Buddy really finds talking about himself in the third person very awkward, so he’s going to stop doing that right now.
Hi! I’m Buddy Brannan, and you have no idea how excited I am by New Hope! In fact, New Hope has given me New Hope, too.
When I met Andrea, I had no idea that I’d also find what I’d been looking for since I left university in 1997. Yep, I’m a college dropout. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. It only took another 18 years and my whole adult life doing something about as different from this as you could possibly imagine.
At the end of 2014, I left a job working with a company that produced software and online services for people who are blind. I was “Technical support, customer service, jack of most trades”, which suited me, because in a world where we are expected to specialize, I never did. I was, and am, a little bit good at a lot of things. I know a little bit about a lot of things. This was my last job working in a technology field, and I decided it was time for a change. I decided that what I really wanted was to work with animals, and I planned to study to be a veterinary assistant, later opting to study for a veterinary technician degree. I haven’t started to pursue this study yet as of this writing, but I intend to start soon. Beyond this vague notion, I had no idea what form “working with animals” would take. I was pretty sure I’d have trouble getting into an actual veterinarian though. Whatever I decided, I figured a degree like this would be helpful anyway. In the meantime, I began raising and training my fourth guide dog, my previous three having come from established guide dog schools. Hilda is coming along very nicely. You can read about her training on this page.
When Andrea told me about her dream to start New Hope, it grabbed me immediately. I was fully on board right from the start. I knew right then that this is the “working with animals” that I’m supposed to do. And right from then, I have thrown myself into the work of organizing and planning New Hope.
Naturally, between the two of us, I get to be the technology guy, but I at least get to use my background towards this new venture, an animal sanctuary that’s like nothing else anyone has (to our knowledge anyway) ever done.