Many Flat Rock residents arrived in the Village from locales throughout the country and even the world.  Undoubtedly, however, the single largest source of new residents in Flat Rock is the Blue Ridge Humane Society.

The Village - indeed all of Henderson County - is populated with dogs and cats that found their way to our neighborhoods and hearts from the Blue Ridge Adoption Center. Thanks to the compassion and dedication of Blue Ridge staff members and hundreds of volunteers, many of our four-legged friends have the opportunity to live happier, healthier, and safer lives. 

Leading the largest Humane Society in Western North Carolina is Angela Prodrick. A young woman with the demeanor and wisdom of someone with many more years of experience, Angela has been with Blue Ridge since 2015 and Executive Director since 2018. Talk to her about the mission of Blue Ridge for more than a few moments, and you can feel the passion and commitment she brings to her job. If a voice can smile, then Angela’s voice absolutely beams when she discusses all the ways humans and animals need one another to live fuller lives.

Angela grew up on the shores of Lake Ontario in the small town of Williamson, New York. In college, she pursued a double major in Theatre Arts and History. As it turns out, her background in theatrical performance has been surprisingly instrumental in shaping the course of her career.  “Theater is such an important part of building character,” Angela explains.  “You learn active listening, you learn eye contact, you learn team building, you learn relationships. All the things you wouldn't necessarily learn just by looking at a book.” Based on her experiences, Angela is a vocal advocate for building relational skills. “I think it is important to hone in on those soft skills that - especially in this day and age - are fading as we go more into zoom and more into the virtual world.”

After college, Angela worked as a Community Integration Specialist helping special needs students as they navigated the challenges of the classroom and acquiring vocational skills.  Soon, however, there was an opening as an Education Interpreter at Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, and Angela’s career path of helping animals and humans coexist took its first successful and gratifying steps. “The zoo was the perfect transition from the theater into the world of using theater as an educational tool,” says Angela.  “At the zoo, you're giving educational presentations, making the intangible, tangible. You need to relate information in a way that is meaningful and creates a connection with the audience.”

As Angela continued to hone her skills as an intermediary between the human and animal worlds, she found that she particularly enjoyed sharing the stories of snakes, lizards, bearded dragons, turtles, and various raptors. She also developed relationships with her animal friends. “My favorite animal was probably Colossus. He was a giant boa constrictor and I love to change people's minds about snakes. I also loved an owl, Othello, that I worked with who had a really big owl personality.”

From there, Angela eventually moved to a position as Humane Education Coordinator at Lollypop Farm, Humane Society of Greater Rochester.  “The mission at Lollypop Farm was creating awareness of the bond that exists between animals and humans,” she says. “As a Humane  Educator, I used a formula to connect my audience with the animals:  knowledge leads to empathy, and empathy leads to action.” 

Angela’s career path took a decidedly southward track following a vacation with her partner Brian to the mountains of western North Carolina. As so many of us have experienced, she and Brian were enthralled by the charms of this corner of the world.  “We had been talking about moving for a little while and decided to give this place a chance. We just felt in awe and were inspired by the landscape. It was enchanting.”

For Angela, the move to North Carolina was a literal leap of faith. “I left my job and just kind of hoped for the best … and it worked out.” The year was 2015.

“Worked out” might be considered an understatement - for both Angela and for Henderson County. Just three months after arriving in North Carolina, Angela was hired by Lutrelle Livingston-O'Cain, then Executive Director of Blue Ridge, to be their new Community Outreach & Volunteer Director. She quickly proved herself as an invaluable asset to the organization. So much so, that when Lutrelle stepped down in 2018, the Blue Ridge Board of Directors tapped Angela as the new Executive Director. 

Despite the inevitable frustrations and challenges of leading any organization, Angela loves her job.  “In this job, at the end of the day, we can see that there's a difference being made in the world. We can see photos of animals being adopted. I can look at spreadsheets and see the numbers of animals adopted out or spayed/ neutered that month. I can see hard evidence that what we are doing at Blue Ridge Humane Society is changing this community for the better and helping to save lives.”

Like all strong nonprofits, Blue Ridge builds its success on the hard work and dedication of loyal volunteers. During the past year, Blue Ridge had just under 350 active volunteers. Angela is quick to credit them for allowing the Blue Ridge staff to create and implement the programs making a difference for all animals in the region. “They are just absolutely amazing,” says Angela. “They will go out of their way to do what we ask them. They have such a love for animals and such respect and reverence for what Blue Ridge does for our community. And I have such respect and reverence for them.”

The pandemic of 2020 has been a test for all organizations - and Blue Ridge perhaps more than some. The agency’s Thrift Store was forced to close for three months, depriving Blue Ridge of approximately $275,000 of potential revenue. In addition, operations at their Adoption Center in Edneyville had to be drastically restructured to keep Blue Ridge staff safe. But with challenge often come silver linings, and Angela finds some good resulting from a difficult circumstance. “Honestly,  the pandemic is helping us see things from a new perspective. Lots of times you get stuck in a rut.  But then this pandemic swoops in and says, ‘You can't think of things the way you used to. You need to think in a completely different way.”  I believe that a change of perspective is always very healthy for an organization and adds different energy.”

One tangible benefit of COVID has been the community’s willingness to provide foster homes for dogs and cats that would normally be housed at the Adoption Center.  “Luckily, 85% of our animal population has been in foster care since the beginning of COVID. We made that rapid change so that our staff would not have to be on top of each other. And as a result, we're seeing animals a lot less stressed in foster care. We're also getting a lot more information from the foster parents as to the personality of the animals. So it is easier to find homes that are a better fit for the animals in the future. So having most of our population in foster care has been a huge benefit of this COVID situation.”

Angela also sees BRHS as becoming even more proactive in the community as advocates for both animals and their owners.  “We are reaching out more to help current pet owners and not just focusing on adopting out animals. We've extended ourselves to help people who've been affected by the pandemic with food for animals and with more education for clients on how they can keep their pets in their homes.”  Indeed, Blue Ridge’s contributions of pet food to local food banks for distribution to families with pets has jumped by 37%.

What’s next for Angela and Blue Ridge? Angela sees more and more social advocacy for animals - both those needing homes and those already living with families.  “Going forward, I see Blue Ridge building up our community programs with more of a social work mentality that involves getting out to people and helping current pet owners a lot more. We will still be doing adoptions, of course, but I see us getting more fine-tuned about understanding and dealing with the behavior of animals in our care. I think we will continue to find ways to improve the quality of life in addition to the quantity of life for the animals.”

Would you enjoy helping Blue Ridge as they continue to pursue their mission of “ensuring the highest quality of life for animals in Henderson County and our neighboring communities through adoption, outreach, and education?”  Interested persons can volunteer at the Blue Ridge Thrift Store or help out with pet food drives by bagging food.  People can also donate food, cat toys, litter boxes, towels, dog toys, etc. . Of course, direct financial gifts will help BRHS make up the shortfall in revenues lost at the Thrift Store this past Spring.

These days, Angela shares her home with two lovable rescues - Laverne and Seneca - that help her deal with the daily stress of guiding a large non-profit enterprise through the challenges born of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Fortunately for the animals of Henderson County and beyond, Angela Prodrick and Blue Ridge Humane Society are helping us all make the journey from knowledge to empathy to action in ways that make Henderson County a happier and healthier place for both its two-legged and four-legged residents to live.

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Blue Ridge is currently celebrating its 70th Birthday! Learn much more about Blue Ridge Humane Society here and the many ways that you can get involved to support their mission.