Animal lover Becky Godchaux shares how she came to create the veterinary student scholarship offering two new veterinary students up to $140,000 each for their DVM education. Listen in to learn what inspired her generosity, how animals have positively impacted her life, and how she views the important relationship between the anima, the client, and the veterinarian. This is a great episode for animal lovers who want to support a healthy animal community.
The VIN Foundation is honored to be the home of the Mike Dunn, DVM Veterinary Student Scholarship created by Becky Godchaux. Learn more about the scholarship in the link below.
LINKS AND INFORMATION:
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TRANSCRIPT
Intro
Becky Godchaux: What I’ve learned through this process is that, the unique multifaceted lives that a veterinarian lives, you think about in our discussions, one minute a veterinarian is seeing a cute little puppy that, you know, nobody could resist, and the next minute, he might be seeing someone that’s bringing in an 18 year old dog that’s not doing well. They have to make that transition 15 times a day. That’s just that’s, you don’t think about that when you’re walking in, you’re thinking about only your dog, but you think about that with what veterinarians are faced with.
Jordan Benshea: That is Becky Godchaux, an animal lover with a passion for helping veterinary colleagues, and this is the VIN Foundation’s Veterinary Pulse podcast. I’m Jordan Benshea, VIN Foundation’s Executive Director. Join me as we talk with veterinary colleagues about critical topics and share stories, stories that connect us as humans, as animals, as a veterinary community. This podcast is made possible by individuals like you who donate to the VIN Foundation. Thank you. Please check the episode notes for links and information mentioned.
Meet Becky Godchaux: Animal Lover and Philanthropist
Jordan Benshea: Today’s episode guest is Becky Godchaux, she is the generous animal lover and creator of the Mike Dunn DVM Veterinary Student Scholarship. Welcome, Becky.
Becky Godchaux: Thanks, Jordan. Exciting day yesterday, and can’t believe we’ve gotten this far with…
Jordan Benshea: I know, this has been a long time coming. We’ve had a lot of conversations.
Becky Godchaux: Yeah.
The Journey of Generosity: Creating the Scholarship
Becky Godchaux: Everybody keeps asking me how long has this process taken, and it’s just been such an ongoing process, it’s hard to say. Yeah. I don’t remember when we had our first conversation.
Jordan Benshea: We had our first conversation at the end of last year.
Becky Godchaux: Okay.
Jordan Benshea: Yeah.
Becky Godchaux: Alrighty.
Jordan Benshea: And then just bit by bit, I think, a lot of it is this is a really big decision. This is a huge amount of generosity and working through the details and the conversations and the discussions and finding out what’s the best way to do this, what’s the best way for your generosity to have the greatest impact, and understanding that this is the first cohort and seeing how it goes and knowing that there’ll be lessons that we learn.
Becky Godchaux: Absolutely.
Jordan Benshea: Alright. Well, let’s dive into your story, Becky, because I love your story. I love stories in general. That’s what this podcast is all about.
A Lifelong Love for Animals
Jordan Benshea: So let’s start with, how did your love for animals start?
Becky Godchaux: I don’t know, I think I was just born with it. Always grew up with animals in our house. We had anything from dogs and cats to deer, raccoon, flying squirrels, rabbit, you name it. Always been a big animal lover. I think my love for dogs came when I received as a gift from my uncle, a little poodle. I was about 9 years old and I would get that little dog all dressed up and had a doll bed for it to sleep in and it could sleep in my bed. It was like my baby doll, but it was my dog.
Jordan Benshea: And so have you had dogs nonstop since then?
Becky Godchaux: Absolutely. Never been without.
Jordan Benshea: Wow. Wow. And always just one dog, or have you had multiple?
Becky Godchaux: Multiple dogs, rarely just one dog. I think when I was young, it was just that we had other dogs in the household, but that was my dog. But in my adult life, I’ve always had at least two and sometimes three.
Meeting Mike Dunn, DVM: A Special Veterinary Relationship
Jordan Benshea: When did you first meet Dr. Mike Dunn?
Becky Godchaux: I met him shortly after I moved here. So then I moved here in 1998. So I’d say probably by the year 2000, I was using him as my vet.
Jordan Benshea: What is it about your experience with him that had you enjoying going to see him?
Becky Godchaux: It’s just he’s so easily approachable, and after going to him for a while you begin to feel like he’s almost like your friend. You chat with him about his children. He asked me about where I’m traveling to next. It’s not just the dogs, but with my dogs, I feel like they’re getting the very best care without it being overdone. He knows the dogs. He knows your animals. He knows their names. He has a lot of compassion.
Jordan Benshea: Yeah.
Becky Godchaux: I’ve had to put down several dogs, and that’s just never an easy thing, but he made it as easy as it can be.
Jordan Benshea: Aww, and you’ve probably had, because you’ve had animals your whole life, you’ve probably met a lot of veterinarians.
Becky Godchaux: Yes. I have, and, actually, that gives me even a bigger appreciation of what Mike Dunn does. It’s like having the same doctor over and over and over again.
Jordan Benshea: Right, and there’s that history there.
Becky Godchaux: Correct. Exactly.
The Birth of a Scholarship Idea
Jordan Benshea: So where did the idea for this veterinary student scholarship come from?
Becky Godchaux: It’s difficult to get an appointment with Dr. Dunn unless it’s an emergency, and just in talking with him, he said how hard it is to get someone else into his practice because of the amount of debt that students have coming out of veterinary school. I think from that conversation, I said, “well, wouldn’t that be a fun idea to do. Create a veterinarian scholarship”.
Jordan Benshea: Yeah.
The Connection Between Animal Love and Veterinary Medicine
Jordan Benshea: As an animal lover, what do you see as the connection between your appreciation and love for animals and veterinary medicine?
Becky Godchaux: Well, my dogs are only as happy as they are healthy, and they are healthy because we get good veterinary care.
Jordan Benshea: That’s the mother load. That’s the goodness right there. I feel the same way with my animals and my dog.
Choosing the VIN Foundation
Jordan Benshea: What made you choose the VIN Foundation to partner with for this scholarship?
Becky Godchaux: Well, I’ve done a lot of other research on my own kind of trying to figure out how to create this scholarship. I was beginning to get a bit frustrated with the whole process when I ran into a neighbor of mine who’s a retired veterinarian and suggested that I call VIN Foundation. That was late last year when I met you all, and you’ve just made the process extremely, extremely exciting and fun. I feel like I’m in very good hands.
Jordan Benshea: Yay. Well, we want, the most important thing is that you feel that your generosity is being honored and valued and cared for and…
Becky Godchaux: Absolutely
Jordan Benshea: That it’s being used in the way that you want. But you know, many people have ideas, many people have big ideas all the time, and for multiple reasons, it doesn’t come to fruition.
Motivation Behind the Scholarship
Jordan Benshea: So what was it or what is it in you, do you think, that was willing or motivated you to take this bold next step to see it through?
Becky Godchaux: I think in finding the VIN Foundation and finding the structure that I was comfortable with in creating this, that I was gonna have some control of how this was gonna work, and that the VIN Foundation has that structure and the wide breadth of people and experts to make this truly successful scholarship fund.
Jordan Benshea: I have great hopes, and I think that just based on the reaction that we’re getting so far, I completely know that it will be. I think it’s an extremely generous scholarship and one that is especially unique coming from somebody that’s an animal lover that wants to support the veterinary profession, and I see that as really exciting for our veterinary colleagues.
Becky Godchaux: Yep. I hope so because I will continue to have dogs.
Jordan Benshea: You will continue to have dogs, and so you wanna continue to have veterinarians that can care for your dogs.
Becky Godchaux: Correct.
A Legacy of Love for Dogs
Jordan Benshea: Do you see this scholarship as a way to continue your love for dogs with your legacy?
Becky Godchaux: Yes. Absolutely. I think in some of our conversations that we’ve had in getting to this point, my nephew mentioned that, “yeah, we know aunt Beck, where she was and what she was doing by what dog she had”, and that was, always meant a lot to me. That was kinda cute, I’m not known for my cooking or my dressing or anything like that, but known for my dogs.
Jordan Benshea: Yeah, and as we know, all dogs are so different, right?
Becky Godchaux: They are. Their own little quirkiness’
Jordan Benshea: Yeah, and so that’s a wonderful way to think about it. I love that from your nephew.
Becky Godchaux: Yep.
Hopes for the Scholarship’s Future
Jordan Benshea: Where do you hope this scholarship will be a year from now?
Becky Godchaux: In full swing, that we’ll have two veterinarians in school and be looking for two more.
Jordan Benshea: I love it.
A Message to Animal Lovers
Jordan Benshea: Is there a message you want to share with people that are just huge animal fans and animal lovers?
Becky Godchaux: I think in thinking about that question, it’s what I’ve learned through this process is that the unique multifaceted life that a veterinarian lives. You think about in our discussions, you know, one minute a veterinarian is seeing a cute little puppy that, you know, nobody could resist, and the next minute, he might be seeing someone that’s bringing in an 18 year old dog that’s not doing well, and to have to make that transition fifteen times a day. You don’t think about that when you’re walking in, you’re thinking about only your dog, but you think about that with what veterinarians are faced with. The grace that Mike Dunn shows in doing that is what motivated me in wanting to name the scholarship for him.
Jordan Benshea: Becky, that’s beautifully put.
Final Thoughts and Gratitude
Jordan Benshea: Is there anything else that you wanna leave our audience with today?
Becky Godchaux: I think that’s about, we’ve covered a lot there, and I’m excited to get this underway.
Jordan Benshea: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Becky. Thank you again for your generosity, for your support, your grace through all of it, and for really wanting to help and support veterinary colleagues. Thank you so much.
Becky Godchaux: Well, thank you and the VIN Foundation. You’ve made this a fun process. I’ve really enjoyed doing it, and I’ve got confidence in everything that’s going out there.
Jordan Benshea: Wonderful. I look forward to many wonderful, happy new veterinarians starting. Thank you, Becky.
Becky Godchaux: Thanks, Jordan.
Outro
Jordan Benshea: Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Veterinary Pulse. Please check the episode notes for additional information referenced in the podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please follow, subscribe, and share a review. We welcome feedback and hope you will tune in again. You can find out more about the VIN Foundation through our website, VINFoundation.org, and our social media channels. Thank you for being here. Be well.
1 thought on “Becky Godchaux shares her story in creating the veterinary student scholarship”
What an awesome contribution!! And for such a good cause!!