A Chester resident was recently honored for his volunteer efforts, and some greyhounds will reap the benefits.
As one of six Dominion Energy Volunteers of the Year, Russell Deane chose the James River Greyhounds as his charity for a $5,000 donation.
Deane, who works for Dominion Energy, and his wife, Michele, who is involved with the Chester Community Association at Goyne Park’s new dog park, adopted Haddie from James River Greyhounds 18 months ago, Russell said.
“She wouldn’t let me get a pony,” he said of Michele. “She’s been talking about greyhounds for years. She saw Haddie, and that was it.”
Beau was adopted nine months later to provide companionship for Haddie.
“They need a partner,” Russell said of the greyhounds. “Haddie was anxious. He is her therapy dog. It’s made a huge difference in her.”
Florida’s Legislature passed a bill that will result in the closure of that state’s greyhound racing by the end of 2020, Russell said. One of the dog racing facilities has already closed, and James River Greyhounds of Doswell has been receiving some of the dogs.
“They’re professional athletes, but it comes with a risk,” he said.
“You almost never hear them bark,” Russell said of greyhounds. “They’re not aggressive. They get very attached to people. They don’t really give you any trouble at all. They’re 40-mph couch potatoes. We have a fenced-in backyard. They don’t take much maintenance.”
He and Michele regularly volunteer with James River Greyhounds, Russell said, noting it costs $300 to adopt a greyhound.
Russell, who has worked at Dominion Energy for 28 years, also volunteers at Presquile National Wildlife Refuge.
He worked five days from 2016 to 2018 on a drip irrigation system to collect water from the roof of a maintenance structure on the island and run it into a holding tank where it could then be used to water young trees. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was attempting to restore the island to a natural state through reforestation, but lacked the resources to accomplish the work, meaning young trees would go without the water necessary to survive drought-prone summer months.
Russell proposed and engineered the project and organized a series of Dominion Energy employee volunteer days in order to build out the system. Some 75 Dominion employees were involved and volunteered more than 500 hours on the project, Russell said. Dominion donated $5,000 for the project.
