For Jennifer Swertel-Woelfel, dogs are a (wo)man’s best friend.
Swertel-Woelfel has been rescuing animals, particularly dogs, in the Chicagoland area and Northwest Indiana for over a decade.
“Most of the dogs that I rescue are on death's door and are ready to be euthanized,” she said.
Swertel-Woelfel started when one of her own dogs, also a rescue, became more than just a four-legged friend. She realized through this relationship that these animals, supposedly deemed unwanted and unworthy, actually serve a big purpose that can help many people, and she wanted to make sure these animals have the chance to do just that.
“I started rescuing actually because one of my dogs was an abused and discarded dog. She ended up becoming my seizure companion for me when I was having seizures years ago. And from that point forward, I just started rescuing a lot of abandoned and discarded dogs and all animals in general,” Swertel-Woelfel said.
Since then, her work grew from just rescuing to going above and beyond to save the animals and make sure they have the best life possible.
“I've assisted in shutting down puppy mills. I assisted in helping mama dogs give birth because they couldn't birth on their own or when they were in the middle of transport because they were going to be euthanized from high kill shelters. They were literally giving birth in the backseat of my car. So, you name it, I've done it,” Swertel-Woelfel said.
In addition to rescuing, Swertel-Woelfel also works to pair dogs up with people that could benefit from having a furry companion. This came about when she started pairing her father, a veteran, up with a few of the dogs she rescued over the years. While her father passed away earlier this year, the impact the dogs had on him is an impact Swertel-Woelfel will remember for a lifetime. She saw just how much joy and support the dogs brought him, and she wanted other veterans to experience that feeling as well.
“The biggest adventure that I'm on right now is that I recently lost my father a couple months back and he was a veteran. Over all the years of me rescuing, I've partnered him with some of his own dogs that he's had,” Swertel-Woelfel said. “With his veteran background and PTSD and everything, these dogs have brought so much love and compassion to him to help him with his night terrors and nightmares and stuff that he'd still have even being in his 70s. I am now partnering to pull and rehabilitate dogs and partner them with veterans.”
Watching that relationship foster between a dog and its owner is Swertel-Woelfel’s favorite part of the whole job.
“My favorite part is to see the rehabilitation,” she said. “And to see love in the dogs after they've been so badly abused. It’s amazing to see that they can still have so much love for a human being, even after they were so badly mistreated and discarded and just pretty much left for dead 90% of the time.”
Swertel-Woelfel is aware there are many veterans in the area with traumatic pasts that could greatly benefit from having a support animal. However, she isn’t sure if they all know such a resource exists for them in their community, and she hopes that will change in the near future.
“A lot of times it's hard for them to be partnered with dogs because they don't have the funding to get them trained. So, I just really want people to know that that's something that's going to be coming to our area where so many more animals are going to be able to be rescued and saved and partnered with veterans and folks that truly deserve to have that companionship,” she said.
While she adores animals, Jennifer’s main passion is event-planning. However, she’s been easily able to merge her two hobbies.
“My biggest passion is that I am an event coordinator. I run my own events, program, and do a lot of party planning and events just for all over the place,” she said.
Swertel-Woelfel has used her event planning skills to benefit the rescue shelters she volunteers at, including hosting large events to make sure they have enough medical funds each year.
“I just felt like there was a bigger purpose that I was able to serve, and I've always enjoyed doing parties and events and things like that,” she said. “I started organizing and collaborating these events myself, and each year I bring something new to a particular event to kind of make it bigger and better than the previous year. And that was just my way of kind of combining the two together to serve a bigger purpose.”
Swertel-Woelfel will also be starting her own event planning business in the near future. While she’ll be more than happy to host animal-related events, Swertel-Woelfel said she does all kinds of events, ranging from baby showers to school parties and everything in between.
Her business will be based out of Valparaiso, and she said she will be ready for any event that comes her way.
“I will be doing all party and event planning. There's no party too big or too small that I will not be doing. I will be partnering with all other small and not-for-profit businesses as well.”