About Us
About Our Shelter
Mission Statement
Melissa’s Second Chances is a 501(c)3 non-profit animal rescue in Shawnee, KS. We find homes and safe refuge for animals in need of a second chance to be a beloved family pet.
Meet our Team
Management
Melissa Kreisler
Shelter Director
Melissa Kreisler has been an animal lover for as long as she can remember. As a child, she was always hauling animals home. At 20 she began her lifelong career in animal welfare at the Independence Animal Shelter. Since then, she has worked in almost every aspect of animal sheltering. She also worked several years for a veterinarian, taught obedience at PetSmart, managed a dog wash, started a pet sitting business, and later added daycare and boarding.
In December of 2018, Melissa founded Melissa’s Second Chances and she’s amazed at how far we have come. Since then, she also opened a kitty cafe in Olathe called Second Cup Cat Cafe and started a farm sanctuary in Paola named Redbird Farm and Sanctuary in honor of her beloved Grandma. In her spare time, she is a wife, Mom, and Mimi. She is looking forward to what we will do next!
Janie Schumaker
Manager - Adoptions
Janie Schumaker is an emergency nurse by background but has been an animal lover her entire life. Janie started volunteering at Melissa’s in 2022 by walking dogs and fostering. Janie is currently the MSC adoptions manager, still fosters, and leads adoption events.
Joni Holek
Manager - Fosters
Joni Holek is married with 2 kids and currently has one older personal dog who was a rescue foster fail puppy. Joni has been volunteering for MSC since 2023. She started fostering after seeing a plea for dogs from a rural shelter that needed placement. She and her family fostered 5 dogs that year and then discovered that their personal dog wasn’t a fan, and their youngest child was sometimes overwhelming for the foster dogs. They then became a temp foster family, helping with furloughs and foster vacations.
Joni has participated in dog walking and the FAST program and was an adoption event lead for awhile. She is part of the adoption team and has recently taken over the role of Foster Manager. She loves getting to know the animals, the awesome staff and volunteers and giving back when she can.
Deb Plucknett
Manager - Volunteers
Deb Plucknett began volunteering with Melissa’s Second Chances in the summer of 2019, dedicating her time to caring for shelter dogs. Her journey as a foster began with Ellie, a momma cattle dog mix with 11 puppies! Ellie was a good momma and found her own furever home after all the pups were adopted.
Beyond fostering, Deb took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator later that year, where she continues to welcome and support new volunteers. She has also served on the Board and remains active in an advisory capacity. Professionally, Deb works as an IT Project Manager. However, her true passion has always been working with animals, both big and small.
At home, she shares her life with two dogs and two cats, including Katie Belle, a beloved “foster fail” from Melissa’s Second Chances.
Katie Cox
Manager - Marketing
Kassy Merilatt
Manager - Events
Kassy Merilatt is an animal lover who enjoys fostering and transporting, and if she could she would help every animal that she saw. She also loves to visit the cat cafe to fill her void of not having a cat at home. Kassy is a husky lover, so if you find a husky, don’t tell her.
When she isn’t helping with events or volunteering in other aspects, she is running her own pet sitting business and enjoying time with her family going on cruises or other fun adventures.
Lisa Selleck
Manager - Financial
Lisa Selleck has over 30 years of accounting experience and is a Nana to 7, Great Nana to 1, and a husky mom!! She not only loves Excel spreadsheets and QuickBooks, but loves cats so she helps with our cat adoptions team also!
When she isn’t behind the computer either for her job or the rescue, you can find Lisa running her Nana taxi service making sure her grandchildren are getting to their activities. She also enjoys scrapbooking and card making in her extra time.
Board of Directors
Deb Plucknett
Chairperson Emeritus
Deb Plucknett began volunteering with Melissa’s Second Chances in the summer of 2019, dedicating her time to caring for shelter dogs. Her journey as a foster began with Ellie, a momma cattle dog mix with 11 puppies! Ellie was a good momma and found her own furever home after all the pups were adopted.
Beyond fostering, Deb took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator later that year, where she continues to welcome and support new volunteers. She has also served on the Board and remains active in an advisory capacity. Professionally, Deb works as an IT Project Manager. However, her true passion has always been working with animals, both big and small.
At home, she shares her life with two dogs and two cats, including Katie Belle, a beloved “foster fail” from Melissa’s Second Chances.
Mandy Mercer-Mitchell
Chairperson Elect
Mandy Mercer-Mitchell has been in animal welfare for about 9 years and has volunteered at many local rescues including Melissa’s Second Chances. She has done everything from adoptions and fostering to running events and data entry.
Mandy also volunteers with another rescue doing outreach in low income areas on her free weekends. Her paying job is as a Bank Operations Manager II at UMB Bank over the ARP team and the Research & Adjustments team. She has been married for 14 years with a 17 year old son, 3 dogs, and 2 cats.
Gina Mace
Treasurer
Gina Mace serves as the Treasurer for Melissa’s Second Chances, bringing a wealth of financial, regulatory, and policy expertise to the organization. With a background that spans energy policy, corporate finance, and compliance, Gina ensures that the nonprofit maintains strong financial stewardship and sustainable growth.
Currently the Director of Energy & Environmental Policy for an energy company, Gina has extensive experience advising on regulatory frameworks, managing financial compliance, and leading strategic initiatives.
Beyond her corporate experience, Gina has been actively involved in nonprofit leadership and community service, serving on boards and governance committees. Her passion for advocacy extends beyond energy policy to ensuring financial transparency and operational excellence for MSC. Her leadership helps drive the organization’s fiscal responsibility, empowering it to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome vulnerable pets while expanding community outreach and advocacy efforts.
Gina is a lifelong animal lover who is passionate about animal welfare and rescue efforts. She shares her home with four beloved cats and understands firsthand the joy and companionship that rescued animals bring.
Nisha Naik
Member
Nisha Naik has a deep passion for animal welfare and has been a member of the MSC Board since 2023. A lifelong dog lover, she has been actively involved in volunteering for animal welfare organizations since college, and her jobs have included cleaning out kennels at dog shelters, walking dogs in rescue, working as an adoption coordinator for a golden retriever rescue group and transporting animals from shelters to foster homes and forever homes. She currently shares her home with two kids, two dogs, two roly polies and a revolving door of foster kittens.
When she is not volunteering, Nisha is an attorney by day and spends any spare time running kids to sports, dance and other activities. She is honored to be a member of the Board and looks forward to continuing her work in animal advocacy in whatever capacity possible.
Todd Schumaker
Member
Todd Schumaker served honorably for six years in the military as an infantryman. He has served the Kansas City
Kansas Police Department as a sworn law enforcement official.
Todd’s family has a love for all
animals, especially dogs. They have adopted only rescues over the past 26 years giving loving homes to the needy.
Todd serves on this board to help in any way possible to save as many loving
creatures as we can.