Eye on Oshkosh - Major changes ahead for the Oshkosh Area Humane Society - taped 3-17-2022

The Oshkosh Area Humane Society is undergoing major changes. After 30 years of service to the shelter and the Oshkosh community, Executive Director Joni Geiger is hanging up her dog leashes and retiring in April. At the same time, Cheryl Rosenthal, who has also worked at the shelter for 30 years, serving as the shelter’s Communications & Education Coordinator and Cat Consultant, is reducing her hours from full- to part-time. It’s a trip down memory lane as host Cheryl Hentz talks with Geiger and her successor, incoming Executive Director Jessica "Jessie" Miller, who started at the shelter as a volunteer when she was in high school and later became a paid employee. The group reminisces and looks at pictures of the very crowded and depressing original city dog and cat pound on Dempsey Trail – a place they worked in for approximately 12 years, where rooms served a double, sometimes, triple purpose, including the employees’ kitchen or lunchroom, where animals were also euthanized. Geiger tells the story of how the shelter was bequeathed $1.2 million dollars, which allowed the board, staff, and volunteers to start dreaming of a new place. In 2005 that new home became a reality, and the women share pictures of the convoy moving all the animals to the brand-new shelter, on a street that would eventually be named Shelter Court. There are also pictures of the new shelter that has so much more space to work within and carry out the shelter’s lifesaving mission. This is a show you won’t want to miss, especially since it showcases a significant piece of Oshkosh history. See it here or by following this link:  https://youtu.be/pRut1MwehYc.