Rep Of The Year 2009 - Belen Brisco

(more photos below)

Dear Marie and all of DDB:

First of all Happy New Year! And second, THANK YOU for your kind words of encouragement, your vote and for selecting me for DDB Rep of the Year.

For once, I am at a loss for words and that doesn't happen very often. :) I am truly humbled and honored to receive this award and can not tell you how excited I was when I opened my package with the plaque and letter from Pam Cheatham saying that I had won the Rep of the Year! I cried and laughed and screamed with excitement. My husband, family and friends were all around me to receive it with me. They said they were all so proud of me and gave me big hugs all the way around. I can not tell you how much it meant to me to have them all there with me at that special moment.

Pam, thank you for your special note included, I will frame that as well. Marie, thank you for always being there to help me through so many tough times and to encourage me and teach me. There are so many of you that I talk to through email and phone and that help me in so many ways.

Tami, you have created such a great organization and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. I am truly honored and humbled to accept this award and I will do my best to continue working for the animals and hopefully this next year win in an even greater capacity by taking the anti chaining laws to each county that can be reached. We will get there. I am confident of that.

When I received the award, I immediately grabbed Lilly and gave her a huge hug and told her it was because of dogs like her that we do what we do. Chained and neglected but not forgotten. Not by a long shot.

So, again, thank you so much to everyone and to the rep cords for always being so encouraging and cheering me and everyone else on. You are all wonderful for what you do and I hold this plaque up to you and every rep out there working, rescuing, fostering, educating and more and say "thank you" for all you do.

I wish I had known Tamar Sherman (see her in-memorial page) and I can only hope that I do this award justice. I will certainly do my best. Thank you again and God bless each and every one of you this year and always. I hope one day to get to meet you and put a face to a name. That would be wonderful!

Tamar Sherman of whom the award is named in memoriam

Have a great day!

Belen Brisco
Dogs Deserve Better
SW Florida Representative
www.dogsdeservebetter.org
239-247-2080

Belen and Sugar

Belen with Layla

Gordi and Belen

Gordi's Goodbye Kiss

Layla, Belen and Meeka

Lilly Christmas

Meeka with Belen

Belen,
What a great way to start 2010 by awarding the Tamar Sherman Area Rep of the Year Award to you. There is no doubt in my mind that Tamar would agree with this award wholeheartedly, you and she would have been great partners for the cause I'm sure!

It has been such an inspiration to so many of us watching you achieve so much in such a short time, always going above and beyond to help anyone, anywhere to help Dogs in need, educating the young and the old and even travelling great distances to exact change in areas that are not local to you. I remember one rep commenting that seeing the accomplishments of some of the new reps was motivational and reignited the flame for them to get out and do more, I'm confident they were talking about reps like you!

Here are what just a few of the reps who nominated you had to say:

I vote for Belen Brisco! She blew into Southwest Floridalike a well-welcomed hurricane, eager to rescue, educate and legislate for chained dogs.She is covering 2 very large counties in Florida. Belen is extremely professional and articulate.She had made a tremendous difference in the lives of many animals and fellow rescuers in the Southwest Florida area.Fellow rescuers finally have someone to turn to for guidance and help and answers just when they felt there was nothing that could be done...Belen gets it done!

My vote is for Belen Brisco.She is really covering our mission in it's entirety: rescue, services, advocacy, and education. Every time I have put out a plea for help or feedback, Belen has always responded in such a level headed and compassionate way.She has really been a ‘model’ for me to try and achieve a DDB program in my area like she has in hers.

I would like to vote for Belen for Rep of the Year. It seems like every week she has an outstanding story of a rescue or something great that she is doing for chained or penned dogs in Florida.

I believe she would be an excellent example of what a DDB rep stands for and I would like to see her win it!

I would like to nominate Belen Brisco.

Belen has been a rep for a little less than a year.From the moment she became a rep, she has made a huge difference for dogs in not only Florida (where she lives) but in Georgia, too.

She immediately got involved with several local animal control agencies, which is so important in my opinion. Then she got involved with the schools, giving presentations. If we are going to effect change, we have to start with the children and Belen is doing that.

She also is TEACHING dog owners how to care for their dog. She speaks Spanish, which has been a huge help in communicating to dog owners. She has helped many dogs stay with their families rather than being given up, because she has been able to convince them that chaining isn't the norm in this country. She has been able to overcome the cultural barrier in a big way.

Belen has also been a great adviser and consultant to me personally. And since she has been helping me, I'm sure she's been helping countless other reps one-on-one. I know she has helped Nili in TX, even traveled to Texasand helped chained/penned dogs there. She's put her photography business in the background so that she can focus more on chained/penned dogs not only in FL but across the US. She just spoke at a county commissioners meeting about anti-tethering (the venue was not even her county) and she did very well. She is now contacted directly by animal control when they receive a cruelty case that they need help with.

Belen has become a wonderful DDB rep, an example for others to follow, and an inspiration to all of us. And she does this with passion and compassion, yet with good judgement and calm resolve.

I have been so very impressed with Belen since the minute she became a rep. If I were going to design the best DDB Rep prototype, I'd model it after Belen Brisco. I've saved many of her stories and pictures and if she is considered for Rep of the Year, I back her 100%.

The discussion came up recently about how long a rep should be a rep before becoming rep of the year. In my opinion, Belen has made enough of an impact in a relatively short time to warrant serious consideration.

Besides fundraising, rescuing and teaching, Belen has also been able to recruit volunteers, a key responsiblity of a DDB rep. She has even convinced people who report dogs in need to become volunteers for DDB.

I nominate Belen as the consumate DDB rep, one who I am very proud to acknowledge as the DDB rep who should be named rep of the year. (she's so much better than I ever was or ever will be)