In July 1996, tragedy struck John and Ann Lisk's idyllic life.

While hiking near their home in North Carolina, their daughter slipped and fell, losing her life in an accident that would force both Lisk and his wife to re-examine everything that they held dear.

Lisk, a very successful attorney, businessman, member of the University of Miami board of trustees, and the national president of the University of Miami Alumni Association, began a period of soul-searching that continues to this day.

"My wife and I were devastated," he said. "Neither one of us could come to terms with it."

Lisk's daughter was an animal lover and in lieu of flowers for the funeral they asked for donations to animal welfare-related causes.

Knowing this, and wanting to give him an opportunity to refocus his considerable talents and energy, several friends came to him in August 1998 and asked if he would take the executive director position at the Humane Society of Greater Miami.

Lisk agreed and since then he hasn't looked back, rebuilding the Humane Society from the ground up while utilizing the greatest asset he had in place -- a dedicated, caring staff.

"There were and are a lot of good people here. They were extremely committed to the cause but needed leadership and direction," Lisk said."They needed someone to provide a compass to show which direction the Society had to move. We want to provide love, shelter and care for the needy companion animals of Miami-Dade County, but the question was, 'how can we best do that?'"

The facilities that Lisk, a Miami area resident since his freshman year at UM in 1970, inherited were unenviable -- essentially one 63-year-old building in deplorable condition and the oldest pet cemetery in Miami-Dade. Lisk immediately embarked on a fundraising project to create not one, but two new facilities.

The first, at SW 117th Avenue and SW 166th Street, will have nearly 40,000 square feet of space. In addition to its traditional shelter role, Lisk hopes it can be a prototype people-and-pet-emergency evacuation center.

Because the elderly and infirm often have companion animals and are reluctant to leave them for shelters (which do not accommodate animals) during hurricanes, Lisk and his staff saw that a multi-purpose center would be ideal.

"Frank Reddish and Earl Peterson of Dade County Emergency Management have been extremely helpful in an advisory role. At first we thought that the project might be cost prohibitive but then we realized that by updating the plans to accommodate these emergency needs we could probably get grants and funds from the state," Lisk explained.

It is that sort of thinking and foresight that has made Lisk such an asset to the Humane Society. He also has been instrumental in helping to acquire the land for a second new facility, but he points out that the credit for that project should go primarily to two local families.

"The Sofer family donated an acre of land

and Ted and Jeanette Fine are buying another adjacent one that will enable us to build a much needed 20,000-square-foot facility," Lisk said. "With the creation of these two new sites, we will be able to keep the existing shelter as a separate receiving place where diseased, sick animals can recuperate before being sent to the other sites."

The need is overwhelming for these new facilities, He added.

"Contrary to what people may think or claim, we have no time-limit for euthanizing animals," he said. "Some other shelters criticize us for euthanization, pointing to their own "no-kill" policy, but they simply shut their doors when they're full. That's fine for them, but we are the largest and need to take in as many animals as possible. There are nearly 45 cats and 15 dogs born for every person born in the state of Florida, and those in need can't just be ignored."

Lisk was adamant that the need for their services far outpaces that which they are capable of providing.

"We are a private, independent non-profit organization," he continued. "And we are not affiliated with any other Humane Society, although we always look for projects that we collaborate on with others. We are the local shelter that feeds, provides medical care, and adoption services for homeless and otherwise abused animals...If you can't give money, you can contribute your time; we need more volunteers."
And the new sites aren't the only new projects that Lisk and his staff have undertaken. They've expanded their humane education program to reach 23,000 students this year. They also expanded their Web site at < www.humanesocietymiami.org >, adding the extremely popular Puppy Cam, first proposed by Kelly Grimm, deputy director for society advancement.

"The two projects have really helped expand public awareness," Lisk said. "We've had nearly 4 million visitors a month to the Puppy Cam, which allows the public to view a puppy we have up for adoption. People from around the world e-mail us about it and they mail us toys for the puppy. Discovery.com even added a link to the site. Kelly's idea was fantastic."

Perhaps their most ambitious program however is the Safe Families, Safe Pets project. The Society discovered that many abused spouses wouldn't leave their situation because of fear of retaliation by the abuser against the family pet.

With the acquisition of a new 24-hour pet ambulance -- donated by Michelle and Alan Grosman and Jeanette and Ted Fine (that they named after Lisk's daughter) -- the Society can pick up an animal and take care of it while the abused seeks shelter. As is the case with the hurricane shelters, abused woman shelters do not take animals.

"That project has been very successful and is extremely rewarding," Lisk said.

To find out more about volunteering, you can call Becky Schaab, coordinator of Humane Education and Volunteer Activities at 305-686-0800.