About Us

Why we do what we do

The following simple story speaks to why we do what we do.

A sparrow was seen on the ground with its legs in the air. When asked what he was doing he said, “I heard the sky is falling so I have come to help.” The visitor laughed saying, “You can’t stop the sky from falling with those scrawny legs!” The sparrow replied, “One does what one can.”

Our efforts to reduce the number of pets in need is a small number compared to the vastness of the issue, but even in small numbers a difference is being made, especially to each animal in our care!

Our primary purpose is to help animals in our care learn to trust and live happy, healthy lives for the rest of their lives.

Our secondary purpose is reducing the need for pets to go into a rescue or shelter

As a society we can continue to care for homeless, abused, and surrendered pets, but if we don’t look at the underlying causes, the number of animals will continue to grow. For this reason our secondary purpose is to provide community outreach and support.

We do this in the following ways:

1. By offering sanctuary to surrendered, abandoned, and abused pets we reduce the number entering the overburdened shelter system. 
2. We provide pet owners with resource alignment connecting them with agencies that can help with their unique situation. We also provide supplies through Buddy’s Bowl, our pet food pantry and spay/neuter grants when we have funding. This helps equip pet owners with the tools and resources they need so more pets stay in the home.

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We believe it’s important to measure our impact. We do this through statistics, surveys, and video stories about our rescues. You can see our statistics below. 

The images below show a snapshot of our statistical impact. These data are recorded in the Shelter Animals Count.

Since we began our work, we have had the following successes:

• 69 pets were kept out of the shelter system
• 57 received vaccinations and medical care
• 61 were provided spay/ neuter surgeries
• 4 were reunited with their owner through a partnership with the Benton Co Animal Shelter
• 2 were transferred to other rescues
• 1 severely neglected dog was rescued through our community outreach program
• 6 felines was saved from euthanasia
• 6 were given love and proper burial at the end of their life when they would have otherwise died on the streets

All data is generated from intake and individual care records.

We have a 0% euthanasia rate and a 100% live release rate. As a sanctuary it isn’t our practice to adopt out our rescues. This is shown statistically as an intake and transfer in which is then offset through an outtake adoption. In 2020 due to the number of intakes we changed our approach to include adoptions and now include a small adoption center at our vintage shoppe.

Since July 2018 we have used euthanasia in four cases due to repercussions of serious illness. Rest in peace Buddy, Princess, Kiki, and Roscoe. Angel, Baby Luna and Autumn Rose died of natural causes. All were buried with dignity and love and are laid to rest on our sanctuary grounds.

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The Revelation Gardens 2021 Board of Directors

DAWN HARRIS, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT

Dawn is passionate about creating a safe world for companion animals. Her background in grief and loss, psychology, and education provides the foundation for Revelation Gardens home-like environment which is so instrumental in helping cats and dogs heal and thrive. Dawn earned a Master of Education from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Art in Psychology with a focus on grief and loss from the University of Nevada, Reno. She has 38 years experience in administration, creative design, program development, website management, and budgeting and has rescued animals since she was 3 years old. Dawn provides the knowledge, experience and passion needed to lead Revelation Gardens. She lives in West Tennessee with her husband and cares for the 52 rescued cats and dogs of Revelation Gardens.

ANGELA JONES, TREASURER

Angela R. Jones, a Benton County resident since 2003, holds a master’s degree in experimental psychology, worked for 15 years a behavior analyst in rural West Tennessee, and now serves as the lead writer for The Camden Chronicle. Since living in Camden, she personally has owned, fostered, or helped rescue more than 50 pets, mostly dogs. Angela has volunteered with a number of pet rescue organizations in West Tennessee, and served as the chairman of the Benton County Animal Shelter Board from Oct. 2019-2020. Originally from Louisiana, Angela has lived in Tennessee since 1996.

SANDRA ERWIN, SECRETARY

Sandra lives in Camden, TN with her husband Brandon. They moved to west Tennessee from the oilfields of North Dakota in June of 2020 to help care for her elderly parents. Sandra was an administrative assistant for three oilfield services companies for a total of 7 years and brings a strong administrative background to Revelation Gardens. Sandra love animals and currently has 4 dogs and 1 cat, who are all spoiled rotten! She enjoys the outdoors and riding their Harley in the beautiful Tennessee weather!

ANGIE TUCKER

Angie Tucker is the librarian at Camden Junior High and is a member of First Baptist Church in Camden. She has fostered dogs for Memphis Pug Rescue, Middle TN Pug Rescue, and West Tennessee Animal Rescue and performed for 7 years in plays produced by West TN Animal Rescue for their Spay and Neuter Fund. Angie enjoys writing, reading, acting, and playing with her pets and animals at the Revelation Garden Vintage Shoppe and Artisan Co-op. She is married to Chris Tucker and enjoys traveling to Durham, North Carolina, to visit her niece and nephew, Mary Katherine and Daniel Watson.

LISA ROCK

Lisa Rock, a retired radio broadcaster and former Active Duty Army from upstate New York, lives in Big Sandy with her husband Bill, son Andrew, nephew Issac, cat Tigger, and 5 of the cutest dogs (aka babies) Ellie, Jeb, Lucas, Fritz, and CeCe. In her spare time Lisa volunteers for her church and various non-profit groups through out the state.

ODESSA ROBINSON

Odessa recently moved to west Tennessee. She is pursuing a degree is social work and enjoys spending time with her fiance and planning for the upcoming birth of their first child. Odessa brings a fresh view and willingness to roll-up-her-sleeves to get things done mentality to the Revelation Gardens board.

Contact us if you have questions or would like more information