From pigs to spreadsheets, these 2 volunteers do it all

Chester the pig arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary wanting nothing to do with people. But volunteer Jeanine Courtney-Clark made it her mission to change his mind.

“At first, I just sat nearby,” she says. “I’d stay on one side of the stall, and he’d stay way on the other. That went on for months.”

With guidance from the Sanctuary’s behavior team, patience, and plenty of tasty treats, Chester slowly began to trust. In time, he allowed her to gently pet him. “I cried the first time I touched him,” she says. “Now, he lets other people pet him too.”

Chester is just one of the many animals Jeanine and her husband, Don, have helped at the Sanctuary. Between the two of them, they dedicate six full days a week to volunteering. Jeanine works with the pigs. Don works with the horses. And together, they’ve woven themselves into the fabric of family at the Sanctuary.

Their journey began in 2016, when they visited the Sanctuary for the first time while vacationing out west from their then-home in Florida. They’d been longtime animal lovers and Best Friends supporters and figured they’d stop in for a day.

“We absolutely fell in love,” says Jeanine. “It was the combination of the beauty of the Sanctuary and the care of the animals.”

That first visit turned into many more. And by late 2018, they packed up their lives and moved to Kanab, Utah, determined to spend their golden retirement years at the Sanctuary caring for the animals who had stolen their hearts.

Jeanine quickly found her home in Marshall’s Piggy Paradise, the area of the Sanctuary where the pigs and goats reside.

“I was hooked,” she says. “Pigs are smart, they’re sensitive, they’re funny. They’re just incredible beings.”

[All for the animals: Volunteers share their ‘why’]

That love for pigs is clear to those who work alongside her. “Jeanine constantly works hard to help the pigs,” says caregiver Rosalie Wind. “She treats them with respect and care and wants to do right by them. We are lucky to have her.”

Jeanine has a particular knack for working with shy pigs (like Chester), and the more time she spends with pigs, the more she’s impressed by their intelligence. Take Molly the pig, for example. “Molly eats her lettuce in a separate area up a hill. Otherwise, the others would steal it from her,” says Jeanine. “One day, I watched her eat half her lettuce, leave it, sneak down the hill to grab some of her friends’ lettuce, then come back and finish her own. She had it all figured out.”

Jeanine’s not the only one who’s found her niche. Don felt drawn to the horses at the Sanctuary’s Horse Haven, where he now assists with training and feeding. And if anything needs fixing — a fence, a fan, a watering system — Don’s the one everyone calls.

“He’s the go-to guy,” says Jeanine. “He’s even trained staff on how to drive the tractors. He can do it all — electrical, mechanical, you name it. And he’s endlessly patient.”

He’s earned a reputation as a quiet, capable, kindhearted problem-solver.

“We love Don and Jeanine,” says Kristie Gerard, Horse Haven supervisor. “Their dedication, hard work, thoughtfulness, and care for the animals and staff are just a few of their many attributes. They are a very important part of the Horse Haven family and much of the reason we can do the things we do.”

Outside of animal care, Jeanine and Don have also taken on projects behind the scenes — including verifying and updating animal memorial records at Angels Rest (the area of the Sanctuary where animals are laid to rest) and other memorial sites throughout the Sanctuary.

[Nearly 2 decades of volunteering with Best Friends]

“There were memorial markers that needed to be logged into the database,” Jeanine explains. “So we took it on as a challenge. We’d go out on our lunch hour, find the markers, match them to the database, and update the records. It was really rewarding, and it made me feel like I was contributing to something that many people might not want to do. Putting data into a spreadsheet or program was no big deal for us since our careers were in computers.”

It’s the behind-the-scenes work most people might never notice. But it's another way to honor every animal’s life and make a difference for families who visit.

Over the years, Jeanine and Don have become a familiar, comforting presence at the Sanctuary. They worked through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. They show up during evacuations and emergency drills. Their names are on the schedule right alongside the caregivers.

“It’s not just a place we volunteer — it’s our home,” says Jeanine.

And while the animals might not say “thank you” the way a person would, Jeanine and Don don’t need them to — they know. “Napoleon is a senior pig, and he’s tired, but when he hears my voice, he’ll get up and come over just to see me,” Jeanine says. “These animals are so emotionally aware — more than people realize. It’s such a special feeling.”

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.