What is the Operations Council you ask? Only the glue that holds everything together here at Safe Harbor! From a broken faucet to a horse with hives, these volunteers are the ones we call to ensure things run smoothly and are here supporting our horses behind the scenes day and night. This core group of volunteers is always the first to stand up and say “yes” when help is needed. They are a smart, creative, caring and loving group of people who hold vital roles in our day-to-day operations. They have become a strong inner circle to lean on in the hard times, rejoice in the accomplishments and share in friendships that have grown around our common mission. We don’t get a chance to say it enough but THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts; SAFE and the horses are so grateful for all you do!

Herd Health Manager – Melinda Merryman

Melinda has been a horse fanatic since the moment she learned what a horse was. She convinced her parents to buy her one when she was 9, and spent her formative years immersed in the Snohomish County 4‑H horse program. In her early 20s she fell in love with animal rescue and became involved with a no-kill dog and cat shelter. That eventually led her to the realization that her calling in life was to be a veterinary technician, and she obtained her technician license in 2008.

Her goal as a vet tech was to become involved in either equine medicine or shelter medicine. She started her career at an equine hospital in California, and then became homesick and moved back to Washington where she worked in an ambulatory practice and also as an equine surgical technician at a large referral hospital. Several years later she was offered a position at an animal shelter, and moved away from equine practice. In an effort to remain connected to equine medicine, Melinda approached SAFE in September 2013 to volunteer her services as a tech and also took on a weekly feeding shift. In July of 2015 she stepped into the position of herd health manager and is now responsible for overseeing the herd health committee in making decisions about the medical care of the SAFE horses as well as performing necessary treatments on the horses at Safe Harbor.

Most of Melinda’s spare time is taken up by a spunky quarter horse mare and a hyperactive cattle dog. She tries to spend as much time as she can outdoors camping, hiking, and photographing our beautiful state, but she can also found at home doing “nerdier” activities, such as reading textbooks on veterinary anesthesia.

Outreach Coordinator – Jolene Duncan

Jolene moved to eastern Washington as a girl and has since considered it home. She always had a special place in her heart for animals. As a young girl she had two Arabians and enjoyed spending countless hours with them. She moved to Alaska a few years later and had to leave her horses behind but they never left her heart. When Jolene moved back to Washington she soon was able to pursue her life’s passion and her intense focus has allowed her to make up for lost time.

She enjoys working with these soulful creatures and has made it her mission to provide all the horses she interacts with what they crave most, peace and understanding. Jolene balances her time between her own three horses and volunteering at SAFE, working with troubled horses, rebuilding trust, and ensuring they have a bright future through a solid foundation. She started volunteering at SAFE as a volunteer rider in April of 2015. Her passion for horsemanship has expanded to incorporate elements of cow work, rope work, trails riding and dressage to help build a solid foundation and well-rounded horse.

This year, Jolene is helping to create awareness of the outreach programs SAFE has to offer. She hopes to expand the impact that SAFE has already had, by helping horses in need outside of the rescue.

Events and Community Engagement — Tiffany Lindan

Tiffany has always loved being around horses and began riding ponies at camps in New York as a child. Over the years, she’s continued to take trail rides while on vacations, and now loves seeing the SAFE horses on a regular basis.

Volunteering at SAFE since 2013, Tiffany’s primary focus is helping to raise funds and drive awareness for SAFE. She originally joined to help with procurement for Heart of the Horse (SAFE’s annual dinner and auction) and then expanded her role to assist with the quarterly open house events and annual benefit horse show. She partners with the many teams at SAFE to help plan and execute events for our supporters, and generate partnership opportunities and awareness with businesses and the public — the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program, the annual “SAFE Day at the Safe” fundraiser with the Mariners, holiday wrapping events partnering with the Microsoft Store at Bellevue Square, and much more.

When not working at her day job as a Program Manager, Tiffany enjoys watching baseball and football, traveling with her husband or friends, and yes, spending time at the barn with the horses.

Foster Coordinator – Laura McCorkle

Laura McCorkle has been learning from horses for 40 years, and hopes to someday know something about them. The last 3 years helping out at SAFE in various capacities has been one of the most rewarding of all her equine experiences. She started as a kid on the east coast with borrowed backyard ponies and lesson horses, 4‑H, and hoarding-babysitting money to lease scrawny nutcase ponies at the local barn.

Then there were years of hunter-jumpers and show barns, a few fox hunts, lots of trails, much manure-slinging in all sorts of weather, schooling cranky lesson horses, working with therapeutic riding programs on the east coast and in WA, and a 7‑year break from intensive riding when her now 17-year-old daughter was young.

Since living on the West Coast, Laura has tried a variety of “natural horsemanship” methods, learned (and enjoyed) some Liberty Work techniques and trick training, and dabbled in Western Pleasure and Reining. When not at SAFE, Laura enjoys sharing her horse addiction with friends and clients, using her poor old Quarter Horse Grady as a training-technique guinea pig, loving on her ancient Red Heeler dog, cooking, watching movies, and being with her awesome family.

Lisa Garr – Barn Manager

Lisa Garr learned how to ride (and eventually groom, feed, doctor, and train) horses from a neighbor at the age of 8, whom she would follow around their field, incessantly asking questions about everything horse related until FINALLY the neighbor said, “hey, horse-crazy kid, why don’t you hop on one?”. Bareback, with a halter and lead rope, often in shorts and tennis shoes, with only the admonition of “if you fall off, you get back on”, a lifelong love was brought to fruition.

After almost 20 years of a horsey life, Lisa moved to Los Angeles to pursue an arts career and the ensuing 8‑year hiatus from the horse world was 8 1/2 years too long. Upon returning to her beloved Pacific Northwest, Lisa quickly found a Horsey Fix at SAFE in February of 2014. She started as a 2‑days-per-week chore volunteer, but soon wormed her way onto the riding and training team, became a Barn Manager Assistant, Resident Event Photographer, and Mini Costume Designer.

Now, ecstatic to be on the team as Barn Manager, Lisa will also be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the barn at SAFE, working with the Operations Director and Executive Director to continue building the future of this incredible organization. Outside of SAFE, Lisa tends bar, photographs people with their ponies, and continues to pursue her various arts (because she IS horse-crazy, but also art-crazy) and talks incessantly about SAFE and the SAFE horses to everyone she knows and meets.

Jeanne Stine — Facilities Manager

As Facilities Manager, Jeanne oversees the day-to-day maintenance needs of our stable, attends to the unique needs of our horses and coordinates special projects. She has a special interest in creating and maintaining an environment that is both safe and supportive for our volunteers and guests.

Jeanne started volunteering at SAFE in 2014 after retiring from a long nursing career. Not being a lifelong horse person, she discovered our organization after reading a feature in the Woodinville Weekly! The compassion expressed in that little article sparked her curiosity and began what she calls “the best retirement ever”!

 

 

Volunteer Development — Jane Millar

Jane Millar was lucky enough to have parents who nurtured her love of horses and riding. Throughout her childhood to college, Jane worked with hunter/jumpers in the show ring and (once even) riding to hounds. Fast forward 35 years, a tiny article in the Woodinville Weekly mentioned horse rescue.

Jane has been involved with SAFE ever since, both financially and with her time and energy. She started her SAFE career as most do: as a chore and feed volunteer. Over the years she’s worn several hats including making site visits meeting adopters and to be certain adopted horses, our alumni, are being cared for as promised. She creates special off-site events and helps handle our mini horses at those events; works at our annual horse shows, open houses and work parties at our barn. Her most recent responsibility is working alongside our volunteer coordinator to increase our volunteer base through special events off-site, increasing awareness of SAFE and the opportunities we offer. And Jane orients new volunteers, introducing them to our horses, our property and our multiple volunteer opportunities.

Away from the barn, Jane enjoys spending time with her young adult son, riding lessons (after so many years, she’s back in the saddle!!), promoting animal welfare, golfing with a women’s league, playing a bit of duplicate bridge, loving her senior pups and talking up SAFE at any opening!

Volunteer Coordinator – Kit Topaz

Kit fell in love with horses on a kindergarten field trip to a farm outside the Portland suburb where she grew up. A coal black pony raced around his paddock, tail flagging in the Oregon spring rain. From that moment on, she read every horse book or magazine she could get her hands on. Kit pestered her parents into letting her go to horse summer camp at age 8, and she spent 10 glorious summers at Bar 41 Ranch in Wilbur, WA, learning to ride bareback. At age 11, the family moved to a rural area outside of Eugene, and she convinced her non horse parents to let her get her first horse, a half Arabian named Exiefix. She was fortunate to live near BLM land and would spend entire days with her equine best friend, barefoot and bareback 10–20 miles from home.

College was a horse dry spell, but Kit got back into horses with a splash after graduation by adopting a Mustang from the Elko, NV, range. The small, grey gelding was the best horsemanship teacher she could ever hope to have. Kit’s other horse adventures include cleaning stalls in more barns and towns than she can possibly remember, being an assistant in an Arabian breeding barn, working one summer as a trail guide on a dude string, working for a horse magazine as an admin/ then assistant editor, being an emergency animal rescue assistant in a flood, and volunteering for many horse rescues.

Kit has worked for SAFE as a chore volunteer since April 2015. She enjoyed her volunteering so much, she worked toward becoming a shift lead. Kit has a background in non-profit work, being a 10 year veteran of PTA, and was eager to apply her skills to the organizational side of SAFE. Kit helped pull together volunteers and logistics for the SAFE Open Houses starting March of 2016, and recently took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator.

When not horsing around, Kit works medical front office at a naturopathic doctor’s office. She is also a household manager and mom. Kit lives in Woodinville, WA with her 15 year old son, Davis, 13 year old daughter, Nadia, and non-horsey, but supportive husband, Greg. The household also includes Collies Jenna and May, kitty Sam, and 4 very spoiled chickens.

Alumni Program Manager — Shar Conner 

When SAFE rescues a horse, it makes a commitment to that horse for its entire life — once a SAFE horse, always a SAFE horse! As SAFE’s Alumni Program Manager, Shar is responsible for following up with every horse that has “graduated” from SAFE’s program. She maintains contact with people who have adopted from SAFE and coordinates regular follow up visits with each adopter and his or her horse.

Shar has been a part of the SAFE family since 2012. She served on the SAFE Board of Directors from 2013 to 2014. When Shar is not volunteering at SAFE or working at Seattle Children’s Hospital, she enjoys hiking with her husband and dog and doing crafty things like scrapbooking and making greeting cards to send to friends and family.

 

 

Outreach Coordinator — Nicole Brandenburg 

 

We receive many requests for assistance from members of the horse community here in Washington. Nicole serves as a point of contact for the community to request assistance and information on the services we provide at SAFE.

Nicole has been an avid follower of SAFE since 2008 when the lovely chestnut Saddlebred mare named Annie first came to the rescue. She followed her story for years until she was finally able to adopt Annie in 2012.  Nicole was asked to be the Outreach Coordinator in February 2015 and jumped at the opportunity to be a part of SAFE and help in our mission.

Nicole started cleaning stalls in exchange for lessons when she was 13 years old and continued through high school. She guided the trail and beach rides in Ocean Shores during the summers. In 2008 she first saw Annie when she came to SAFE. I wasn’t able to own a horse until 2012 when I adopted her. They clicked immediately and Annie became her once-in-a-lifetime horse. Nicole also has a Tennessee Walking horse named Harley that she uses in Competitive Mounted Orienteering. She work at a Freightliner Dealership and is going to school for a degree in Supply Chain Management.