(NEWS10) – For almost 20 years, Deputy Wendy Guntert has served as a Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy. A letter from her mom on that first day is still the first thing she sees in her locker. She shared part of it, “All this time we’ve watched you grow, we’re very proud of you, you know.” Her mom still proud, wrote to News10 to nominate her daughter as a Remarkable Woman.

Not only is Wendy impacting hundreds of young lives teaching the 5th and 8th grade DARE program, but she’s also a school resource officer.

“I have like the best job in the world, ” Guntert said.

But it’s not her only job. A few years back she became a therapeutic foster mom and opened her heart and home to two brothers with special needs.

“They were two and three when I got them and now they’re 9 and 10, and I adopted them two years ago in August, and now they’re mine.” Guntert told News10, “I just really enjoy watching them grow and being called mom.”

As if two jobs weren’t enough, Wendy found herself with a third, channeling the loss of her beloved dog and her parent’s dog into a rescue named after the pets, Everlasting Hope.

“Once we lost them, they were just so special to us, that I couldn’t even imagine getting another one, so our motto is we lost one, now we save many. I really wanted that feeling for other people, to be able to have that special dog, so we work really hard to do that.”

Her boys, parents and a slew of volunteers have grown the rescue, adopting dogs, cats and all sorts of critters into the homes of people who’ve become like family.

“I always said with my job if I ever stop loving it that I would stop doing it, and that’s the same thing with the rescue. It’s rewarding every aspect of all those three jobs is rewarding so it’s worth getting a little less sleep and being a little tired.”