Host Keith Porter brings us the story of a true community activist, Michael Leydon, who serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children and as a board member of Friends of the Library.

Jake Colongione serves as the Nevada County Adult Service program supervisor and the Chief Deputy Public Conservator within the Public Guardians office. Jake has called our beautiful county home for roughly 25 years, where he has raised his two daughters.

Jake has a bachelors degree in Criminal and Social Justice, a bachelors degree in Psychology, and a masters degree in Public Administration. He enjoys the numerous outdoor activities Nevada County offers, including kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking. Jake remains an active member of the community being involved in PTA, youth and teen sports, and his local church community.

Stefanie Geckler was raised in Nevada County from a young age and is the current Supervising Animal Control Officer of the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) and founder of nonprofit, Humane Emergency Animal Rescue Team (HEART).

Stefanie never envisioned one day she’d be helping animals, nor working in law enforcement. As a teenager, she had her eyes set on Hollywood—the stars—the glam—the fame—and she did it. After attending college at San Francisco State University and film school in Los Angeles, she landed a few lucky commercial breaks, including one commercial with Nike. Her success opened the door to bigger and better opportunities, the largest of which was a four-year gig with soap opera, Days of Our Lives, as a recurring character.

For seven years, Stefanie owned and operated Stinky Mulligan’s, a popular pub in its heyday, especially with locals in law enforcement, including NCSO. Through occasional engagement with off-duty personnel, it was suggested she would make the perfect deputy, should she ever have the interest.

As an animal lover, the idea of working with animals daily appealed to her, so Stefanie applied to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office as an Animal Control Officer. After going through the required background investigation and standard hiring steps, she was hired and began her career as an animal control officer (ACO).

Stefanie formed NCSO’s HEART, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that created a team of fully trained and certified animal rescue volunteers that could physically respond and evacuate animals of all sizes in the midst of fire, blizzards, and other hazardous conditions.

Of all the jobs (and fame) Stefanie has had throughout her career, saving the lives of animals has topped them all.