

“I’ve always had a hard time coming to the shelter because I want to take all the pets home,” he said. 

For almost all of their married life, the Pattons have had multiple pets, and would often take in animals in need on a temporary basis. 

“When I was high school principal at Columbia from 1982 to 2004, stray dogs would follow kids to school. I would look out the window and there was a dog on the front lawn of the school,” he said. “I would of course take it to Bellson Animal Hospital to see if it had a chip. If it didn’t have a chip, then I would take it home and I would work to find who the owner was … and I would get so close to those dogs that when I would find their owner – even if it was just one or two days later – I was sad to see that animal go.” 

“I’ve always had a real caring feeling for strays and animals that don’t have a home,” he continued. “It just really bothers me to see any dog or cat that is walking alone anywhere. So this way I’m here at least doing something to help out – and they do a wonderful job taking care of the animals.” 

For more information on Helping Strays, located at 4221 Hanover Road, visit helpingstrays.org.