Marilou Chanrasmi, CARE Center Chief – Northern Tier

Marilou has been collaborating and partnering with Minnesota tribal communities since 2008. She has deep connections and relationships with proximate leaders at Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Red Lake Nation and Little Earth of United Tribes. Collaborating with her Anishinaabe friends in Minnesota, she has been building an expanding circle of indigenous proximate leaders and trusted partners committed to animal and human well being. She is deeply committed to honoring the wisdom within the community, building authentic relationships, and elevating the voices of indigenous people and those from marginalized communities. She has served as a liaison, mentor and guide to trusted allies wanting to learn a new way of listening and being in their work with tribal communities. 

Marilou is a somatics coach and an experienced facilitator of circles with a process that creates space that is participatory, experiential, healing, reflective, equitable and meets people where they are, and also challenges them to see with more than eyes and hear with more than ears.

Marilou is a founding member of Deep Listening for Social Change/DLSC. DLSC is a peaceful action that members of the Twin Cities BIPOC mindfulness community initiated  in response to the murder of George Floyd. DLSC uses the practice of Deep Listening as an anti-racist tool for having difficult conversations, healing from the wounds of systemic and community-specific racism, and creating a greater sense of interconnection in order to facilitate sustained social change. 

Marilou shares her home with her 3 dogs: Legacy and Ishkode (from Leech Lake Nation) and Migizi (from Mille Lacs Nation). Marilou continues to be guided by her spirit dog, Ahnung (a Red Lake Nation dog) who crossed over to the spirit world in 2013. She has a daily meditation, nature hiking, qigong, and centering practice.

Hakeem Ruiz, Director of CARE Centers Philly/Camden

Hakeem Ruiz is a 29 year old born and raised in Philadelphia. While attending Lincoln High School, Hakeem and other friends started a group called The Block. Years later that friend group went on to become a very successful non-profit called ” The Block Gives Back”. Hakeem became the Vice President and was given the task of hosting block parties, street cleaning events, and networking with the adults and youth of the community. In 2019 the group was recognized by KYW radio as a winner of the Black History Month “GameChangers” award, for the continued efforts in minority communities. 

Aside from community volunteering Hakeem formerly worked in the social work field as a Case Manager before joining the CARE team. Spending parts of 3 years working with at risk youth from ages 13-17 to earn expungement of permanent charges. Hakeem will now be the CARE Center Director of Camden/Philly. He looks forward to being able to continue to create and build connections for more organizations along with CARE and being able to assist an unaddressed need in a forgotten area. Having raised a 13 year old stray dog, Gucci, Hakeem has seen the low points of the animal care system locally and is determined to change it for the better of the community. 

Janel Griffieth, CARE Center Senior Director – Southeast Tier

Janel is a passionate non-profit leader who has dedicated almost a decade to human and animal well-being. She is committed to ending the racial inequities that have plagued the animal care industry and is devoted to elevating diverse voices in the movement. She is excited to join the CARE team and continue the work of creating more inclusive spaces.
 
Janel is a first-generation college graduate that achieved a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from the University of South Florida. Her interests included viral and bacterial diseases and epidemiology. She was active in a social justice organization that focused on ending/preventing domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. With the organization, she brought awareness to the cause, created campus safety changes, and provided support to survivors.
 
In 2014, Janel started her professional animal care career at a doggy daycare. While she was there, she quickly learned the nuances of dog body language to keep pets and people safe (overseeing a big pack of dogs has been her greatest lesson in dog behavior). In 2015, Janel began working at the Oklahoma Humane Society – the largest animal non-profit in the state – as a Pet Adoption Specialist, where she also began fostering. She found her niche in neonatal animal care. This led her to become the Neonatal Volunteer Coordinator, where she grew a volunteer and foster training program for neonatal kittens and puppies. From the success of the training program and the dire need from the shelter and community, she was tasked with creating a more comprehensive neonatal program. As the Neonatal Nursery Program Manager, Janel created a kitten nursery that housed 2to 6-week-old orphan kittens and queens with litter, expanded the neonatal fostering program to increase puppy and mom dog lifesaving, provided lifesaving medical care, and managed a six-figure program budget. 

Under her leadership, the neonatal program saved thousands of neonatal kittens and puppies, and hundreds of moms. She represented OK Humane on the local news, to donors, and to the community to bring more awareness to the needs of neonatal animals. Janel has assisted in the transport of hundreds of dogs to other states, consulted on the behavioral panel for the organization, and was awarded two Maddie’s Funds apprenticeships. 
After relocating back to Florida, she pivoted to her other passion in life-ending domestic violence. Hired as an education coordinator at CASA Pinellas, she was quickly moved into a role created for her, Community Engagement Manager. She revamped and oversaw the adult community education and volunteer programs in this role. She developed relationships with local businesses and community partners (first responders, social workers, nurses/doctors). Janel created and facilitated impactful presentations across Pinellas County in an engaging, inclusive, and thought-provoking manner. She shifted the narrative to focus on holding abusers accountable and that survivors cannot just leave – they must escape.
 
Before coming to CARE Janel was the Manager of Grassroots Advocacy at Best Friends Animal Society. She enjoys hanging with her dogs and continues to foster in her free time. To date, she has fostered over 190+ animals, mainly neonatal animals, and behavioral rehabilitation dogs. Janel loves to remind herself and others that everything is temporary, but the Wu-Tang is forever.