Meet Grace Bean – former KU student and Lawrence Humane volunteer. Grace adopted a dog named Casper from our shelter before she moved away from Lawrence. We reached out to catch up and see what Grace was up to in her post-Lawrence life!
What brought you to Lawrence?
I am from St. Louis, Missouri and wanted to stay in the Midwest throughout college. I loved the University of Kansas when I came to tour so I became a Jayhawk and graduated in May 2023 with Bachelors of General Studies.
What led you to volunteering at Lawrence Humane?
In my last semester of college, I was required to do volunteer work and chose the Lawrence Humane Society as a place to get my hours done. I loved working with the animals so much I continued volunteering after graduation up until the very last day I was in Lawrence before I moved to North Carolina. My favorite part of volunteering was Mass Street Mutts. I love the idea of taking an adoptable dog out for the day that would otherwise be in its kennel all day. I took out a variety of pups for Mass Street Mutts and enjoyed every minute of their time. I tried to show them new activities that they may have never had a chance to do before. I miss so much about Lawrence including the small town atmosphere, my college friends, going to classes on Jayhawk Blvd, but most importantly I miss all of the animals I had the chance to impact during my time at the Lawrence Humane Society.
What are you up to post graduation?
I currently live in Charlotte, NC and am working at the Humane Society of Charlotte as a Vet Assistant. I wanted to experience a change of scenery so I chose to move to the east coast with my boyfriend, who is from New Hampshire. We both decided Charlotte would be a great place to start a new life together! After volunteering at the Lawrence Humane Society, I knew my passion was in animal welfare and I was so excited to have found a job in that field. After being here a few months, I’m interested in going back to school to become a Registered Vet Tech after getting a few years of experience under my belt! I love working for a nonprofit! I currently work in the spay/neuter clinic which is low-cost and high-volume. In fact, we perform about 50-60 spays/neuters + 60-70 vaccine appointments every single day! It’s a super fast-based job but I feel like I’m making difference in the Charlotte community and I work hard to stop the pet overpopulation crisis. I am so thankful for volunteering at the Lawrence Humane Society and ultimately leading me to the Veterinary Assistant job.
Before you left Lawrence, you decided to foster a dog from Lawrence Humane. Tell us more!
Casper was the definition of foster fail lol. I originally wanted to foster a different dog that I had taken out for Mass Street Mutts, Ginger, but she was being adopted as I was walking in the door to foster. I was still very much interested in taking a foster pup home and had taken Casper out for multiple walks and loved his lil pittie face! I brought my dog, Gus, to the shelter to meet Casper before taking him home and they got along so well we decided Casper was a good fit for a foster. After being in our home for two weeks, we fell head over heels in love with his gentle soul! I hadn’t realized how much this dog mean to me until I met someone while walking Casper in my neighborhood and they had recognized his picture from the Lawrence Humane Society’s website and stopped to talk to me. He explained he discussed adopting Casper that very same day but ultimately adopted another pup at the shelter, Hank. All the sudden, my boyfriend and I could not imagine our lives without Casper, so we went to the Humane Society that very next day at open and adopted him. Since then, he has proven himself to be the best boy ever!
What an amazing way to close out your time in Lawrence! What is Casper up to these days?
Casper lives a very full and adventurous life! He has a couple of pet siblings, one of which is my 13-year-old dog named Scooby who has been a family pet since 2013. Since adopting Casper, we added another addition to the family, a 6-month-old kitten named Sadie. Sadie was brought into the clinic in NC at 4 weeks old. She was found outside alone. I decided to take her home to foster and help ensure she would grow up to be healthy! During her stay at our home, she grew on us and Sadie ended up being our 2nd foster fail. Casper has been so gentle and loving with Sadie – he even snuggled up with her when she was too little to keep herself warm! Casper has gone on hikes in the Smokey Mountains, enjoyed beautiful lake views, and his favorite activity of all is visiting the dog park on Sundays and meeting new friends every week!
